BY KELLY HOBBS
An open letter to the DeLand City Commission:
I am writing due to the exponential growth of the homeless community in DeLand. If you haven’t walked Downtown recently, then I suggest you make a plan to do so. If needed, I can offer a personal tour.
I need to make it clear upfront that what you see on the streets is only a fraction of the population of the homeless; there are many more just a few blocks out. Many of them are transients from other states and cities.
Many locales have been proactive on this issue, and have had great results: Ocala, New Smyrna Beach, Missouri, and Austin to name a few.
I have had conversations with a number of the homeless; maybe you should also, to better understand what you’re dealing with and how to come up with the best solution.
As of today, the solutions presented by the city have been to remove benches, lock bathrooms and lock Chess Park?
I recently contacted The Bridge to get a feel for the processes there. They really do care for, and truly help, those who want it. For those who would like to go there to make a change in their lives, an offer of transportation should be extended.
The other big issue is that the DeLand Police Department is understaffed and underpaid, and with our recent growth, there are more issues to deal with, while operating at staffing levels from the 1980s.
Instead of paying developers through grants and tax breaks, I suggest you give your police officers yearly tax abatements to offset their minimal pay.
I’ve looked at the city codes and ordinances that officers with the DeLand PD have to follow when dealing with different situations regarding homeless and vagrants. There are no teeth in section 21.3, and some of the other sections are outdated as well.
So I call upon you, as the governing body of this city, to change the ordinances to reflect the times and to give law enforcement the tools they need to clean up DeLand effectively.
The process in place currently is a joke: Call the nonemergency number, wait, push buttons, then wait, get transferred twice, answer questions, then feel bad about using a limited resource to handle an issue that should not be an issue.
— Hobbs and his wife, Rhonda Hobbs, own the Gurrs & Purrs pet-supply stores in Downtown DeLand, at 116 N. Woodland Blvd. and 319 S. Woodland Blvd.
Some friends said to me ”jobs are available”, ”you hand them a $5, you enable their habits”, Some of my friends go to church, hear the sermons but haven’t learned. Homeless might not live close enough to walk to work IF employer were to give a chance to their unkempt- appearance. Maybe living in weeds is escaping home violence, or maybe some are dopers.
I remember being quite poor but we had clean shelter, crowded beds, beans & potatoes to eat, parents to protect us, teach us, send us to the school bus. Humans who have sampled life w/o all the comforts might learn compassionate. Give $5 to a homeless person & don’t judge whether or not she buys a sandwich, milk or a warming drink of wine.
Greet people, give some comfort, kindness, do not look sown your nose.