South Beach Homeless Program - This is Their Home

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SOUTH BEACH HERALD

of 4

THE SOBE COMPASSIONATE PROGRAM FOR VAGRANTS

“This is their home”

14 October 2015

By David Arthur Walters

MIAMI MIRROR

Only a few tourists, residents and businessmen have complained about the South Beach

Compassionate Program for Vagrants established by Mayor Philip Levine, Commissioner

Michael Grieco, Police Chief Daniel Oates, Homeless Outreach Services, and the ACLU.



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SOUTH BEACH HERALD

of 4

A disgruntled resident said cops should shake down known criminals, to which the chief and the

commissioner shook heads and rolled eyeballs. Commissioner Grieco is a criminal defense

attorney, just the kind of attorney city officials may need in the event of yet another wave of

F.B.I. busts. I have urged the commission to hire Bruce Cutler as city attorney, but my

suggestion was

ignored.

A restaurateur extolled the new police procedure for dealing with complaints about unseemly

behavior of vagrants, many of whom camp in Lummus Park across from the beach’s famous Art

Deco buildings, where tourists love to dine at the sidewalk cafes. Many of the vagrants in the

park are ruffians as is evident to anyone who listens to them converse. Not only do they

panhandle, loll around and talk tough: I saw one man expose himself and urinate towards

restaurant guests. Can anyone guilty of not supporting him blame him?

The cops are good about responding to complaints, but colorful behavior should be protected.

Instead of

insisting

on

a description

as

to

whether

the

unwanted

person

is

black

or

white,

now

all sorts of details must be taken down by the police or dispatcher, such as the color and type of

clothes, the color of eyes and hair, and so on. By the time all that is recalled, if the complainant

is Sherlock Holmes and can recall it, the undesirable person is long gone, and compassion is

served.

The minister gave a heartwarming speech about how he came down to South Beach to serve

the homeless people. He would be out of a job if there were none to serve.

The officials were careful to mention that Miami Beach has far less vagrancy than other cities.

That certainly

is

true:

Los

Angeles

County

has

44,000

homeless,

and

huge

camps

can

be

found

on city streets.



SOUTH BEACH HERALD

of 4

Indeed, Miami Beach should strive to be more compassionate. The city should provide a big

camping ground for hoboes, homeless, and vagrants in the big park the mayor would like to

replace the parking lot behind the convention center with. Our mayor is a compassionate

wealthy man as can be seen by the nice woman who has been living for months by the fence at

his office

building.

City

hall

and

the

homeless

service

office

are

within

eyeshot

of

that

parking

lot.

Anyone without a permanent place of residence should be able to obtain a special money card

that he could insert into vending machines at the new park and get so many sandwiches and

drinks every day.

Another compassionate step that should be taken in the mayor’s new homeless park: provide a

daily ration of alcoholic beverages. This counter‐intuitive approach has been taken by

innovative churches bent on reducing homelessness.

Now it might be said that nobody wants to live in parks and on streets. That is not true in every

instance. In any event, the City of Miami Beach should continue to expand its housing program

for people who want to be formerly homeless. At least half the population should be on the

dole to one extent or another. The best solution would be a guaranteed minimum income of

$12,000 per year for every adult whether they work or not. That will reduce the competition for

higher incomes so more people can get rich.

South Beach Homeless Program - This is Their Home

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