Before any other Kansas City media outlet . . . THE TKC BLOG COMMUNITY BROKE NEWS of HOMELESS SERVING CONTROVERSY AND CITY HALL CRACKDOWN . . .
Now . . .
CHECK OUT EXCLUSIVE REAX FROM RESIDENTS WHO QUESTION THE METHODS AND MOTIVATION OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND THEIR FOOD SERVING CRACKDOWN!!!
First up . . . Read some really good questions WHICH POINT OUT THE SLOPPY LANGUAGE OF THE KANSAS CITY ORDINANCE that might very well apply to community picnics and other social events and might be exceptionally vulnerable to a legal challenge according to KCMO insiders.
Check it:
Do Not Feed The Locals
"Took a look at the ordinance. Very vague language. City danced around the issue. Who determines "food insecurity"? Who determines which agency is in the business of feeding people? Who determines if a person is homeless? What if the subject doesn't want to declare their status? Do we enact " don't ask don't tell"?
Scout food drives could throw all those scouts into the mix. Can they host jamborees and feed other scouts out at the campsites?
Does a 501C3 label you as a likely suspect?
What about the volunteers who gather food from grocery store bakeries?
Or what about the inevitable funeral gatherings in the church basement? Better hope that your church is not in the business of good deeds of feeding the poor as your funeral gathering will get snagged in this hopeless net.
What if you neighborhood participates in Harvester's events? This ordinance as currently written would not allow the residents to put out cookies and coffee for visiting council members."
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Next up . . . Here's a heartfelt plea from a local activist who questions the motivation and priorities of the City Council enacting this tragic special legislation.
Kansas City Silent Protest
I had to dig deep to think about it from both sides of the story. My initial reaction is nothing short of heartbreak to see City Councilwoman Jan Marcason or Jim Glovers name attached to the bill. These are two people who I truly believed stood for doing the right thing. And let's not harken to an early time when Glovers whole premise of getting elected was to give back......anyone else remember the "Gloves for Glover" campaign? Humanitarianism seemed to suit the camp fine when it looked good...
The premise of the bill is much more than regulating the temperature of an act of kindness on a chilly night. It appears to be much more superficial. . It's about trash....and managing the appearance of a city that is contending for huge upcoming conventions. What kind of city would we appear to be to have the homeless camping out in the beautiful park next to city hall? What would tourists think? A year of research.........and a food sharing crackdown and litter control is all the city can come up with to tackle this gigantic issue? Laughable is the only word I can muster.
It is estimated, per a call into the City Mission, that Kansas City has close to 15000 homeless. A large percentage of them being veterans and a growing percentage of children. With only 2500 beds being made available within the city, the math doesn't lie. Extra help is essential and necessary!
Tomorrow the City Council is going for a finalized vote on the bill. The meeting is at 3:00. Even though they are not allowing for public testimony, I will be in attendance....a silenced protest if you will...... standing on my own two feet...in representation for those who have trouble standing on theirs . . ."
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Developing . . .
Shame on this Mayor and council for being so heartless and stupid.
ReplyDeleteWe need better leadership at city hall.
we must do better!
At the same time all this was going on, the mayor was at the downtown airport dancing for the GOP swells.
ReplyDeletePretty much tells you who calls the tune in KCMO city government.
Just keep paying your earnings, property, and sales taxes and leave Sly alone.
He's putting KC on the map and making it the innovation capital of the world.
Bureaucrats much prefer perfection in the process than adequacy in the outcome.
ReplyDeleteWas their a problem? The Mayor and City Council wasting time on something that was not a problem. Maybe they find the taxpayers $15,000 than Councilman Brooks has not returned.
ReplyDeleteSHOCK!!! PEOPLE WHO AREN'T LAWMAKERS OR LEGISLATORS READ ORDINANCES AND ATTEMPT TO LEGALLY INTERPRET THEM!!! WHO ELSE WOULD YOU LISTEN TO!!!
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't miss a minute around here, would you 8:45?
ReplyDeleteYou seem to hate the place yet just can't stay away.
Oh, the self loathing you feel must be immense!
