Saturday, February 16, 2019

landmark homeless case Pottinger v. City of Miami consent decree set aside by same federal court that approved it many years ago

The city of Miami got a federal court to throw out a consent decree that prevented police from arresting the homeless for being homeless and taking their possessions.

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WLRN.ORG
A federal judge on Friday terminated a consent decree that has been in effect for over 20 years, which prevented police in the City of Miami from arresting


Comments

Jamila Guessoum They will have at least a cell to sleep intertwined want to hide the misery of some. They have no home ! Where do they want them to go ?

Pike Bachert How do you take away nothing from people who have nothing. This is not America, I don't know what this place is but it isn't America!

Dean Bush Pike Bachert in America, you get a job you work you make money, and you survive somehow. Most of the homeless in America are living outside on streets and then Parks because of drugs and alcohol and pot. They don't want to work. They don't want medical attention. They don't want psychological treatment. They are where they want to be. There is help for people who need it and abide by the rules for receiving it.

Sloan Bashinsky Now what? Society puts all its homeless people into jails? If so, society needs to build a lot more jails. Or, society kills its homeless people? Then, what fills that vacuum? Something will, and society might like it less than what replaced homeless people.

From the article:
The Miami Police Department has issued internal orders modeled after key segments of the settlement agreement, wrote Moreno, saying the tactics will not change too drastically.
“Both sides agree that arresting the homeless is never a solution,” wrote Moreno.

So, again. If Miami police are not going to arrest and jail city homeless people, for being homeless, what are the police going to do? What's going to change?

Key West already is arresting and jailing homeless people for minor offenses not made against anyone else. What changed?

The Pottinger consent agreement, now set aside by the same federal court in Miami that approved it years ago, is why Key West built its homeless shelter, KOTS, to enable city homeless people to sleep inside at night, instead of in tents all around the city. Pottinger set aside, the city can choose to close KOTS and simply put all homeless people in the sheriff's jail on Stock Island. Oops, the sheriff doesn't have that many beds



  • Dennis Ward Sloan Bashinsky that’s not true, Sloan.


  • Sloan Bashinsky Dennis Ward What isn't true?


  • Dennis Ward Sloan Bashinskyputting all homeless in jail.

  • Sloan Bashinsky Yes, I think you are correct. If the city were to close KOTS, then the Pottinger decision would still be in effect, and unless the city provided a place for homeless people to sleep inside, cook food, bathe, relive themselves - life sustaining activities - the city could not, under Pottinger, stop them from doing those things outside.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I was homeless in Key Wierd. The homeless I met at Higg's and Smathers did not want to work. They sold their food stamp for 50% and bought booze. Fuck em!!! I don't feel sorry for someone who doesn't try to improve their life.

Sloan said...

Lots more than just those homeless sell their food stamp cards for half price. How do you suggest fucking the people who buy food stamp cards for 50 cents on the dollar. How do you suggest fucking homeless people who sell their cards for half price? Jail? Chop them up for shark bait? Bullet in back of the head? If jail, do you pay the cost of putting them there, since that is where you want them put? If one of the other two options, do you then go to jail, and then to prison? Or perhaps you have another solution? Those are very real, deadly serious questions. I have yet to see anyone come up with a solution to homeless people who, for whatever reason, do not work for pay that is enough money to get them off the streets. I personally do not think there is a way that works, in general. I think homelessness, in general, can be compared to mental illness, cancer, Alzheimer's, etc., for which there really is no cure. Only the symptoms can be treated, and how much money is society willing to spend treating the symptoms? Meanwhile, I see lots of people who are not homeless, who at least ought not be allowed to drive motor vehicles, and perhaps not even bicycles or skateboards, due to their being under the influence of something that made them hazardous to themselves and other people.