In Miami its War on the Homeless

From the Miami Herald

Miami has officially moved to dissolve a 20-year-old legal agreement that protects the city’s homeless from undue police harassment — a change that would allow the police to arrest the homeless for loitering.

The city filed a motion in federal court Wednesday to terminate the Pottinger agreement, a consent decree that prevents police from arresting homeless people for “life-sustaining” activities such as sleeping on the sidewalk, starting a cooking fire or urinating in public. The agreement stems from a landmark lawsuit brought against the city in the early 1990s by 5,000 homeless people and the American Civil Liberties Union to stop the police practice of arresting the homeless for loitering, saying it was unconstitutional.

For two decades, the Pottinger agreement has governed how police can interact with the homeless, but city commissioners in April unanimously passed a resolution instructing the city attorney to takes steps toward ending or amending the agreement. That resolution was sponsored by Mayor Francis Suarez and commissioners Joe Carollo and Manolo Reyes.


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10 thoughts on “In Miami its War on the Homeless

  • May 31, 2018

    The Police State, you all think I’m just blowing smoke. Gonna take serious punching to stop this. Will engulf us like a plague

    Reply
    • May 31, 2018

      I’m with ya Mark. I know what’s really going on. It’s not going to stop and the average person is just oblivious to it and anyone that thinks they can stop it by using the court system is dreaming. It’s worth a try, but our government on every level is not going to stop until they completely destroy us. Nobody wants to think their govt would do them harm, but when it starts happening, then it’ll be too late to “get it.”

      Reply
  • May 31, 2018

    and suppose all the people causing these actions are all good christians who show up at church regularly – help me Lord – I have hung onto a copy of Thomas Jeffersons writings that I found somewhere in my travels – one of his major concerns was that, once the country was started he knew that they would have to raise some money via taxes to provide for a standing army and to help those that needed help – he couldn’t decide whether to tax by land held or animals owned – con’t have time to look for it exactly – welcome to pigism in America – boy do I need to read that book of Hunter Thompsons called Nation of Swine – never did find a copy of it – in the early days of our gov;t the resposibility, as least in NJ from my reading for assisting the indigent was put on the churches who were required to provide a stipiend to those destitute and there were county farms and poor farms dependig on what state u were in – widow, children, soldiers etc. that had no where to go were to go there and Dorothy Day prodided a home for the homeless in my home town – don’t know what to say about this country but I feel God is not happy – and soon someone will pay for this inhumanity to man – sad but then as strapped as I am, and as good as Ocala churches are with the provisions that they have available to help people that need help, when u do try to be a good christian, u get taken advantage of by people who have no problem milking it anywhere they can – what do u do – my latest, is men I have been kind to with food, taking out of my own mouth and my husbands mouth, doing what they can to make a dying vets life miserable by trying to get into soc. sec. accts. hoping he would end up dead thinking they would get the wife to cook for them – lord help me, no more of their crap – they can go downtown and buy a second hand cook book at 3/$1. and get three free – what a bunch of losers, no wonder no woman wants them – I am from a different part of the world where, when times were tight after ww2, we did what we could to help one another – and hold one another up.

    Reply
  • May 30, 2018

    I guess the homeless need to get out of that state before they make some type of registry for them as well. Florida people need to wake up and realized they living in a Police State. The only thing missing now Is razor wire fences around the entire state borders!!!

    Reply
  • May 30, 2018

    The shelters have failed the SO’s. The Potter’s agreement needs to stay for the SO’s rights as well as any others.

    Reply
    • May 31, 2018

      It’s Pottinger – and you are correct. The Pottinger attorneys threw the sex offenders under the bus.

      Reply
  • May 30, 2018

    I truly believe ron book has his grubby little fingers in this pie. If not, then Miami is in the process of some major changes that doesn’t include him. Maybe they have someone else. who isn’t so bias, lined up for the homeless trust position. (Lets hope that’s the case)

    Reply
  • May 30, 2018

    To me this is nothing short of “divide and conquer”. First arrest the homeless, get them off the street…. then all that is left is the Sex-offenders.
    Ripe pickings for Mr Book to target.

    My heart and prayers go out for all the homeless, who are now going to be prayed upon by the Miami-Dade police.

    Reply
    • May 31, 2018

      SCOTUS is really going to have to weigh in on this one it’s a simple question Is it illegal to be homeless and are homeless people’s constitutional rights being violated. Which we already know it’s not and they are

      Reply

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