Friday (2014) … FSU News – Town takes leap to meet more homeless needs (Feb. 20, 2014) …item 2.. Judge Approves of Miami’s Plan to Strip Homeless of Certain Rights (Fri., Feb. 28 2014) — can no longer pitch tents. …
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Leon County Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley said the tireless work by Mel Eby — The Shelter’s lone director for 25 years before being forced into retirement last year — shouldn’t be overlooked.
“I would just like to say we all need to remember Mel Eby’s role in this. He did the heavy lifting on caring for the homeless at The Shelter for 25 years, maybe imperfectly but passionately,” Lindley said. “I just think the community owes him a great debt for doing a lot of the work before people were even aware of the work that needed to be done.”
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……….*****All images are copyrighted by their respective authors ……..
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… What The Frank, Over !!
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… FLICKRIVER … marsmet532a … interesting
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… marsmet551 photo … Guerrilla Marketing … Letters to the Editor (1 April 2013) …item 2.. Former Shelter Director Mel Eby felt forced into retirment (30 March 2013) … Item 3a / 3b .. Pulp Fiction – Best Quotes …
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… marsmet553 photo … It’s Called (2013) …item 1b.. ‘House of Cards’ spoof (held April 27) …item 3.. Homeless Coalition to Provide Overflow Emergency Sheltering to Haven of Rest Guests – 2729 West Pensacola Street (Jun 08, 2013) …
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… marsmet523 photo … Danke !! … Life in Color Festival: "Nobody Has Seen Anything Yet" (Fri., Dec. 27 2013) — 2 Chainz – Used 2 (Explicit) …item 4.. Jimmy McMillan "Rent Is Too Damn High" Anthem …
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… marsmet521 photo … HOMELESS (2014) …item 3.. Local Organizations Prepare To Hit The Streets (Jan 26, 2014) — Leon County Homeless Point-In-Time Count …item 4.. Claude VonStroke – Can’t Wait …
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…..item 1)…. Town takes leap to meet more homeless needs …
… FSU News … www.fsunews.com/ …
FSU News / section / News … www.fsunews.com/section/NEWS
Officials, advocates and supporters turn out for The Shelter relocation groundbreaking
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img code photo … Groundbreaking takes place The Shelter relocation
City Commissioner Gil Ziffer
bcdownload.gannett.edgesuite.net/tallahassee/41801896001/…
Groundbreaking takes place The Shelter relocation: By the end of the year, The Shelter on West Tennessee Street will have a new home on West Pensacola Street
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Written by
TaMaryn Waters
Democrat staff writer
FILED UNDER
News
Local
Feb. 20, 2014 |
www.fsunews.com/article/20140220/NEWS01/302200031/Town-ta…
The most progressive and radical approach to serving Tallahassee’s homeless took shape Wednesday with a groundbreaking, but really the seed was planted in Rick Kearney’s mind in the mid-1980s.
The now multi-millionaire president and CEO of Mainline Information Systems had been a marketing systems engineer for IBM. He later climbed the ranks at several state agencies, riding the fast track to management and a comfortable life. Then he gave it all up.
During his transition, he worked in Frenchtown. Kearney served food, doughnuts and coffee to men and women struggling to survive while being homeless. For about five years, Kearney said he did this and thought, “There has to be something different for them than this.”
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img code photo … Crowds of people attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Comprehensive Emergency Services Center for the homeless on
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Crowds of people attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Comprehensive Emergency Services Center for the homeless on Wednesday off West Pensacola Street. / Michael Schwarz / Special to the Democrat
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img code photo … Rick Kearney, Mark O’Bryant, and Bill Rutherford
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From right, Beatitude Foundation Board Chairman Rick Kearney, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare President Mark O’Bryant and CRA President Bill Rutherford. / Michael Schwarz / Special to the Democrat
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— Details on naming the new shelter
The United Way of the Big Bend, via the Tallahassee Democrat, is collecting suggested names for the new homeless shelter. To make a nomination, go to www.tallahassee.com/name.
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The facility also will have a kitchen and dining hall. More importantly, with a partnership with the Dedman School of Hospitality at Florida State University, college students will learn restaurant skills while serving the homeless.
An in-house employment bank for trained construction workers will also be a part of the facility’s outreach.
The existing shelter will continue to house the homeless until it’s time to move. The Community Redevelopment Agency, under the authority of city and county commissioners, approved a .9-million purchase last year for several lots owned by The Shelter and the adjacent Renaissance Community Center, a one-stop homeless resource that’s another Kearney project.
An annual lease between the CRA and the two groups is being fine-tuned, said The Shelter Executive Director Jacob Reiter.
Three major funding partners — the city, Leon County and the United Way of the Big Bend — were each asked to provide 0,000 over five years toward building 36,000-square-foot facility. They all agreed.
