This was very wrong of the city, to deny homeless people a meal. The only reason for this enforcement was to prevent a specific group of people from gathering. Moore Square is for all people, including homeless people. Remember, downtown is a centralized gathering place, and it's the only area in Raleigh that has something for everyone. Sitting and eating a meal is an appropriate use for a park.

Action should be taken against individuals that violate the law (litter, harass, drink alcohol, etc.), even I've complained and voted for such issues on SCF. But no homeless person is a nuisance just for their presence, and the vast majority of people in that line for food do not violate laws downtown. Eating is a basic human right, and it was wrong for the city to infringe on that right.

I agree. I tried to post what was apparently a dissenting opinion on Love Wins' blog, but they wouldn't allow it to be published. Perhaps it was the reminder of the fatal stabbing that occurred in one of their lines a couple of years ago. Since they prohibited it there, I'll do it here and wherever else I can. As with anything, there's more than one side to the story. Feeding the homeless is wonderful. Doing it in Moore Square is a hazard on multiple levels. I hope that City Council takes all sides into consideration moving forward, as opposed to anything knee-jerk based upon a rather unfounded public backlash.

"I absolutely appreciate what your group, and others, are trying to do to help those who seek your support. But, as someone who lives within close proximity to the park, I have mixed feelings about providing these services in this particular location.

For all of those who "sit on benches and talk to homeless people" spinning all sorts of yarns, and all the people who are "saddened" by the comments of others who question, I venture to say that not a single one of you actually lives even remotely close to Moore Square. As someone who has lived in this area for the last decade and raised two children, there is another side to this, and I can tell you these meals are a problem.

The mess that remains in Moore Square at the end of each weekend is staggering. You might clean up while you're here, but the entire park nonetheless ends up littered with styrofoam from one end of the other, food wrappers, napkins, cups, uneaten food (and extra helpings of rats), garbage cans overflowing. This is a public park, not private property. The people who live and work in this area then complain to the city about how it's such a mess, and the city then pays to send their staff out to clean up what is most certainly beyond the scope of normal requirements. Those other groups who pay $800 for use of the park leave it in just as good of condition as they found it (or at least the city is compensated for the additional clean-up). If you're able to use the park for free, then why should the city have to scrounge for additional cleaning and maintenance needs? You say you're not using the park itself. How can this be when the people you are supporting are spread from one end to the other, irregardless of where you are personally stationed?

I agree with so many that most of the Moore Square homeless are just as kind and nice and appreciative of any support as can be. Being homeless is something you wouldn't wish upon anyone, and we should all hit the ground and thank the good Lord for our good fortune. But again, unless you actually LIVE here, and try to take your children through when people are using drugs without care of being seen, drinking, cursing (especially at you, in front of your children), acting threatening, etc., this is not okay, especially when there's a children's museum that hosts hundreds of families every weekend just across the park.

While this type of activity is most definitely not the norm (and is a misperception of many who visit downtown from the 'burbs), it's still a significant problem. Just because a person visiting doesn't witness anything questionable while they are physically present most certainly doesn't mean it's not happening at other times, whether at night or in broad daylight. When these meals take place, it brings lots of people to the park. Most of them don't leave as soon as you do. Many of them stay indefinitely, and that is fine. But please don't labor under the impression that all have just fallen on hard times and are otherwise good people. Again, as someone who lives here, homeless citizens in Moore Square are not in any way inherently dangerous, but weekend meals do bring enough people out, stressed, tired, hungry, with sometimes limited faculties, that dangerous situations can most certainly arise. Eric Jackson, who was fatally stabbed in Moore Square by Leonard Coleman in 2011, could attest to that. Both of these homeless gentlemen were standing in line waiting for one of your meals when an argument between the two escalated.

My last point, and one that I think your ministry should be most concerned about, is that the current location of your meal is extremely dangerous. As a major thoroughfare, Person Street is almost always busy. The sheer volume of people who congregate on the sidewalk, who spill out clear across the street to the Salavation Army, is an extreme hazard to both the people you are there to support, as well as other members of the public, be they in cars or bicycles. People, homeless or not, should not be put in harm's way just to serve a free meal. From the beer festival to Artsplosure, there isn't a single Moore Square event that doesn't barricade at Martin and Person Street if the event results in groups of people ending up in the street. The fact that you are stationed where you are makes this all the more relevant.

I realize this is not the turn of events you preferred, but perhaps finding another location would work on a number of fronts. There are so many churches downtown, I'm puzzled why "five different large suburban churches" are not working in concert with churches who are actually located downtown."

I live in Raleigh and I think it's cool that police are doing a great job maintaining the park we all use!!! There are a lot of people that told me the same thing.

The Mayor is already backpedaling - don't expect anything to be done about the woman living in the van on the street or the homeless camp that is Moore Square - https://www.facebook.com/NancyMcFarlaneForMayor/posts/714623581898165

I appreciate Sarah's opinion although I don't necessarily agree with many parts of it - at least someone is actually putting thought into this rather than saying "God is great" and praising how "cool" it is for RPD to prevent people from giving food to folks in need. (Although I don't understand how the fatal stabbing in Moore Square correlates to the poor/homeless feeding being a dangerous situation - their disagreement could have happened at any other time, it just happened to be while they were in line for food.)

