Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 09-13-11 regular — reading text

AJi,. JL q OOOMIJL1lIMIMAM000013 LHLN3AOWN31K3AY AOYiL a1Ya(] egLOL/ i I v. w. m w mp a.. m own a wm ns. ew wwuw,sn vu ewe cv w ' T `-- 1 a ii7Pi3 L I a 663 i 9 a InI tt!! t alt d a $ fat : o' i IS it i v i i z g saF ds 9tl sEtiffl 66 - — W9 NI I Pt3 b 9 7(( pB S EI Ba" kE sg 4 e ye b qq etla` 3H e siti PB + ( :• x: ai[, tai  A1H0 3 tl Ntl3 9NI = Oe<. JYlMl03 OW OMO OOOM l'•l4lllN NAM0009 ® 1I 4fA110 SIIDY9AOWMIyK3NYA0Y3tl IpYWT1pNpY y r pp a 0S:h 1pe G: 3 e e e 61 3iC €F l l 1ol fi- i s dadl' aEa e 5 gp { 4 d ka aYd PI a tit, 1r : I i ai 7i +l11 j Ira  Page A4 r) t > I- c. I Tuesdari September 6, 2011 I- Locall & Slate — t, Pete making progress with homeless SL PETERSBURG ( AP) — Four years ago, St. Peters - burg:s struggles with some of the most rampant homeless ness in the country reached a crescendo when police offi- cers with box cutters slashed up a makeshift tent city near downtown. The raid became a national public -relations eAy. A. disaster and did not make a dent in the growing crowd e. L.._ M of people living on the city's streets. Enter Robert Marbut, a former San Antonio council- man and White House staffer who came to town last tall wielding what he likes to call a "velvet hammer" City lead- J a,_ ers hired the $5300a -month consultant after buying into his idea of forcing the home- AP less off the streets but tak- ing them someplace better Robert Marbut of Texas poses for a photo inside of the Pinellas Safe Harbor in a sprawling, one -stop Clearwater. Marbut was hired as a consultant for the city' s homeless problem. complex where people could be housed, fed and start to one of the worst and most vis- solving it, "said Bill Foster, the blankets and other hand- get help with mental illness, ible problems he had seen. fast -term mayor of the city outs to people on the street addictions and the other That was thanks to the poor of 250,000 who an his election is enabling and has to stop. problems that put them on Florida economy, a wave of campaign last yen promised Instead, he asks churches discharged military veterans to tackle the crisis. and other fsithbased groups the More streets.than ajust big shel- ter,it would be a " transform s- with mental health issues, easy access to prescription Sleeping homeless peo- ple once lined the sidewalk to get involved at the shelter. St. Petersburg officials tional campus" like the one painkillers through " pill every night in front of The who visited the San Anto- Marbut helped establish in mill" pain clinics and other Princess Martha, a grand nio shelter last year were San Antonio. impressed and pushed hard St. Petersburg started get- Plus, this city —Eke many 1920Sera factors. apartmentbuilding for seniors, leaving litter and to hire Marbut to shepherd ting tough last year with a in the South — had a reputa- human waste that had to be the opening of Safe Harbor, panhandling ban and talk of tion as an easy place to live cleaned up bya staff member a converted bus barn nest to limiting the frequent public on the streets, with gentle every morning. Residents the county jail north of the feedings downtown thrown winters and an abundance avoided the park across the by churches and charities of help agencies and public