Miami Considers Ban On Feeding the Homeless Without Training

The Miami City Commission will consider a proposal next month that would make it illegal for "unauthorized people and groups" to feed the homeless. They say the ordinance will cut down on litter and ensure the safety of the food that the homeless eat. Anyone without formal training who is caught giving food away would first receive a warning and then fines up to $300 for subsequent food offerings. Without laws like this the homeless might start to associate people with food, and the only thing more inconvenient than having to look at a homeless person in the morning is having to run away from cannibals.

Re:Uh...

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had homeless people refuse food when asking for money.

One guy was panhandling outside a Subway sub shop and asked for "some change so I can get something to eat." I was feeling charitable and I had time on my hands, so I asked him "you want money so you can get a sub or something?" He said yes.

So I said we should both go inside the sub shop and I'd pay for his sub. He said no thanks and just wanted the money. I repeated my offer, and he got pissed off saying "if you don't want to give me any money just fuck off."

It was never about a sub, it was about money for smokes or whatever.

Ah, the idiocy of the well meaning...

[asdf7890]

A couple of the food establishments around here used to give their waste food (pre-made snadwiches that were "on date" or always sold as "made today" being the main constituan, though fruit and veg was involved too) to a local hospice at the end of the day - an arragenment the hospice and the people (the truely homeless and those escaping from bad homes) it cared for. The council put a stop to it on health and safety grounds, lord knows why. Now the same food goes into bins that the homeless raid - how much more healthy and safe is that?!