By researching the relationship between Gainesville crime and homelessness, Commissioner Ed Braddy has riled a local homeless advocate, who officially denounced Braddy in a public e-mail.
Braddy made a public request for information on the city's past crimes that involved the homeless. It was made in response to constituent concerns that a proposed one-stop homeless shelter on North Main Street would increase crime in that area, Braddy said.
The Rev. Milford Griner, who wrote the March 22 e-mail, said Braddy's actions showed prejudice. "The issue was the purpose to which the list was used," Griner said, "and I think the purpose was to spread fear around those who have misguided concern about homeless people."
He said he and other Gainesville leaders would hold a rally outside city hall before the commission's hearing on the shelter April 3.
Braddy's records report, as thick as a telephone book, shows there were 3,832 crimes in Gainesville involving homeless people - as suspects, victims or witnesses - between January 2004 and February 2008.
In addition, there were 1,116 trespassing warnings, 18 campsites broken up, 30 panhandling incidents and 1,226 registered homeless felons.
Griner said he was most concerned with Braddy's use of a statistic that there are more than 1,000 homeless felons in Gainesville.
"To me, that's fear-mongering," he said.
Though he did not deny the accuracy of the number, Griner said many of the felonies were committed long ago or were for non-violent crimes and compared them to Braddy's own drunken-driving arrest in 2006.
Braddy said it's still too early to draw conclusions from the reports but added that they should be in a more readable format by the April 3 hearing.
Though he does not want the shelter to be built in its proposed location, Braddy said his intention in requesting the documents was to find information his constituents asked for, he said.
"They're using the loaded terms," he said of Griner and other homeless advocates. "'Fear-mongering.' 'Hate the homeless.' They're the ones using them. I'm not."
