> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Homeless organizations biting the hand that feeds - URL: https://www.smdp.com/homeless-organizations-biting-the-hand-that-feeds/ - Published: 2006-02-06T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T17:11:25.000Z - Author: Bill Bauer - Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness It’s interesting how the best of intentions are met with hostility by homeless advocates. Recent letters to the editor and a comment in Saturday’s Q-line (SMDP, Jan. 28, 2006, page 4) accused City Councilman Bobby Shriver and myself as mean-spirited and “making it as difficult and uncomfortable as possible (for the homeless) to live here.” I can understand why I’m criticized, but Shriver has been helping the homeless by getting City Hall to hire a homeless czar and campaigning for hundreds of new shelter beds at the West LA veterans facility. Yet, he’s still maligned and bad mouthed. But that’s what I like about some vagrants and their advocates — they’re always biting the hand that feeds them. The Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP) recently listed Santa Monica as their “Ninth Meanest City” for the homeless. The list is in their inflammatory report on criminalization of the homeless, “A Dream Denied.” The groups say their mean cities list only covers criminaliza-tion issues — such as perceived anti-homeless ordinances and enforcement — not services a community provides. NCH acting director Michael Stoops told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Jan. 12, 2006) that Sarasota, Fla. was listed the No. 1 meanest city because they didn’t drop a proposed anti-camping ordinance the NCH felt criminalized sleeping outdoors. Stoops added, “Fort Myers, Fla., stayed off the list after it agreed to re-examine an ordinance prohibiting feeding the homeless in the parks.” The admission by Stoops that the “list” is a veiled attempt to blackmail municipalities into doing the bidding is not surprising. “It puts pressure on cities to rethink their criminalization strategies. No city should want to be labeled a mean city,” Stoops bragged. Vagrants who trash, defecate and urinate on public and private property are a major source of complaints here. Public food handouts result in litter, sanitation and public safety problems affecting children, families and seniors who also want to also use public space. Whether the NCH and NLCHP like it or not, ordinances prohibiting those activities are a good way to discourage antisocial behavior. Santa Monica has both anti-camping ordinances and restrictions on food handouts. Like Santa Monica, Sarasota has done much for the homeless. It has one of the largest shelters in Florida and a police policy of taking vagrants to shelters instead of jail. The county there recently instituted alternative treatment programs for alcoholics and drug addicts. There is a Los Angeles connection to the NCH. The chairman of their board is Bob Ehrlenbusch, president of the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness. Ehrlenbusch’s organization is a strident supporter of vagrant and transient rights locally. Those advocacy groups employ lobbying and litigation as strategies to implement their mission. The coalition to end hunger and homelessness is a frequent defender of the right of vagrants to act anti-socially and was a plaintiff along with homeless activist David Busch in a lawsuit filed in April 2002 against the city of Santa Monica and two of its police officers. The suit claimed City Hall and police denied Busch his constitutional rights by citing him for “camping” on public streets. Charges were eventually dropped as was the lawsuit. I don’t condone violating a person’s constitutional rights, but what about my rights? My right to enjoy public space free of trash and body waste? To be on sidewalks without being aggressively panhandled, harassed and threatened? To use parks and playgrounds with my children without being annoyed and intimidated by drunks, stoners and screamers? Unfortunately, when groups such as the NCH, NLCHP and the coalition to end hunger and homelessness become involved, certain individuals seem to have more rights than others. Being that’s the case, I welcome a “meanest city” designation. Maybe it’ll send a clear signal to our City Council to take action to encourage troublemakers to go somewhere less mean. I’m noticing that the political hormones are stirring already. I haven’t received my invite yet, but Mayor Bob Holbrook is kicking off his reelection campaign for City Council at a local hotel Feb. 16\. Holbrook will introduce his co-campaign manager Bobby Shriver and unveil his campaign platform and strategies. Municipal elections are nine months off. Holbrook isn’t the first, though. I’ve been told that former City Councilman Michael Feinstein has been having intimate meetings with Ocean Park supporters and potential contributors for months. (Bill Bauer is a longtime Santa Monica resident and a freelance writer.) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 6, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/020606.pdf?ref=smdp.com)