The prevailing argument against feeding poor/homeless people in Moore Square seems to be that "we've given up on these people and we want them to disappear so they are not an inconvenience to us". Whomever told RPD to make these baseless threats against do-gooders apparently saw a "Please Do Not Feed The Pigeons" sign in another city and thought that this would be great to apply to homeless people too. That's about as much reasoning as they could have possibly put into it.

Yes, there are many pitfalls to feeding poor/homeless people in a public area, but the solution to just "cut them off" and pretend everything will be fine is about as lazy and pathetic as it gets. Even children make better decisions than this. Surely we have some other intelligent people left in this town who can figure this out via public discourse.

Invite them to your house if you want to feed them. I guarantee they will find a way to get there, just as they do Moore Square.

Aren't you supposed to have a permit to pass out or sell food in Raleigh? WHO is responsible if someone getting fed this food gets sick without a permit? I am all for feeding the homeless, I help coordinate 2 food drives a year for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC for my business but there has to be some sort of rules. I think it would be in the best interest of the people handing out these donations to do it from their church or charity, and follow the law.

Susan, if the homeless problem is so horrific to you, you might want to move out to the suburbs. No city has ever been successful at ignoring their homeless or "shuttling them away." And it's an abhorrent waste of police funds-someone sleeping on a park bench takes precedent over an armed robbery? And making a place unwelcome to the homeless often makes it unwelcome to everyone else. Witness the old Fayetteville street mall. Even the vagrants stayed away from that concrete nightmare.

Whether it is because of mental illness, alcoholism or drug addiction, a part of our city's population has a difficult time making life decisions that can keep them off the streets. It is not my place to decide who has a "right" to be in a public place. I've lived in Raleigh for decades. The homeless in Moore Square have been there longer than I have. I've watched restaurants come and go, the city move north and then come back downtown, but the homeless have remained. Even when the city tried to force them out by moving the men's shelter nearly a mile away from Moore Square, they returned, walking the streets at 4am in order to get the same bench in the park, long before there was even a Bojangles in existence. I've watched them urinate on the copper acorn while dining on a $50 meal at a nearby restaurant. They frequently ask me for a dollar as I walk in the park. They often smile and say hello. I've even called 911 when they've been in distress and were in danger of getting injured. They are not going away until there is a solution for the underlying problems that cause homelessness in the first place.

We are living in selfish times and everyone expects everyone else to solve their own problems with no outside help. Some people know they need help, eventually find it, and move on. Some people have made peace with their addictions and illnesses and just want to spend their days however they can manage. Raleigh cannot ignore or "move" the problem elsewhere.

We worry more about rescuing unwanted pets than we do the "unwanted" people in our parks. It is commendable to donate time and money to charities-but to do so with the hope that these charities will make YOUR problem (unsightly homeless people) go away is very disingenuous. The homeless were here long before you or I were even born. If we want them to "go away," we need to understand why they are here in the first place. Chasing them from Moore Square will simply put them in someone else's "backyard." And another person, just like you, will write some anonymous screed on a webpage somewhere and the cycle begins all over again. How is that "solving the problem with homeless at Moore Square?" But hey, it's not your problem anymore-so congratulations. YOUR problem is solved.

Until we address the core issue in our culture-that addiction and mental illness are seen as personal failures, not as true illnesses or diseases-we will always despise those who can't "pick themselves up by their bootstraps" and fix their own problems. And when you assess the homeless in Moore Square, most if not all, suffer from one of these diseases. We are all one job loss, drink, fix, divorce, illness or addiction away from being homeless. I've witnessed it. Put yourself in their shoes. A warm biscuit is often the only sign that another person acknowledges their humanity without judging them.

The City Council will be reviewing all of the issues. Thanks for the comments.

I think the City of Raleigh should take it a step further and do like the Columbia SC:

" The Columbia City Council unanimously approved the plan, creating special police patrols that would enforce "quality of life" laws involving loitering, public urination and other crimes not necessarily restricted to the homeless population. Those officers would then offer the homeless a choice: Go to jail for their homelessness or be shuffled to a 240-bed, 24-hour shelter on the outskirts of town, which they wouldn't be allowed to easily leave.

That second option isn't jail, mind you, because the homeless are being confined with the help of a local charitable organization. It's charitable incarceration, you see. The homeless can leave, but they need to set up an appointment and be shuttled by a van. "

Yes apply this to the part of Raleigh inside of I40 & I440
Columbia, SC, to exile its homeless
http://money.msn.com/now/post--columbia-sc-to-exile-its-homeless
"The Columbia City Council unanimously approved the plan, creating special police patrols that would enforce "quality of life" laws involving loitering, public urination and other crimes not necessarily restricted to the homeless population. Those officers would then offer the homeless a choice: Go to jail for their homelessness or be shuffled to a 240-bed, 24-hour shelter on the outskirts of town, which they wouldn't be allowed to easily leave."

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Seems a so-called church called "Love Wins" Ministries is spamming the site with these bogus comments. Moderators, please consider blocking by IP, this group is angry and taking it out on us and the city of Raleigh.

by all citizens you mean the homeless too right?

I hope the city can do something soon, this is still a problem. Love Wins should move to the Halifax Mall or to an existing soup kitchen or local church.

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