[news] Do Not Feed the Homeless: Orlando, Florida, Goes to Extreme Lengths to Get Transients Out of Town

[Mostly Water - "Canadian" and International alternative news feed]

ORLANDO, Fla. — At Lake Eola park, there is much beauty to behold: robust palms, beds of cheery begonias, a cascading lake fountain, clusters of friendly egrets and swans, an amphitheater named in honour of Walt Disney.

Then there are the signs.

DO NOT LIE OR OTHERWISE BE IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION ON A PARK BENCH ... DO NOT SLEEP OR REMAIN IN ANY BUSHES, SHRUBS OR FOLIAGE ... per city code sec. 18A.09 (a) and (o).

"It’s now illegal to feed the homeless in Orlando, Florida," Jay Leno, host of NBC’s “Tonight Show,” told a studio audience last summer in Burbank, Calif., during his opening monologue. "Have you seen the fat people walking around Disney World? We should make it illegal to feed THEM."

But when the Orlando Sentinel posted Leno’s wisecrack on its Web site, local bloggers weren’t laughing.

"Feeding the homeless only encourages more homelessness," one resident, with the moniker "Justin Credible," wrote. He then summed up his argument in an equation. "Less Homeless Less Problems Better Place to Live."

  


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    [1]: http://mostlywater.org/node/17467

URL: http://mostlywater.org/node/17467