Meanest City? Hardly!! By now most have heard the news that Sarasota was ranked by a Washington D.C. based "advocacy" group as #1 on their list of meanest cities in America in treatment of Homeless people. This is based, according to their report, on the City's adoption of an anti-lodging ordinance that is much more about trespassing than it is about homelessness, and which has been ruled constitutional by a local court.

All of this of course stirs up a lot of publicity, which is of course the point of issuing the list in the first place. We tried to engage this agency in a conversation over the actual state of the issue here in Sarasota, but they did not respond to me at all. If they want to label us "Most Persistent City in America in Adopting a Practical as Well as Constitutional Ordinance to Protect Private and Public Property from Destructive Trespass" then I'd say we'd gladly be #1. But Meanest City? Please.

City Public Information Officer Jan Thornburg put out a press release responding to this nonsense on behalf of the city, and rather than recreate the wheel I'm going to reprint it here, because our citzens deserve to read the other side of this story:


CITY RESPONDS TO "MEANEST CITY" DESIGNATION

Sarasota, FL: City officials rejected today the National Homeless Coalition’s "Meanest City" designation, with respect to the treatment of homeless people. "I believe that any legitimate study of the homeless population and the services provided in this community for their benefit would yield a vastly different conclusion," said Sarasota City Manager Michael McNees. The City of Sarasota boasts a multitude of compassionate social agencies and generous donors, who are dedicated to solving the problem of homelessness.

The homeless are not targeted by the City’s "no lodging" ordinance, which was recently ruled constitutional by a Sarasota County judge. It is a positive tool to safeguard the homeless. Housing people in public parks and on streets does not benefit anyone.

Mr. McNees initiated a sincere attempt to discuss the pending designation with the Executive Director of the National Homeless Coalition; however, a response was never received. "Given that…it is clear that this designation is much more about generating publicity for the agenda of the coalition, whatever that may be, than it is about legitimate public policy discussion," said McNees.

Agencies throughout Sarasota, committed to the prevention and elimination of homelessness, provide extensive services to the homeless population. Food, shelter, counseling and medical treatment are available daily, due to the generosity of private citizens. The executive directors of many of these community agencies are perplexed by the National Homeless Coalition’s designation. Here’s what they’re saying about the ranking:

"It makes no sense. It’s not based on fact. They (the National Homeless Coalition) are going to give a distorted report that paints the entire community with a set of accusations that has no bearing on what’s really going." - Bryan Pope – General Manager, Salvation Army

"Last year we provided services for 26,142 men and 6,827. Many of them we have seen before but we registered 1,402 new homeless last year. We provided 13,178 showers, counseling for 1,729 people, 10,790 laundries and 1,419 received medical treatment from doctors and nurses here….We have a half a million dollar budget. And, all that is donated. We receive no tax money at all in what we do. This is a very generous community. We’re very pleased with the public and the many foundations that provide the funds to do this." - Bob Kyllonen - Executive Director, Resurrection House

"We do a lot of prevention to make sure people don’t become homeless. We bend over backwards to make sure they don’t, especially when there are families involved. We provide them with food, food vouchers, utility assistance, budget counseling, and other counseling to prevent them from becoming homeless. We’ve had 90% success preventing homelessness with our families because of our intense work." - Rose Chapman – CEO, Jewish Family Services

Where Will We Be in 2007? - Thanks to all who took a shot at answering the question about what our new, hot issues will be during 2006. Most of you pointed out things that you think should be high on our priority list, or gave your point of view on issues that are soon to be considered, like arcades, all of which is great input. So far nobody (myself included, I should add) has taken on the more difficult challege of guessing what issues we might be facing by 2007 that we haven't yet encountered or aren't yet thinking about. Of course it's difficult, if not impossible to look ahead and know what unforseen challenges lie ahead. If I'd asked the question "what should we have done differently in 2005?" there would have been no shortage of responses, I'm sure. The truth of life, and the adventure of our work, is that we all live in "drive" not in "reverse", with some corners we can see around and some we can't. That's what keeps it interesting, no?

To the person who suggested we should consolidate services with the county but probably won't, I will point out that a number of things are already consolidated, stormwater management, fire, EMS, Parks and Recreation, and Emergency Services for example. As far as Police and Sheriff consolidation goes, I have never in four years heard a city resident say they wished to give up having a separate city police force, and I don't think it has a thing to do with "power" as you stated, but rather about the level of service expected by city residents. We also work extremely well with our county staff counterparts on any number of issues, and the working relationship between County Administrator Jim Ley and me is quite good.

Finally, my thanks to those of you who have posted supportive comments on the direction the city is taking downtown, in general, and as an organization. I think we're building a great team here, and I'm glad many of you see that. We have plenty of work to do, and I'll continue to do the very best job I can to carry my share of the load.