A gathering of more than 250 people — present and former elected officials, advocates, the homeless and project supporters — attended the groundbreaking under a canopy of dangling Spanish moss on the 3.8-acre city lot, adjacent to the Big Bend Homeless Coalition.
Tallahassee Mayor John Marks tightly gripped the event’s program in his hand. He couldn’t help but wish the late Kay Freeman, the coalition’s former director and a petite pistol whose passion was unmatched, was in the audience. She died in October 2008.
“If you knew Kay, and who didn’t, you knew her passion for what she was trying to do in this community for homelessness,” Marks said. “You really, really saw a person who had the kind of will and desire to make sure something like this happened.
I truly hope Kay is looking down on us now and saying, ‘Thank you. Thank you for doing this for this community.’ ”
Freeman, Marks and others years ago crafted a 10-year plan to end homelessness that in many ways remained dormant. Then came the Homeward Bound Initiative, under the coalition’s current director Susan Pourciau. While it had grand ideas, there was little money to give it wings.
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The new shelter, in partnership with the homeless coalition’s HOPE Community, is changing its program services once opened. It will serve homeless men and women and one of Hope’s buildings will be devoted to The Shelter’s homeless families with children.
Doug Smith lived at The Shelter off and on for two years before moving in with a friend. He said the facility will be a blessing, noting “a lot of people have died on these streets due to the cold weather.”
Kearney said a major project like this would normally take years to tackle. This one took about a year to reach construction, following months of numerous meetings that started with contention among some homeless providers.
“Not everybody was prepared for this because it’s so radical. Some people dislike change and they thought that the track that was currently occurring was the right track,” Kearney said.
When those critics saw the consensus, the financial side efficiency and overall benefits to changing course, Kearney said, “They came around.”
Another catalyst could be attributed to Renee Miller, a missionary who went undercover dressed as a homeless women a year ago, alleged she was sexually harassed by a shelter employee and blogged about building conditions and overall treatment of homeless women at The Shelter.
The allegations prompted operational and personnel shifts, heavy oversight by the United Way and an independent review calling for a new facility and a philosophical change in serving the homeless so residents weren’t living there for a decade or more.
Miller, who was in the audience, said what she did helped kick-start the project into turbo speed. She added, “All of the glory is going to God. I didn’t do anything. This is all what he did.”
Leon County Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley said the tireless work by Mel Eby — The Shelter’s lone director for 25 years before being forced into retirement last year — shouldn’t be overlooked.
“I would just like to say we all need to remember Mel Eby’s role in this. He did the heavy lifting on caring for the homeless at The Shelter for 25 years, maybe imperfectly but passionately,” Lindley said. “I just think the community owes him a great debt for doing a lot of the work before people were even aware of the work that needed to be done.”
Deborah Holt, chairman of The Shelter’s board of directors, said the new facility will be a place where people can get their second wind, along with medical attention, case management and additional resources.
Unlike now, when the homeless come to the new building, they won’t have to sleep on floor mats. The image triggered applause and an “amen” from City Commissioner Andrew Gillum sitting in the audience.
Holt said the facility serves as an “inspiration to us all and the good works can be achieved by communities that share a common vision.”
This facility, she said, is a dream come true.
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…..item 2)…. Judge Approves of Miami’s Plan to Strip Homeless of Certain Rights …
… Miami New Times … blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/ …
Riptide … Miami News / Crime / Sports / Debauchery …
News
By Kyle Munzenrieder Fri., Feb. 28 2014 at 3:20 PM
Categories: News
blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2014/02/judge_approves_of…
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Rights extended to homeless people in the City of Miami for years will now be taken away. A federal judge approved of a plan today that will scale back an agreement reached 16 years ago that had allowed homeless in downtown Miami to pitch tents, build fires in parks, and relieve themselves in public.
However, several landmark protections put into place by the Pottinger Agreement will be retained.
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img code photo … Homeless – Dade County, Florida
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Photo by emmanuel / Flickr CC
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— See also: Pottinger Settlement: Homeless Lose Rights
Miami City commissioners had sought to scale back several homeless rights now that the identity of downtown Miami has changed in recent years. The American Civil Liberties Union intervened and opposed many of these efforts, but in December the two sides agreed on a modified plan.
The original agreement prevented police from arresting homeless people for performing tasks like sleeping, cooking, bathing, and urinating in public that they couldn’t perform elsewhere because they were homeless.
— See also: Miami’s Homeless Say City Workers Are Stealing Their Stuff
The homeless will still be able to sleep on sidewalks as long as they aren’t impeding pedestrians, but can no longer pitch tents. Building fires is now illegal too, as is exposing themselves to use the restroom or clean themselves if they are within a quarter mile of a public restroom.
U.S. Judge Federico Moreno approved of the new agreement today, which was the final step to the city adopting the new policies.
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.
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