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Gainesville wonders: What should be the rules for feeding homeless?

Many laws in Gainesville regulate how and where the homeless and destitute may be fed and sheltered, but those laws have been uniformly ignored for many years -- until now.

Some proposed changes to how those laws govern places of religious assembly will come back before the City Commission, including a recommended end to the no-feed zone around the University of Florida campus and placing no limits on the number of lunches that can be served in single-family neighborhoods

Commissioners also directed staff to analyze meal limits that were enforced for the first time on the St. Francis House homeless shelter and soup kitchen, when the agency attempted to renew its permit as a nonreligious organization.

"Basically what this has done now is create a feeding frenzy," said Kent Vann, executive director of the shelter, which now serves exactly 130 meals per day. "Now everybody knows we're going to close that door, so they are all showing up early."

Read the Gainesville Sun article here.

Full post as published by the 13th juror on April 09, 2009 (boomark / email).