Lessons from Sarasota and on the homeless 'advocates' here in the City of Lake Worth

This article by Justin Jouvenal at The Washington Post is an eye-opener. If you've been following the homeless 'advocates' and their ridiculous protests, which did nothing to help one single homeless person, you can see the parallels between what's happening in Sarasota and what is happening here in the City.

It's an open secret some are trying to tactically force the City into a big, juicy lawsuit. But the homeless, some by choice, many believe are just pawns in an effort to hurt the business community, drive tourists and visitors out of the downtown, and damage the City's reputation and image. Here are three excerpts from the article:

     Sarasota, dubbed the “Meanest City in America” by advocates a decade ago for its ordinances, has been the scene of one of the fiercest and most anguished battles over homelessness in an era of urban renaissance.
     The city’s balmy weather has drawn a large homeless population.

[and. . .]

     Sarasota officials reject the claim that the city is criminalizing homelessness, saying that the lodging ordinance and others are necessary and are enforced legally and humanely.
     The Sarasota Police Department’s “policy and practice is to offer a shelter bed to the homeless individual prior to any consideration of warnings, tickets or enforcement,” Barwin [City Manager Tom Barwin] wrote of the lodging ordinance.
     Barwin said many chronically homeless people refuse to go to the city’s only shelter or accept other services.

[and. . .]

     Ron Soto, who owns a downtown eyewear store and is president of the local merchants association, blames a hard-core minority of the homeless people that he calls “vagrants” for disrupting business, drinking in public and scaring tourists.
     Soto has created a series of signs, one of which reads: “DON’T GIVE IN TO PANHANDLING...93% OF THE MONEY YOU GIVE GOES TO DRUGS & ALCOHOL.”

On the issue of homelessness, have you been paying attention to all the great work the city of West Palm Beach has been doing? Learn more in the video below: