|
|
|
Philadelphia sued over ban on serving meals to homeless outdoors
The City of Philadelphia and Mayor Michael Nutter are now facing a lawsuit over the mayor's recently-introduced ban on outdoor "feeding" in city parks.
Philadelphia sued over ban on serving meals to homeless outdoors
The City of Philadelphia and Mayor Michael Nutter are now facing a lawsuit over the mayor's recently-introduced ban on outdoor "feeding" in city parks.
The suit was filed this morning on behalf of various groups and individuals who've been serving meals to the homeless on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for years. The plaintiffs are being represented by Paul Messing of the Center City law firm Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing & Feinberg, which specializes in civil rights litigation, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union and attorney Seth Kreimer. (City Paper first reported on the likelihood of this lawsuit two weeks ago).
[You can read the full complaint here]
It's been two months since Nutter announced a ban on the serving of meals outdoors in city parks. While the ban theoretically applies to the entire city, it was widely understood to target the serving of meals on the Parkway, which has been a site for that activity for more than ten years — and which has also been the focus of an attempted revival by the city, spearheaded by the opening last month of the Barnes Museum.
Nutter isn't the first Philadelphia mayor to try and curtail similar activity: mayors John Street and Ed Rendell faced opposition to various efforts to curb the presence of homeless people on the parkway and nearby in Center City. The mayor is, however, the first to impose an outright ban on the serving of meals outdoors.
Today's suit, filed in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleges that the mayor's ban (introduced as an administrative rule, and which thus did not pass through City Council) is in violation of state and federal law on three counts:
According to the suit,
— It violates the first and fourteenth amendment rights of the plaintiffs (many of whom believe it is their religious duty to serve such meals) by depriving them "of their rights to the free exercise of religion."
— It violates the first and fourteenth amendment rights of the plaintiffs by denying them of their "freedom of speech," the argument being that the serving of meals is itself a form of expression.
— It violates the Pennsylvania Religious Freedom Protection Act, which guarantees Pennsylvania residents the right to "free exercise of religion."
The lawsuit asks for a judgment that the ban is unconstitutional and seeks an injunction against the city to bar it from preventing the plaintiffs from serving meals.
We'll have more detail soon, so stay tuned here at Naked City.
(Follow Isaiah Thompson on Twitter)
- ActiVman
- adventures
- Arts
- Ask A Man-About-Town
- Award Tour
- Awards
- Bad Idea Factory
- Beer
- Below the Curve
- Bikes
- Booze
- Brian Hickey
- BRT
- Budget
- Budget Fuss
- Business
- Casinos
- City Council
- City Hall
- CouncilMANIC
- CP Abroad
- CP in the Community
- Criminal Justice System
- Day Tripper
- Death and Taxes
- Delaware River
- Design
- DROP
- Drugs
- Dubious Distinction
- Elections
- End of Days
- Environment
- Fashion
- Film Fest
- Financial Meltdown
- FrackTrack
- Free Library
- Gambling
- Gay Stuff
- Get Lit
- Greenstorming
- guns
- Hall Monitor
- Health
- Health Care
- Hello, Kitty
- Holidays
- Ice Cubes
- Iggles
- Immigration
- In Memoriam
- Labor
- Lawsuits
- Letters
- LGBTQ
- Maps
- Marcellus Shale
- Media
- MMA
- Mummers
- Music
- MUST READ
- Mysterious Mysteries
- Nation
- News
- Non Sequitur
- Opinion
- PA politics 2010
- Parking Wars
- Parks and Recreation
- People Send Us This Stuff
- Philadelphia Police
- Philadelphia Union
- Philaphemera
- Philly From Scratch
- philly madness
- Photos
- Poverty
- PPA
- President Obama
- Print Edition
- Prisons
- Protest
- Readers Write
- Real Estate
- Rock Bottom
- Schools
- Science
- Screwing Philly
- SEPTA
- snow
- So Lush
- Soccer
- Sporting Life
- Sports Complex
- State Politicians
- State Politics
- Street Art
- Strike
- Stuff We Like
- Taxes
- Taxi Drivers
- Tech Fetish
- television
- The Budget Crisis
- The City Paper
- The CLOG
- The Human Condition
- The Mayor
- The Phightin Phils
- The World
- Things that make you go hm
- Tinfoil Hats Off
- Under the Table
- Under the Tables
- Urban Development
- Urban Planning
- urban wildlife
- Video Poker
- We Call Shenanigans
- Weather
- Web Junk
- Weekend Omnibus
- White House
- What We've Found
- Women's Issues
- Flyered Up!
- How 'Bout That Weather?
- it's always sunny in philadelphia
- Stu!
- Shopping
- get out
- 10-track mind
- ArtsFlash
- Bloggity
- Bruce Being Bruce
- Colleges
- Comedy
- Gigantic Surprises
- Hello Canary
- Hello Puppy
- errata
- get lost
- Inside The Fishbowl
- Library Closings
- Local Support
- Movies
- Murder
- Night Moves
- Recycling
- radio
- Scientology
- Sex
- Sixers
- Skeeze Police
- State Politicians Screwing Philly
- That's a cool stencil!
- Theater
- Things We See
- This Week
- This Week in Oates
- University City
- WIN
- What we don't heart
- trailer!
- what we heart
- Feeling Guilty
- Askadelphia.
- Broke in Philly
- Contest
- Dance
- Dear Paper Doll
- Do A Good Thing
- Education
- Film Fest Schism
- G20-20 Vision
- Goodbye
- Gossip
- Great American Heroes
- PATCO
- Pearl Jam Week
- Puppy
- Stars of the Photostream
- sustainability
- Lower Merion Webcam-Gate
- The Cycle
- Equality Forum
- Bureaucrat of the Week
- Animals
- ElectionEar
- Photostream
