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Mayor Nutter announces ban on outdoor food giveaways; some see effort to move homeless off parkway.
There's already controversy around a regulation announced by the Mayor that would ban outdoor food distribution in city parks.
Mayor Nutter announces ban on outdoor food giveaways; some see effort to move homeless off parkway.
This morning, Mayor Nutter announced a "regulation" imposing a citywide ban on outdoor "feeding" (it's not his term, but it does give Hall Monitor the willies; you might prefer the less zoo-like phrase "food sharing" or "food distribution") in Philadelphia city parks.
The ban will go into effect in 30 days and will not affect family picnics or permitted events.
Nutter also announced a "temporary food distribution" location at City Hall, where port-o-potties and water will be provided; "outdoor feeders" (yech!) will be required to sign up and reserve days to serve food there.
This comes while the city's Board of Health is still considering a regulation that would have required "outdoor feeders" (yech!) — most of whom are volunteers from churches, individuals, or members of Philly Food Not Bombs to meet certain food safety standards. That bill, ostensibly less stringent since it didn't ban the practice outright, has been hotly opposed by several groups.
That bill has formed part of a backdrop of what many homeless advocates see as the city's gradually trying to reduce the homeless presence on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and near City Hall. As construction of the new Barnes Foundation museum has been underway on the Parkway, several homeless individuals with whom CP spoke said not long ago who were sleeping nearby said that they felt they were being pushed gradually away. In the mayor's budget address last week, he announced a plan for a major renovation of Love Park — probably the last major gathering place of the homeless since Dilworth Plaza went under construction.
Among those opposed to the new proposed regulation is Brian Jenkins, president of Chosen 300 Ministries, a network of 73 churches around the region and internationally. Chosen 300 serves meals to homeless individuals 6 days a week in three locations around Philadelphia (only one of those is outdoors). Jenkins believes it's the single largest private meal program in Philadelphia.
Jenkins says that his coalition is "definitely opposed" to the proposed regulation, and questions the administration's motive in establishing regulations that so clearly affect the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which the administration hopes to see revitalized as a tourist attraction.
Jenkins calls the mayor's push to end outdoor food distribution in parks a civil rights issue."
Jenkins also says the administration hasn't reached to work with those who engage in the food distribution. While the mayor announced today that he has created a "working group of external stakeholders," Jenkins says that he, for one, was never contacted.
"The amazing part is that I haven't been invited — and I have the largest feeding organization in the city of Philadelphia."
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