Homeless Advocates Name America's 'Meanest City'

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<p>WASHINGTON – When it comes to the way it treats the homeless, the city of Sarasota, Fla., is being called the “meanest” in the country.</p>

<p>The label comes from the National Coalition for the Homeless, which is based in Washington, D.C.</p>

<p>The group says the rankings of the top 20 meanest cities in 2005 are based on one or more of the following criteria: the number of anti-homeless laws in the city, the enforcement of those laws and severities of penalties, the general political climate toward homeless people in the city, local advocate support for the meanest designation, the city’s history of criminalization measures, and the existence of pending or recently enacted criminalization legislation in the city.</p>

<p>Ranked second is Lawrence, Kan., followed by Little Rock, Ark., which used to be ranked as the meanest.</p>

<p>Other “mean” cities in the latest rankings include Atlanta, Las Vegas, Dallas and Houston. There’s also San Juan, Puerto Rico; Santa Monica, Calif.; and Flagstaff, Ariz.</p>

<p>The group said that some of the report’s top 20 meanest cities have made some efforts to address homelessness in their communities.</p>

<p>Top 20 Meanest</p>

<li>Sarasota, Fla. </li>
<li>Lawrence, Kan. </li>
<li>Little Rock, Ark.</li>
<li>Atlanta</li>
<li>Las Vegas</li>
<li>Dallas</li>
<li>Houston</li>
<li>San Juan, Puerto Rico</li>
<li>Santa Monica, Calif. </li>
<li>Flagstaff, Ariz.</li>
<li>San Francisco, Calif. </li>
<li>Chicago, Ill. </li>
<li>San Antonio, Texas</li>
<li>New York City </li>
<li>Austin, Texas</li>
<li>Anchorage, Alaska</li>
<li>Phoenix, Ariz. </li>
<li>Los Angeles, Calif. </li>
<li>St. Louis, Mo. </li>
<li>Pittsburgh, Pa. </li>
</ol>

<p>Narratives of the Meanest Cities
<a href=“http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/crimreport/meanestcities.html[/url]”>http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/crimreport/meanestcities.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>i did read that this morning. quite intriguing see as how my city’s on there, although the city of phoenix itself does very little tto help our homeless. i was rather surprised though that they did a survery on the city’s that were harshest towards homeless people, without including a somewhat accurate estimate of the amount of homeless people those city’s consist of.</p>

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<p>There are homeless people in Sarasota?</p>

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<p>Boo hoo…</p>

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<p>well, Atlanta is on there because officials banned panhandling in the tourist districts…</p>

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<p>My Grandma lives in Sarasota. She lives in this controlled neighborhood, and she gets a thrill out of turning people to the Homeowners’ Association for leaving their garage door open, going more than a week without mowing their lawn (she counts the days), letting their dogs poop in their front lawns. Her favorite story is how she turned this guy in for not picking up his newspapers, and it turns out he was dead. </p>

<p>Anyway, I think she’d shoot a homeless person on sight, so I understand how Sarasota would be so mean. It’s mostly old people with fat pensions, buying houses with pools they’re too arthritic to use.</p>

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<p>^^HAHAHA. By the way these rankings are stupid, cities shouldn’t be called “mean” because they don’t let homeless people hang out in the streets, let’s face it, nobody wants homeless people hanging around their neighborhood. The rankings would have been more intriguing if they were based on what cities were actually DOING for homeless people, i have no problem with laws precluding homeless people to panhandle in public areas.</p>

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<p>dallas doesn’t surprise me as it is illegal to be homeless …</p>

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<p>For awhile we had a house near Sarasota, but I never saw a single homeless person there. I guess that’s why they are considered “mean” because they don’t let you see them.</p>

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<p>Yeah, goo Lawrence.</p>

<p>In our defense, nearby cities like Topeka and Kansas City have a tendency to send homeless people to Lawrence. They’re under the impression that we have better facilities for them, which is wrong and stupid.</p>

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<p>I live in Austin and i’m glad we have laws. Sometimes the homeless people can be outta control</p>

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<p>Ugh. I hate venturing into SF because I don’t like it. It smells like fish and trash and the overabundance of homeless people makes me want to cry out, “COME ON, CALI, WE CAN DO SO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS.”</p>

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<p>Add Fort Lauderdale, Florida to the “meanie” list…</p>

<p>Two South Florida teens suspected in the beatings of three homeless men turned themselves in to police Sunday, authorities said. </p>

<p>Family attorneys negotiated the surrender of Brian Hooks, 18, and Thomas S. Daugherty, 17.</p>

<p>They will face murder charges in the death of Norris Gaynor and aggravated battery charges in the videotaped beating of Jacques Pierre, said Capt. Michael Gregory of the Fort Lauderdale police.</p>

<p>They also are suspects in the beating of a third man, Raymond Perez, 49, whose case remains under investigation, Gregory said.</p>

<p>The teens were in police custody pending official charges from a grand jury, Gregory said. Police also were investigating whether the two may have been involved in other beatings and if they had accomplices.</p>

<p>“We do know there have been other assaults of homeless in Fort Lauderdale,” Gregory said.</p>

<p>Names of the teens’ attorneys were not immediately available.</p>

<p>Pierre, 58, was beaten on the Fort Lauderdale campus of Florida Atlantic University. Gaynor, 45, was killed a few blocks away, and Perez, 49, was beaten in a Church-by-the-Sea garden.</p>

<p>It was not clear if Perez and Pierre remained hospitalized Sunday.</p>

<p><a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060116/ap_on_re_us/homeless_beatings[/url]”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060116/ap_on_re_us/homeless_beatings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Looks like I’m moving to Sarasota…</p>

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<p>Sarasota is full of rich, old, white people, of course they’ll be mean to the poor people.</p>

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<p>Yeah what’s with all these people bashing the homeless in society all of a sudden? These people are like, “OMG the homeless are just lazy ****s who drink/do drugs all day and beg instead of getting jobs.” Yeah, if only it were as simple as that. I hope people stop judging these people and start welcoming them back into society. The more we marginalize and hate them the worse our situation will become.</p>

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<p>

Hey, it’s lionswim, I haven’t seen you around in a while.</p>

<p>The thing about sending the homeless to Lawrence is pretty true, at least from what I’ve heard. I live in Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City, and we…outsource…homeless people. I think the rationale behind this is, the city council thinks people from Lawrence will be less vocal about the homeless than the stupid soccer moms of Overland Park are…</p>