From Karl Dickey at The Examiner:
The Libertarian Party of Palm Beach County (LP Palm Beach) met last night, November 9, 2014 and officially condemned the City of Fort Lauderdale for having an ordinance which prohibits feeding hungry people. The LP Palm Beach also made plans to feed the hungry in the City of Fort Lauderdale without asking permission from the City on December 17, 2014. The action was spurred by last week’s detainment of 90 year old Arnold Abbott near Fort Lauderdale’s beach and the arrest of three members of the Food not Bombs group at Stranahan Park, a popular downtown Fort Lauderdale park favorited by residents and tourists. Abbott and the others face fines and up to 60 days in jail for feeding the homeless without first getting permission from the government due to a new city ordinance based on government instituted class oppression.
The City of Fort Lauderdale began enforcing an ordinance which requires people or organizations to obtain permission from the City in order to feed others which, if granted, would also require a portable toilet be provided, hand washing stations and food safety requirements would need to be met. The ordinance has come under fire by libertarians, liberals and conservatives and has been a public relations nightmare for Fort Lauderdale Democratic Party Mayor Jack Seiler. Seiler, who still supports the ordinance, has backpedaled on how Abbott was treated, admitting police force should not have been used and a dialogue should have been the first mode of action. Seiler tried to defend the actions of the police last week and attempted to pat himself on the back on how well he and the City help the homeless. LP Palm Beach Chair, Marc Tancer said last night, “The City has done just about everything wrong in dealing with the homeless.” The LP Palm Beach is a county affiliate of the Libertarian Party of Florida.
On Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 3:52 PM, Andy Burns wrote:
https://www.lpmn.org/blackfridaylibertarians/
Too many Libertarians are doing awesome stuff but we never talk about it and it stays under the radar because we aren’t doing it through formal organizations and aren’t doing it through the government. Time to change that – not only for PR by any means…but because it encourages others to join in. It’s living our ethics (directly helping others) but it also helps if we VISIBLY do these types of things. Tag it ?#?BlackFridayLibertarians? if this is something your state want to do. Create a FB event page as well.
—
Andy Burns
LPMN Executive Director
763-528-5163
http://www.LPMN.org
Anyone know of other local LPs planning anything similar?
My hats off to the Palm Beach LP
I hope national reposting will help spread the idea to other LP chapters. How about a LP blog posting and email blast as well?
Some people would do something along those lines, if you go by some of the comments this is getting on the national LP facebook reposting of this story: https://www.facebook.com/libertarians/posts/10152834116417726
I appreciate the concept of removing the enforcers, but I think just doing it and getting arrested (or not) will play better and gain more publicity, plus lead to a better outcome for the homeless people.
They are HOMELESS What would you do with them? Drag them out to Sea and leave them? Shoot them down like Dogs? Or just Starve them to death so that you won’t need to see them and be reminded that they are there.
It’s Great to see this saintly old gentleman helping them even if ordered not to.
Not sure, is that an option for citations? Good idea though.
Demand a jury trial and invoke jury nullification.
There can be very serious and diproportionate vindictiveness directed against anyone who does that, including campaigns by cops to set people up with false charges, get them fired, destroy their business, destroy their employer’s business if they work for someone else, and so on. Not that I oppose directly engaging cops, but anyone who does so should be well aware of some of the things which have happened to other people who have done so.
Let’s have the names and addresses of the police officers enforcing these laws too. Let the local citizens contact these evil thugs for a piece of their minds too, not just the mayor. City councils can pass all the laws that they want. It will do no good if the enforcers refuse to enforce them
“Selfish Libertarians Arrested for Feeding the Homeless.”
“Liberals: Without Government, Who Would Arrest Libertarians For Feeding the Homeless? It Would Be Anarchy!”
I copied and pasted from the facebook post that is linked, for those who are unable to read the link.
That’s good for Palm Beach, at least some people in Florida are doing something productive and positive. In other Florida news, a message from another angry activist:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2497146127/permalink/10152406976606128/
More information regarding the current LPF “leadership” from a hardworking local activist in Pinellas County FL. This is a repost since I can’t share directly:
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During the recent elections I held the position of Events Chair for one of Florida’s most active affiliates, the LPPC. Based upon my personal observations, the lack of cooperation with the LPPC by the Campaign Manager for Adrian Wyllie and the Wyllie Campaign’s lack of participation in LPPC events was appalling and in stark contrast to the cooperation and participation received from the Wohlsifer and Overby Campaigns. The LPPC was subjected to what I consider to be petty & unprofessionaI behaviors by Messrs. Alex Snitker
(LPF Vice Chair) and his companion Danielle Alexander (Wyllie Campaign Manager) This, combined with the Ageism practiced within tbe LPF, led me to reconsider my LPF membership.
I hope there will be fair competition for the LPF Fundraiser Position. (Disclaimer I am definitely not a contender) I want to point out that it would be a major scandal if the Vice Chair of the LPF (Alex Snitker) bullies the LPF E.C. into awarding this paid position to his “roommate” & companion (Danielle Alexandre) (Danielle is also former campaign manager for losing candidate, Adrian Wyllie). It would be a terrible scandal & hypocritical for the LPF to even create the “appearance” of “corporate cronyism!.” I have recently left the LPF due to what I view as unprofessional behaviors by the Vice Chair of the LPF together with the Campaign Manager for Adrian Wyllie, so I have no personal interest in whether my admonition is ignored. I so decry, what I see as the manipulation and arbitrary changing of the LPF Convention hosting bid deadline by the LPF E.C./Mr. Snitker! That resulted in the Brevard Affiliate’s being dissallowed to submit its bid (which was already prepared). Now there is a movement by the LPF (Snitker) to hold the Convention in the Tampa area after foreclosing Brevard’s offer to host. Having the convention on the west coast 2 years in a row denies east coast Libertarians the same opportunity to host and be as involved in participating. Of course a west coast venue in closer proximity to Messrs. Snitker & Alexandre is more conducive to their apparent desire for consolidation of their control. I saw that coming and it hurts the LPF as a whole.
Good for them. Small churches succeeded in getting an ordinance like this in Fairfax County, VA (my home) a few years ago. The PR that comes along with this stuff is so bad for the localities that these things are relatively easy to fight.
Mayor Seiler may be reached at 954-828-5003 or via e-mail at [email protected]. You can find more links via the sidebar at http://fortlauderdale.gov/government/city-commission/john-p-jack-seiler
Agree 100% with what Jill said — excellent issue for civil disobedience! Kudos to the Palm Beach Libertarians for speaking out on this humanitarian and civil liberties issue.
Anyone have contact info handy for mayor Jack Seiler or other authorities in Palm Beach responsible for adopting or enforcing this cruel ban on feeding the homeless, so readers can call or email them and let them know what we think of their policies?
Damn those greedy, selfish libertarians! lol
This is excellent! Civil disobedience at its finest. We are at the point now in this country where activists will have tio do this type of thing more often. I would certainly organize my group to do this if it were my community.