Woman Cited For Feeding Too Many Homeless
A good deed has landed a valley woman in court.
Gail Sacco was cited and banned from downtown’s Circle Park for six months for feeding too many homeless people. According to park rules, it’s against the law for a group of 25 people or more to gather without a permit. Gail Sacco claims police abuse as she was unfairly cited for trying to help the homeless.
Las Vegas city attorney Brad Jerbic tells FOX5 that the city isn’t against homelessness. He says the park is too small for large groups and that they have received complaints from businesses about the daily gatherings.
Allen Litchtenstein, local attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, argues the ordinance is flawed. Under the city’s rules, you can’t even get a permit for that particular park. According to the city’s web site, permits are only available in 14 of the city’s 63 parks.
“People have a right to food. It’s not a privilege. It’s a right and people have the right to share food,” said Gail Sacco.
Sacco makes her first court appearance in two weeks. She plans to fight the citation, which carries a possible penalty of either six months in jail or $1,000 fine.
The ACLU says they will represent her if this goes into litigation.
So what wrong with Nevada? Another case of abuse by law enforcement, the legal system and the states over abundance of laws designed to promote domestic terrorism against the American people.
Sounds like it is not the issue of feeding people but the size of the group and the size of the park. Move to a different park and get the permit. Problem solved. ACLU should pick their battles a little more carefully.
Since when did access to food become a right?
“Homeless” is a misnomer. They are not homeless because the street is their home. They should be called “street dwellers”. By tagging the name “homeless” on them we pity them and thus feed them like we feed livestock or pigeons. Street dwellers know where to sleep and find food. I never heard of street dwellers living in the desert. No, they come to cities where they can find thrown-out food in garbage pales and find women like this one in Las Vegas who is NOT feeding the “homeless”, but rather feeding her emotional baggage of self-pity that she projects onto others. It strengthens her belief in having done something good for society where in fact she encourages these street people to STAY on the streets. She is accomplishing nothing except increasing the number of street dwellers.
A compassionate crowd you’ve got here, John!
Andrew: I suppose the right-to-lifers (wait, I’m one of them) think we have a right to life but not, of course, food?
david: I suppose we could call them “the poor without housing.” Or perhaps “those who can’t get food through normal techniques.” I doubt there are that many among the so-called homeless who have decided to scrounge through dumpsters for their food, as far as I know both Bill Gates and Larry Ellison (and the whole Bush clan) have housing.
Darned pity! Darned mercy! Don’t you hate it?
Wow. David even want to rename homless people because it envokes too much sympathy. Apparently all homeless people are freeloaders that should not be given food so they will actually go out and get a job. If you ever talked with homeless people, you would realize that a majority of them have mental illnesses or have drug problems. They didn’t choose to be on the streets to be freeloading. These people wish they weren’t sick and could function in normal society. People that help homeless people aren’t only doing it beause of some self pity crap. Most of them are at alturstic phase of self actualization. Most people here seem to be stuck in the phase of immature selfishness.
Selfish people always rationalize people in need that it is “thier own fault”. I heard one coworker say it was those Katrina victims “own fault” becuase they were told to bring three days of food with them when resuced. I don’t know how people stuck on roofs were supposed to carry around three days worth of food but I don’t think it mattered to her.
4. blastum, nomads and gypsies don’t have homes either then. To me, the definition of a home is a safe, warm place where you can sleep. You think home means having four walls and a roof over your head and all the senseless knick knacks you’ve collected over the years. Maybe homeless have learned something that nobody else has: the only home is one’s own body. The body as the only church or temple that houses God.
You know I cant help but think if a large crowd of people with cash to burn gathered in that park the buisnesses wouldn’t be complaining. Its a park paid by the tax of the people. granted the homeless dont pay taxes but I bet you Gail does.
