Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
No-sleeping rule tags city 'mean'
The National Coalition for the Homeless puts Sarasota at the top of its list of worst cities in treatment of the homeless.
Associated Press
Published January 14, 2006
SARASOTA - A Sarasota ordinance prohibiting outdoor sleeping overnight without permission on public or private property has earned the city the top spot on a national organization's list of "mean cities" toward the homeless.
A judge recently upheld the ordinance passed in August by city commissioners after two similar no-camping rules were declared unconstitutional.
"They could have been taken off the mean list if they would have just done away with that ordinance," said Michael Stoops, acting director of the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless.
Sarasota tops the organization's list for 2005, released Wednesday, of the nation's 20 worst cities for treating the homeless after ranking 11th the year before. The coalition released its first annual report in 2002.
According to the 2005 report, homelessness, as measured by increased demands for emergency shelter, went up nationally. It estimated that 3.5-million Americans experience homelessness.
Sarasota officials argue that the no-lodging ordinance helps keep the city's homeless out of unsafe and unhealthy camps.
"This is the best thing we can do for them," Mayor Mary Anne Servian said.
A person can be found in violation if "numerous items of personal belongings are present; the person is engaged in cooking activities, the person has built or is maintaining a fire, the person has engaged in digging or earth-breaking activities, or the person is asleep and when awakened states that he or she has no other place to live," the ordinance states.
Forty-five people were arrested last year for violating the ordinance, which gives police the option of bringing violators to a shelter instead of jail.
The mean-cities list "puts pressure on cities to rethink their criminalization strategies," Stoops said.
"No city should want to be labeled a mean city."
Cities 2 to 20, in order, on the meanest list: Lawrence, Kan.; Little Rock, Ark.; Atlanta; Las Vegas; Dallas; Houston; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Santa Monica, Calif.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; San Francisco; Chicago; San Antonio; New York; Austin, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska; Phoenix; Los Angeles; St. Louis; and Pittsburgh.
[Last modified January 14, 2006, 01:38:14]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
