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Nutter loses support for homeless meal ban the day it's supposed to begin.
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Nutter loses support for homeless meal ban the day it's supposed to begin.
Some weeks ago, mayor spokesman Mark McDonald told CP that enforcement of the ban on outdoor "feeding" of homeless in city parks implemented by Mayor Nutter would begin on June 1st — today.
But don't bet on it.
Yesterday, City Council's Committee on Housing and the Homeless heard testimony on the measure, announced two and a half months ago.
Amid the two-plus hours of passionate testimony by those who serve meals, the formerly homeless, and sundry religious figures, was a bombshell: a written statement by Sister Mary Scullion, founder of Project Home, who appeared next to the mayor when he first announced the ban.
In her statement, Scullion said that “the reality is that the proposed indoor dining centers are not yet in place … so June 1st, tomorrow, amounts to a ban on street feeding without the additional availability of indoor meals and services, therefore we cannot support the ban on outdoor meal at this time.”
“We respectfully request that the ban on street feeding in Fairmount Park not be enforced until the appropriate quality dining centers are in place.”
The statement marked the latest of several blows to the mayor's push to end a decade-long tradition of free meals for the homeless on the Parkway. First came the angry reaction of those who serve meals; then active protests that seemed to rouse Occupy Philly from its winter hibernation. A few weeks ago, CP reported that the city has received notice of intent to sue from a Philly law firm, Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg LLP, over the ban.
But Sister Mary Scullion's request that the city not enforce the ban might be the strongest indication so far that the mayor would be going out on a limb to enforce his own policy. At the time of the announcement of the ban, Scullion told CP that she had supported the mayor conditionally — the condition being that the ban resulted in more, not less services for those who are homeless.
Since then, a task force appointed weeks after the ban was announced has met — but has issued no public statements or recommendations for how more, and not less people will be fed. The mayor did, as promised, provide port-o-potties and a hand-washing station to those who would like to serve meals on City Hall's apron — but few have taken him up on the offer.
Oh yeah, and the Barnes opened: The ban is widely believed to be tied to the opening of the Barnes Foundation museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Mayor has half-heartedly denied that this is so — but we'd be risking our credibility not to point out that it is almost certainly the case.
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