The Alligator has vented its outrage over the city adhering to its 130-meals limit for St. Francis House; now for some facts.
The city ordinance does not limit the number of people St. Francis House can feed. It simply limits the number of meals that can be handed out on the St. Francis House property. There are many other spaces that I'm sure the city would support via special permit, perhaps as close as the Courthouse parking lot on the corner opposite St. Francis house.
I'm not sure where the idea that being poor, homeless and/or hungry trumps public safety, property owners' rights and the enforcing of laws and ordinances.
The government is responsible for helping and protecting all the people, not just the select few who are most vocal.
If the issue involved enforcing other ordinances, such as those protecting the Alligator distribution boxes from damage and theft, the Editorial Board would have a slant far different from "Whose property rights is the commission concerned about?"
When Thanksgiving and Christmas come, I wonder where the outraged Alligator editorialists and cartoonists will be: Helping (anywhere) to feed and care for the homeless and hungry, or sitting down to their nice, safe, warm, bountiful tables?
