Because of deinstitutionalization on a massive scale, better than a third of the people served by Food Not Bombs and others are committable and generally in poor mental health. Open air situations, with room to accomodate people with varying levels of civility are preferred to lines, limited meal times, and closed in spaces. The implication that indoor settings are 'more likely to assist in breaking the cycle of homelessness and poverty' belies an attitude which believes in 'out of sight, out of mind'. Berkeley as a community would be better served if the park, which has been the object of such heightened tensions as to cause massive loss to business on Telegraph Avenue from rioting, would be purchased from the University and declared a national landmark, for the small plot of land has achieved a place in the nation's imagination as an important site of government grievance and an important example of the power of people to organize and build community. The defenders of the poor and and the park need to be commended, not criminalized.
People have the power to redeem the work of fools.
Patti Smith For Mother Earth. . . For Humanity. . .