FOOD NOT BOMBS

aloha 2u,
this blog by request of O WISE HOWARD

THE 60S
a lil back story. in the 60s i did a lil volunteer work with THE DIGGERS(see my upcoming poem about Emmet Grogan,one of the better known founders), basically a an older black guy named Cleo collected edible discards from markets and restaurants to make a hearty stew which he passed out to local poor  hippies at Griffith Park.he did this alone mostly and would show up like clockwork to feed the poor, hippies and otherwise. one day i stood up from the pot smoke and half naked hippies to help him distribute the food, my first volunteer work i think.

FAST FORWARD TO THE 90S
in LIBERAL SAN FRANCISCO (sic)
i worked for nine years at Moscone Center and Civic Auditorium at a right angle to City Hall and opposite Civic Plaza Park, a haven for the homeless and once the site of 'Camp Agnoss' a homeless magnet during the Mayor Agnos Era..Millions were spent over a decade to remodel this Plaza to make it LESS Homeless Friendly, including removing the long reflecting pool in which the homelss usually washed their clothes and often themselves. in that era SFPD uniforms were in the habit of citing and often arresting the homeless and emptying the shopping carts with all their possessions in waiting trash trucks and returning the shopping carts to their lawful owners. SIGH.
BTW Room 200 of City Hall faces the Plaza, it is the Mayors office...

TANGENT
during the Mayor Jordon Era the Chief of Staff was "RUTHLESS RUDY" NOFENBERG (sp?)
who took public transit to work at City Hall, during his reign my job was to rouse the homeless so he did not have to SEE them. i was a human leaf blower, i would rouse them and they would leave then at shift change they would return. that was the extent of  Mayor Jordan "Homeless Policy".much like Reagan's when he was Guv and expected counties and cities to pick up the slack when he dumped thousands of the mentally ill on the streets, yet another Unfunded Mandate.( was Reagan's Alzheimers karma coming back to bite him?)sighs

so during my time a Civic Aud
i was witness to  FOOD NOT BOMBS, 
a group much like The Diggers of the 60s only with better quality food,
attempt to feed the down and out homeless
and local SRO residents  (the elderly,vets and mentally ill).
i am not sure exactly what transpired to piss off City Hall
but i was an eyewitness to dozens of times when the
local cops SFPD uniforms spilled large 20 gallon pots
of hot soup or stew into the gutters, trampled day old
bread underfoot and stomped on blemished fresh fruits.
they then cited the FNB peeps for
"DISTRIBUTING FOOD WITHOUT A PERMIT" .

CATCH 22a
you cannot feed the hungry unless you get a Permit
for their "safety" but you cannot get a permit when
City Hall and its minions dislike you.
granted  the founder of FNB was a confrontational
mouthy obnoxious SOB but he did good works.
loaves and fishes kinda stuff.

i would see the black & whites cruise by as the FNB peeps
set up, got a food line started and organzied and then as the first
serving was ready to go, the cops stomps in and trash the food.
IMHO they seemed to take a certain destructive glee in doing so..Sigh.

in contrast, when the Opera or Symphony had leftover food,
both were a block away beyond City Hall, the caterers
would bring the food trays over and feed the homeless.
an act humane charity, to my knowledge they were
Never cited for doing so.

BTW 2 when i was down and out and living in SRO hotels in a different nabe
nearby i often stood in the long lines at St.Anthonys
(in a Tenderloin Catholic church basement)
for a sermon free helping of hot food, sometimes my only meal of the day.
when i was older and more flush i used to get a free turkey for Thanksgiving
and Xmas from my jobs.me and Korak the Killer took them to St.Anthonys to feed others,
this was probably illegal???  SIGH.
WOULD JESUS BE A CRIMINAL NOWADAYS?
"WWJD" indeed.

what a world we live in.. SIGH & cry.

"Sometimes we remain true to a cause simply 
because its opponents are unfailingly tasteless." Nietzsche

it is what it is, Tucson....
peace
namaste
mega