UPDATE 9/12/2023 
Open Flyer

Please join the Racial Equity MCARE Zoom call  1pm Tuesday, September 12th, devoted entirely to discussing the Miami Beach City Commission’s meeting, 8:30 am Wednesday, September 13th at 1901 Convention Center Drive, and their plan (see Commission Memo and proposed ordinance here) to deport and arrest unhoused people. We’ll circulate talking points in opposition to this inhumane ordinance, and discuss constructive alternatives to criminalization.

It is no coincidence that this proposal to criminalize homelessness is surfacing just weeks before Miami Beach’s pivotal Mayoral election in November.  Given our cultural contempt for the poor, political candidates find that the homeless are easy targets for a “get tough on crime” campaign that panders to their constituents’ fears and ignorance about the root causes of homelessness.

Therefore, it very important that we show up in numbers at Wednesday‘s City Commission meeting.  We must look to embarrass this tourist haven for its planned cruelty to the poor, demonstrate the racist underpinnings of the ordinance and create a groundswell of public opinion against this wasteful diversion of police and city resources that will only worsen the city’s homelessness problem.

In solidarity,

David Peery, JD
Miami Coalition to Advance Racial Equity
Website –  Facebook – Twitter


Update 8/14/2023 – It was one year ago, September 2022, that FAC sent a letter and proposal to the Mayor of the City of Miami concerning the homeless crisis. We do feel it presents a very viable solution to the homeless issue. You can read the letter here (FAC Letter to Miami RE Homeless).

We are preparing a similar letter to send to Miami Beach Mayor and commissioners.  They are missing the source of the problem and a logical solution to reduce 75% of the homelessness without any cost to the city.


The Miami Beach City Commission will consider and vote on a proposal Wednesday, September 13, 2023 to authorize Miami Beach police to arrest poor people for sleeping in public if they refuse shelter and “services.”

The Miami Coalition to Advance Racial Equity is asking social justice advocates to join them at the Miami Beach City Commission chambers (time and location details below) and give public comments in opposition to this inhumane proposal to arrest people for the “crime” of not being able to afford a home. It is a wasteful and fiscally irresponsible diversion of police resources to arrest poor people rather than protecting our community from real crime.

“Criminalization of homelessness is an expensive way to make homelessness worse. Saddling people with criminal records makes it harder to obtain housing and to escape the cycle of homelessness. And it diverts resources away from Housing First solutions that would constructively end homelessness. Homelessness is a housing issue, a health issue and a human rights issue. It is not a criminal justice issue. Miami Beach cannot and will not arrest its way out of homelessness. This proposal would increase the suffering of the poor, waste money, and do nothing to end homelessness.”  David Peery, JD, Miami Coalition to Advance Racial Equity

They will meet at 8:30 am on the second floor of the Miami Beach Convention Center at 1901 Convention Center Drive in meeting rooms 222-225, and offer comments in opposition to this misguided proposal to criminalize homelessness in the City of Miami Beach.

If you are unable to attend in person, please call or email the Miami Beach Mayor, City Commissioners, City Manager and City Attorney with your opposition to the this outrageous proposal to criminalize homelessness,  They need to be asking WHY their citizens are homeless and what they, as elected officials, can do to help their citizens.

 

Mayor Dan Gelber 305-673-7035 [email protected]
Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, Group 1 305-673-7103 [email protected]
Commissioner Laura Dominguez, Group 2 305-673-7104 [email protected]
Commissioner Alex J. Fernandez, Group 3 305-673-7106 [email protected]
Commissioner Steven Meiner, Group 4 305-673-7105 [email protected]
Commissioner Ricky Arriola, Group 5 305-673-7107 [email protected]
Commissioner David Richardson, Group 6 305-673-7102 [email protected]
City Manager Alina T. Hudak [email protected]
City Attorney RAFAEL A. PAZ 305.673.7470ext. 26277 [email protected]
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