The Gainesville City Commission's choice to enforce a 130-meal limit for St. Francis House this Thanksgiving shows how disconnected it is from many of Gainesville's residents.
While City of Gainesville spokesman Bob Woods cites the rights of neighboring property owners as the main reason for enforcing the limit, he admits that he was unaware of the large number of holiday meals served until last week.
This is because the neighboring property owners have not complained in the past. In fact, after years of holiday meals, a single e-mail complaint that the city received may force St. Francis to turn hundreds away.
Whose property rights is the commission concerned about? St. Francis is bordered by the Civic Media Center, an Italian restaurant, a few homes and some empty lots.
If the commission does not change its stance, we wonder how St. Francis should determine who gets fed. Maybe the commissioners can come out and decide who looks hungriest.
While additional sites might be found, and other local organizations might be able to pick up the slack, we believe that enforcing this arbitrary limit is outrageous.
If the commission faced a line of 400 active voters waiting in the cold lines outside St. Francis, the situation would be vastly different.
But because the homeless don't show up in voting lines like they do in food lines, it's easy to turn a cold shoulder.
