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For decades now, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway has been a home and hangout for homeless folks — in part because it's a big, relatively empty space close to other things; in part because, for decades, various church, school and other groups have been showing up to distribute food.
A few weeks ago, the "feeders" were handed fliers from the Department of Health, inviting them to attend a meeting being held by the city's Health Board to examine possible new regulations on the distribution of food.
A second meeting will be held 5:30 p.m. this Thursday at the Municipal Services Building, Room 1450.
Health Commissioner Donald Schwarz says that the Board, which promulgates health and safety regulations, including some regarding the handling of food, asked the Health Department to speak with those who distribute food on the Parkway and that the Department “is interested in helping to assure that those who are hungry and are getting fed are safer and that those who are feeding are aware of safe procedures.”
But some homeless advocates see this as the latest incarnation of a longtime effort by various city interests to push the homeless off the parkway. Mayor Ed Rendell, former councilman Frank DiCicco, Mayor Street, and Center City District chief Paul Levy are among those who’ve criticized the distribution of food on the Parkway over the years. In 2007, Street administration managing director Loree Jones told a group of students from Mathematics, Civics, and Sciences Charter School to move their food program elsewhere; they did not.
The latest attention to food distribution comes, of course, as the city prepares to celebrate the reopening of the Barnes Foundation on the Parkway, and amid new calls to address the homeless situation there (“As Barnes Rises, Homeless along Parkway get new scrutiny,” was one November article in the Daily News).
But there isn’t total agreement even among homeless advocates about what should and shouldn’t be done.
Brian Jenkins, pastor of Chosen 300, which operates several indoor food programs but also gives out food once a week on the Parkway, says he thinks the Health Board has cause to want to tighten up the rules on homeless feeding programs, "and I can respect that."
Bill Golderer, pastor of Broad Street Ministry, which provides various services for the homeless, told CP he doesn’t see regulations on food distribution as inherently bad.
“Good intentions doesn’t equal good methodology,” he says. “Many of these [homeless] people have serious health histories.”
The food being distributed isn’t always of particularly high quality, Golderer adds. Broad Street Ministry recently spent nearly half a million dollars on a new industrial kitchen to accommodate its increasingly large meals for the homeless. Currently, they serve once a week; Golderer says he’s interested in expanding that program.
New regulations can disrupt the work that dedicated volunteers have been doing consistently for decades. These groups have a proven track record of providing food that is far better and more nutritious than, say, the food provided by city-run shelters, but at no cost to city taxpayers.
The health department should be focusing on solving real problems, not imaginary ones. The problems faced by Philadelphians without houses are serious: a lack of city social services, shelters closing down, police harassment, astonishingly long waiting lists for the programs that successfully help people get off the streets like housing first programs.
If the health department really cares about public health, they should start by looking at ways to help fix those problems. But instead, it seems like they're gearing up to drive people off of the parkway, and using "health and safety" as a pretext for their real aim: gentrifying our city, no matter what the cost in people's health and human life.— graysferry01- It's a mistake to assume that everyone who eats on the Parkway is homeless. Many are homeless, sure. But many others are barely scraping by and need these free meals to sustain themselves. Some are on fixed incomes and come at the end of the month when money is tight, or when their food stamps run out. Many are living in rooming houses; they eat on the Parkway because they aren't always set up to cook, and often are barely managing to keep their rent paid. In addition, many people who are homeless and in shelters choose to eat on the Parkway because the food is better, and because it's an escape from the often toxic shelter atmosphere.
My hunch is, it's more important to the city government to keep the tourist money flowing than it is to come up with sustainable solutions for Philadelphia's homeless and precariously housed citizens. In particular, it needs to do more to provide effective case management and other supportive services in city shelters. Without real case management, a city shelter is barely better than a warehouse for human beings.— mehitabelle - I'm as liberal as they come.... But this is an issue I just don't agree with: It is not a city's job to come up with a "sustainable solution" for homelessness.....a city governments Primary duty is to its its Tax payers.......would it be nice if the city had surplus money for homeless people YES......but primary funding and responsibility for this population should be # 1 themselves ie make decisions in life that don't put you in this situation #2) Family members if its children or mentally disabled 3) Charitable organizations 4) State and Federal government: if its veterans or mentally ill... 5) and lastly city government if it has surplus funds ie...the schools are decent ; crime is low; and the basic city services that tax payers pay for are up to par ;— genius1977
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