Example Press Release
City Council members voted Tuesday to donate a piece of land to the Coalition of the Homeless Inc. in order to build a new homeless shelter.
First United Methodist Church in downtown Jacksonville provides a shelter for the homeless where they provide a place for them to sleep as well as two meals a day. This homeless shelter can only hold 180 people at night and requires over 200 volunteers to staff it. The Coalition for the Homeless, a non-profit organization, asked the city to donate a piece of unused land in hopes of building a new shelter that will be operated by the coalition leaders. If the land is donated, council members will raise $1.5 million in order to construct the shelter.
“We’re approaching everyone that might be able to help and, so far, have collected $200,000 and have pledges of another $318,000 and that’s just the beginning in two months,” said Ida Levine, president of the coalition.
Police Lt. Louis Rafelsin and Council member Sandra Gandolf, both make points that it will not cost the city anything and may even save the city money in the long run.
“It costs the taxpayers about $350,000 a year to arrest homeless people for violating city ordinances like trespassing on private property and sleeping at night parks and such,” said Rafelsin. “It takes about two hours to arrest a person and do all the booking and paperwork, while taking five minutes to transport them to a shelter.”
On the contrary, those against donating the land address points as to why taxpayers should have to start paying for this.
“What happened if the coalition doesn’t raise all the money it needs for the shelter, what happens then,” asked Belmonte. “Then we’ll be left holding the bag, expected to pay for this damn thing and to support it for years.”
Many members of the Downtown Merchants Association made points about the piece of land asked to be donated is not the right part of town to have a homeless shelter. They are afraid of what kind of trouble the people in this shelter might stir up seeing as they are not allowed in the shelter during the day.
“What some of them do is hang around Main Street, panhandling and annoying people and using our parking lots and alleys for toilets,” said another gentleman. “We’ve got customers who tell us they wont come downtown anymore because they’re afraid of being approached and asked for money or being mugged or something.”
Council members voted 6-to-1 choosing to donate the land, with Belmonte casting the only vote not in favor of the proposal.
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