Jim Pearce and Paul Teroux -- scraggly and unshaven, toting sacks and backpacks -- join about 70 or so homeless people who crowd around the blue picnic tables at Lake Eola Park every Wednesday evening.

They know that, rain or shine, they'll get a hot meal, under the cover of the Spanish moss-draped trees, with seconds and thirds and enough to wrap up to eat tomorrow or the next day.

But if Orlando has its way, those free meals, as well as any others served downtown, will be much harder to come by.

On Monday, the City Council will consider an ordinance requiring permits to provide most meals and limiting where and when they can be served.

Allegations of aggressive panhandling, increased crime, litter and droves of homeless taking over the park and other pedestrian areas downtown are forcing the city's hand, said City Commissioner Patty Sheehan.

"It's a real problem," said Sheehan, who proposed the ordinance. "There's been a stabbing, a carjacking. What we have are groups that come from out of town, throw food at them and leave."

But the ["]charity["] that serves the biggest groups at Lake Eola, Orlando Food Not Bombs, staffed by volunteers who are mostly University of Central Florida students, says the ordinance isn't fair.

"What's the difference between our feeding the homeless here and a picnic?" asked Adrien Rierson, 17, one of the organizers.

Volunteer Eric Montanez, 20, called the move "ridiculous. We're trying to help people, and all they want to do is shove the problem out of sight."

Sheehan said the idea isn't to stop people from helping others but to have it happen in the proper venue.

"Some people feel that they're taking over our parks," she said.

The proposed ordinance would require anyone who wants to feed a group of 15 or more people to get a city permit, which would dictate when and where such meals can be served. Each applicant would be limited to two one-time-use permits a year.

Shirley Walker (right), 47, shares her juice with Dennis Shell, 59, during a meal Wednesday prepared by members of Orlando Food Not Bombs at Lake Eola Park in Orlando. Walker and Shell are homeless.

Kelly Kilpatrick, president of The Ripple Effect, a homeless-advocacy group, said she understands the political pressure Sheehan, whose district encompasses downtown, is under. But she disagrees with the ordinance.

"I think it's a nail in the coffin for helping the homeless," Kilpatrick said. "If they make it too hard for people to help others, then they just won't do it."

The proposed ordinance follows other measures the city has taken to curb the homeless in recent years.

Downtown, it's a crime to sit or sleep on sidewalks and benches. And the city banned panhandling downtown except within so-called blue boxes -- small zones where begging is allowed.

The ordinance has a good chance of becoming law, but one City Commissioner, Robert Stuart, would like to put a one-year limit on it so the city can evaluate how well it works.

If it passes Monday, commissioners will have to vote a second time, most likely in early July.

UCF sociology professor James Wright agrees that the city has the right to regulate how people use public space, but he questions whether the city is becoming overly restrictive.

The U.S. Supreme Court, he said, has on numerous occasions upheld as a basic right "the giving and taking of alms [charity]."

And while there are several soup kitchens and shelters in the city, mostly in the Parramore neighborhood, Teroux, 56, and his friend Pearce, 53, said they would rather come to the park because there's better food and more of it.

"They treat us like regular people," Teroux said as the pair finished their plates of food Wednesday evening and went back for a small bag of rolls. They'll share them until the rolls are gone.

But they worry if the meals will keep coming.

"Are we not all God's children?" Pearce asked. "Would the Lord tell us we can't sit and eat a meal? Why would the city?"

Rich McKay can be reached at rmckay@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5470.

Copyright © 2006, Orlando Sentinel

• • •

City moves to limit mass meals for homeless The Orlando rule, headed for a final vote in July, faces vows of opposition and probable court battles.

Rich Mckay
Sentinel Staff Writer

June 20, 2006

If charitable groups want to feed the homeless in Orlando, they'll have to find someplace other than Lake Eola Park -- or any city park, for that matter -- to do it.

The City Council effectively banned serving food to homeless people in parks, after a 3 1/2-hour public session Monday that included testimony from more than two dozen homeless activists as well as crime-weary residents and business owners who called for action.

The meeting was preceded by a protest of about a dozen homeless people and their supporters in front of City Hall.

But they had less sway than the residents and business owners who complained that charitable groups are using Lake Eola Park, the centerpiece of downtown Orlando, as a soup kitchen. Other complaints were that the homeless are aggressively panhandling in and around the park, breaking into cars and causing other problems, including using bushes as toilets.

"Feeding the homeless is a good thing, a civic duty," downtown businessman Robin Stotter said. "But it needs to be done in the right place."

The ordinance as passed on first reading Monday was modified from an original proposal and now encompasses city property, although the intent is parks. It states that no one can feed groups of 15 or more people without a one-time-use permit, and such permits would be issued no more than twice a year to one person, and the city would dictate the location of the group feeding.

The decision faces likely legal action from the Central Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and outright defiance from at least one group that is feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park.

"If they want war, they've got one," said Eric Montanez, 20, a volunteer with the ["]charity["] Orlando Food Not Bombs. "This is not over. Believe me."

Montanez, while not speaking officially for the group, said that he and others have no intention of not feeding the hungry in a public park.

The group has at least a few weeks of breathing space. The ordinance must go before the City Council for a second vote before it becomes law. That hearing is expected in July.

"This hasn't been easy," said Commissioner Patty Sheehan, who drafted the ordinance after receiving numerous complaints from residents and business owners.

"What's heartbreaking is that I do support delivering services to the people who need them," she said.

The point of the ordinance, Sheehan said, isn't to hinder charitable work, but to take control of unregulated events and direct them to proper venues.

"I don't think it's fair to be told that we don't have a say" in how the parks are used, Sheehan said.

While the ordinance is poised to pass on its second vote, the City Council wasn't unanimous in its support. Commissioners Sam Ings and Robert Stuart voted against it.

Ings said the city should step up and help the homeless, not create obstacles.

"I encourage that we stop this now," said Stuart, executive director of the Christian Service Center. "This is bad city policy."

However, he said he would vote for it on the second reading, but he hopes to add an amendment to sunset the ordinance in a year, meaning it would come up for vote again.

Roberto Dijols, 49, who said he is homeless and was protesting outside City Hall before the hearing, asked how a group of homeless people eating in the park could be treated differently from a big family holding a picnic.

"It's not a crime to be poor, to be hungry," he said. "Well, maybe it is."

Rich McKay can be reached at rmckay@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5470.

Copyright © 2006, Orlando Sentinel