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# Untitled
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/010903-story/
- Published: 2003-01-09T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T01:17:18.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

The city was sued last Friday for instituting a law that requires charitable groups to have permits from the Los Angeles County Health Department and the city in order to feed the homeless. The charities argue it’s their constitutional right to hand out free food.

City officials say the law is designed to reduce significant public health risks that the meal programs create, as well as to attach the free food with Santa Monica’s social services (the city spends $2 million annually on homeless services).

But many believe politics played a role in the law’s passing, which they say was designed as a way to get rid of the homeless population here by inadvertently eliminating food lines in city parks.

So this week Q-Line wants to know: “Do you think the new law is really about protecting the public, or is it to get rid of the food lines and subsequently the homeless?”

Call (310) 285-8106 with your response before Thursday at 5 p.m. We’ll print it in Friday’s paper. Please limit your comments to a minute or less; it might help to think first about the wording of your response.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 9, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/010903.pdf?ref=smdp.com)