As a merchant and resident of the West Bottoms I can tell you the do-gooders are here 6 days a week feeding the criminal element, then retreating back to the safety of OP to watch the KU game at Applebees. Meanwhile the people who live here have to deal with the theft, vandalism and crime perpetuated by giving people food so they can now use the money they panhandle for a bottle of Night Train. Give your money to the City Union Mission if you want to feel better. They are truly helping people. Or take one of these "down on their luck" citizens home with you to live under your porch and shit in your front doorway and rob your neighbors.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of us, Marvin. We're a club.
ReplyDeleteMUST SEE!!! ONE IDIOT DEFENDS ANOTHER IDIOT!!!
This is all because of the streetcar.
ReplyDeleteIf we have money to study things like a toy train, we have money to do everything else anyone can think of.
9:33... yep, a club of city hall cheerleader buffoons who spends a whole lot of time at a place they claim they can't stand.
ReplyDeleteOh, the self loathing your club must feel to just not be able to stay away from good old TKC.
Fuck Kansas City! Just another example of why no one respects the city government. I will feed the homeless anytime I wish. Unless the city wants to put me under 24/7 surveillance they can kiss my ass. However, me and several hundred of my neighbours will be writing the RNC asking them to not bring their convention to a heartless city.
ReplyDeleteThe GOP gives two shits about "heart."
ReplyDeleteCompassionate Conservatism just means fucking people over while wearing a smile.
Neighborhood groups have been pleading for years for an ordinance like this. The groups feeding the homeless are no doubt well-intentioned, but their efforts must be in conjunction with the comprehensive homeless services offered at at places such as City Union Mission and reStart. Just handing someone a sandwich and driving off is like trying to fix the schools by throwing a book at a kid and driving off. It doesn't help fix anything.
ReplyDeleteWhen we've started legislating against acts of human kindness... well, I'd say that our society is just about unredeemable.
ReplyDeleteGroups giving food to the homeless should be required to give them showers too.
ReplyDeleteThe only shot we have left to keep this ordinance 140412 which in effect will put a lot of not for profits that feed and cloth Kansas city's poor and homeless out of business is to fill up the counsel room with concerned citizens that would like to know all the facts about who got it this far? And to have the counsel send ir back too committee, Please be at city hall this afternoo
ReplyDeleteSomething seriously wrong with a town that chooses to make it a criminal act to feed a starving man.
ReplyDeleteWhy is nobody naming names on this draconian proposal?
ReplyDeleteTHATS what accountability is.
When the GOP Convention comes to Kansas City, it is going to be extremely hard to explain those
ReplyDelete"Don't Feed The Locals"
signs all over downtown.
9:04 am knows what they're talking about. To everyone that thinks giving food to "homeless" helps them please keep in mind that what you're usually doing is enabling them to buy more drugs/alcohol with their panhandled money. Why don't you just give them drugs instead and they can buy sandwiches with their panhandling - it's the same difference.
ReplyDeleteAs a local food grower, I cannot give out free samples of a tomato or slice of watermelon without having a food handlers permit/license. This also goes long with wording which requires things like a "3 sided tent", various water sources and chemicals.
ReplyDeleteBut as with everything in KC the tax dollars are given away to eco-dev interests and the only way to raise more $ is to regulate everything to death with health dept and public safety scares.
What does this have to do with building a modest transit system like very other city in America out size and even smaller has?
ReplyDeleteAnd if the answer is nothing, why is this story posted here?
This is just a place for bitching incessantly about any kind of change right? Right? What the fuck.
2:02, +1. I sat in a parking lot one day watching a man with a sign that said, "Hungry. Homeless please help." He panhandled for about 15 minutes, walked over to the QuikTrip and drank two 25 oz Hurricane malt liquors.
ReplyDeleteReally helpful.
..and he'll have room for six if this ordinance passes
ReplyDeleteBullshit. He can go to the City Union Mission and eat, but that requires having no 25oz Hurricane malt liquors for that day. This ordinance has nothing to do with people going hungry. Anyone who deals with the homeless on a regular basis knows this. If you live in Overland Park and watch it on the news you aren't in reality. Come volunteer with me at the City Union Mission. I do it once a month. It would do you some good to see this firsthand outside of your JOCO bubble of suburban guilt. The Mission helps people, you giving them food and money is making their situation worse.
ReplyDeleteMayor Sly James and City of Kansas City "war" on poverty. What is wrong with the following picture http://youtu.be/AEI6W98YSPg ?
ReplyDeleteWhy is there a problem with the homeless? Have the prisons, work houses and asylums closed.
ReplyDelete