Police Chief Debunks Homeless Feeding Group’s Claims

      I just got off the phone with Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley.

     I asked him about the charge of Police intimidation leveled by the homeless feeding group
Food Not Bombs. I’ll get back to the Chief in a minute, but here’s what I’ve been able to find out about Food Not Bombs.   

     Food Not Bombs is one of the key feeding groups that have been feeding the homeless in Stranahan Park for the last few years. The feedings have caused friction with many City residents and City Leaders, because the park has now become a haven for the down and out, a few just out ( of prison that is), and a smattering of the mentally disabled and sober – living – challenged folks. 

     Food Not Bombs Fort Lauderdale is the local chapter of nationwide group that bills itself as the “fastest growing revolutionary movement in North America.”

                                  

     Started 30 years ago in Cambridge Mass. as an anti-nuclear group, the group’s mission today is to protest war and poverty, and share free vegetarian food with the homeless.
     The San Francisco chapter of Food Not Bombs boasts that they have over “1000 arrests in the governments’ efforts to silence it’s protest against the city’s anti-homeless policies”.

      The group is affiliated with other anti-government policy groups such as the Anarchist Black Cross, Free Radio Movement, and Homes Not Jails.

                                    But back to Police Chief Adderley

     Adderley says the groups claims of Police misbehavior are hogwash. He says his officers responded to complaints from the South Middle River Civic Association about a “squatters residence” in their neighborhood. The association has been fighting crime and blight in their neighborhood and complained of unsavory characters and possible illegal drug activity at the home.

     Adderley says his officers found the home in poor condition, without electricity and water. He says his officers gave the residents a short time frame to clear up those problems or move out, but after the group threatened a lawsuit, the Police “backed off”,  until the City’s legal department had a look at the situation.

     I haven’t gotten any return phone calls or e-mails from Food Not Bombs.

      I’ll continue to follow the story –   ……  Tim