I can understand the citation if the crowd was unurley but this is a matter of the first amendment, The Right to Assemble Peacefuly
As a Las Vegas native that still lives here I know that Las Vegas lacks any ambition to help out anyone in need by shutting down the few homeless shelters available in parallel with our overcrowded hospitals of the mentally disabled (who tend to make up a majority of the homeless in Las Vegas). This is only another story to assist in Las Vegas’ mission to abandon the homeless (maybe one day they will go away).
A person should be allowed to feed people in the want, but I don’t think it’s unresonable to tell them they need a bigger park!
I live on the West Coast and this place is chock-full of homeless people. Of course some of them are mentally ill, and that is a truely unfortunate thing, but to say most of them are is silly. In Canada we have social programs and there is absolute ly no reason why a healthy person can’t have a job. I refuse to give these people money and have to stop myself from screaming at them to get a job. I have to work for a living, why don’t they? I already pay almost half of what I make to the government for all kinds of social programs. Why, should I ever, give them more?
(And for the record, I am a mentally ill person who put themselves through school and now have good job.)
Maslow did not have altruism in mind when he developed the Hierarchy of Needs. Also, true altruism does not exist, it is always done for some alternative purpose. If she cares so much for the homeless why can’t she feed them from her home? The park is for all citizens and should not be manipulated for this woman’s own selfish desires. Feeding the homeless can be compared to feeding wildlife, if you feed them, they will congregate there to pose a more serious problem.
I have delt with homeless in my job, and I know that most of them are capable of working. They just choose not to. They live on the streets because it is easier than getting a job. Feeding them in the park only enables this behavior. They are not ducks, feed them somewhere else!
It’s just a shame that it’s No one else’s problem and when some one does decide to take it on our wonderful NRS (Nevada Revised Statutes) take that away. We ought to set up shelters next to all the “Gentlemen’s” clubs and strip hotel locations, since our polititians spend most of there time there, maybe this issue can be resolved. It gets more and more frustratiing living in LV.
#10 – Alturism does exist. That Ayn Rand B.S. is believed by selfish people because they don’t want to see themselves as selfish. They have fancy names for selfishness but it is still selfishness. People do reach a level of alturism and those people are the happiest people on earth. Selfish people are always miserable thinking thier money will make them happy. You will only become happy when you let go of all that crap and realize what is important.
What? Nothing about the big bad government holding the people down?
#10 and #12
I know it is usually pretty easy taking the middle ground, and boy oh boy this post is an example of that. There is no way of knowing whether altruism exists. It can never truly be known why people commit selfless acts, some may get a personal high or happiness from helping others and that may be their sole purpose for helping. Those who knowingly give their lives for others may believe that they will be given some prestige in the afterlife or be held in high regard by others or that their families will receive some benefit. No way to know one way or another, sorry. Oh and #12 I agree with you about Ayn Rand.
This is to Fried Turkey:
True altruism is helping for the sake of helping, there is reciprocity to it. This person may be helping the homeless to get into heaven someday or for some other satisfaction. The truth is that she is getting something from helping. For every Yin there is a Yang. Think about it…
The only reason the Police are cracking down on her is because the local businesses object. The homeless are not customers. The homeless don’t vote. The homeless don’t pay taxes. Because they are even worse then illegals, removing them from sight is the sole goal.
And contrary to what many people believe, the homeless include a substantial number of mentally ill and addicted (drugs and alcohol). Many more are in a hole because of job lose and consequently home lose too. Not many homeless choose to be there.
#15 Phigam92……in most western cities it’s illegal to feed the poor or homeless from a private residence. It is considered the same as running a shelter from your home, you need permits and zoning etc., etc….what bothers you the most about what this woman is doing??? The fact she is feeding those who are down for whatever reason or the fact that it makes you face the fact that you don’t have the humanity to do it as well?
Having them go to a bigger park sounds nice, unless of course the bigger parks are a distance away from the areas where the homeless usually congregate. If you ever look at it, most cities concentrate social services in downtown areas because thats where most of the people who need the services are.