Food Not Bombs

FOOD NOT BOMBS - RENO, NV

RAISE THE STAKES FEST!

Go to: http://www.drugsanddaydreams.net/raisethestakes.html

Radical Alternative Community-Building
August 3-5 - Reno!

Raise The Stakes Fest will be a three-day gathering with ideas, skillshares, workshops and music. The purpose is to take advantage of each others' strengths and skills in encouraging a collective movement away from our dependence on capitalism, and to share the knowledge and skills to challenge and weaken those who profit from the exploitation of other humans, animals and the landbase itself. In short, we want to facilitate the exchanging of tools to actively shape the environment we live in.

And we need your involvement!.

Here's what we want:

Your ideas - tell us what workshops you'd like to see. Get creative, suggest the unconventional things that no one else has thought of. Reno has an amazing collection of people whose knowledge we can draw from, along with some guests from out-of-town coming to share what they know.

If you have a skill, we want you to give a workshop and share it (we're talking anything from herbal medicine to bicycle maintenence to lockpicking to ideas of how to survive without work - if it can lessen dependence on capitalism or can be of practical use, we want it!)

Fundraising - we would like to make the entire event free, but somehow need to come up with some money to offer to the out-of-town speakers, presenters and bands. So if you happen to run into us flyering for a benefit party or selling yummy baked stuff, it's for a good cause.

Your contributions - (did we mention this already?...) seriously, offer your ideas, or skills, make a zine to hand out or a film to present, plan an event for around the same time, and we'd love for anyone with awesome vegan recipes to help cook stuff up for our bake sales.

Check back again soon - this site will be updated as the details fall into place.

Until then...

raisethestakes@drugsanddaydreams.net

The Nevada Revised Statutes

From: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-446.html#NRS446Sec865

CHAPTER 446 - FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS

NRS 446.870 Prohibited acts: Operation of food establishment without valid permit issued by health authority; sale, offer or display for consideration of food prepared in private home without valid permit issued by health authority; exemptions.
1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, it is unlawful for any person to operate a food establishment unless he possesses a valid permit issued to him by the health authority.
2. The health authority may exempt a food establishment from the provisions of this chapter if the health authority determines that the food which is sold, offered or displayed for sale, or served at the establishment does not constitute a potential or actual hazard to the public health.
3. Food that is prepared in a private home and given away free of charge or consideration of any kind is exempt from the provisions of this chapter, unless it is given to a food establishment.
4. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 5, food that is prepared in a private home must not be sold, or offered or displayed for sale or for compensation or contractual consideration of any kind, unless the person preparing the food possesses a valid permit issued to him by the health authority for that purpose.
5. A religious, charitable or other nonprofit organization may, without possessing a permit from the health authority, sell food occasionally to raise money, whether or not the food was prepared in a private home, if the sale occurs on the premises of the organization. If the sale is to occur off the premises of the organization, a permit from the health authority is required unless an exemption is granted pursuant to subsection 2.
(Added to NRS by 1963, 753; A 1969, 810; 1987, 382; 2001, 1505)

CITY PARKS: Judge rejects LV law

Ordinance against handing out meals ruled unconstitutional

By ADRIENNE PACKER
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Three days before Thanksgiving, a U.S. District Court judge provided Las Vegas' homeless and indigent population a reason to celebrate the holiday.
Judge Robert Jones ruled Monday that the Las Vegas ordinance prohibiting the distribution of food in public parks is unconstitutional because it targets a specific segment of the population. "This is one thing the homeless and indigent can really give thanks for. A federal judge went out of his way days before Thanksgiving to protect their rights," attorney Robert Murdock said after a hearing during which Jones directed the city to redraft its ordinance.
The American Civil Liberties Union and homeless-advocate groups had challenged the city's four-month-old ordinance, arguing the law was vague and targeted poor residents who rely on handouts to survive.
While acknowledging the city's intent was to keep parks clean and safe, Jones questioned why giving a single homeless person a sandwich is a criminal act.
"The statute goes too far," Jones said. "I don't think you could limit a person's right ... to hand out sandwiches to one, two, three, four or five people."
Jones gave both sides 10 days to submit in writing their arguments for and against the ordinance. He then will issue a final order.
Jones' message was interpreted differently by activists and Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic.
Jerbic said he thinks the city can redraft a law and still include language targeting indigents. If the city can prove a certain number of indigents at a feeding puts a burden on city services -- because of trash such as needles and used condoms -- the judge will be appeased, Jerbic said. The Las Vegas City Council will decide on that number.
"I am heartened the court recognized there is a serious problem and has given the city some guidance on how to amend the ordinance so we can address the problem," Jerbic said. "We have every right to regulate that activity. We have every right, as a government, to regulate the park."
But Allen Lichtenstein, an attorney with the ACLU, said the judge sided with his organization's contention that to prohibit a certain portion of the population from public areas is unconstitutional.
"The city is targeting poor people because the poor people are unsightly people, and they don't want them around," Lichtenstein said. "He (Jones) said you can't ban those people, which is what we've said all along."
The city can regulate the number of people who gather at a park, attorneys said, but that will apply to all types of events, including church gatherings, family reunions or birthday parties.
If the city crafts a new ordinance that still targets indigents, it will end up back in court, Murdock said.
Lee Rowland, also an attorney with the ACLU, told Jones the city is using stereotypes based on appearances when it determines who is considered indigent.
"This is a criminal sanction; they (donors) have a criminal record for misgauging the income of someone they're sharing a pie with," Rowland said.
What became clear Monday is that activists such as Gail Sacco can return to feeding the homeless and indigent without worrying about citations.
She scoffed at the city's contention that homeless people are responsible for leaving trash, like beer bottles and needles, in the park.
"Anything that is criminal behavior, we've told them before, arrest them," said Sacco, who has been cited twice in the past two years for feeding the homeless. "Poor people eating in a public park should not be a crime. It just doesn't make sense; it's pitiful."
Jerbic said city leaders approved the ordinance to protect indigent residents, not hurt them.
He argued that group feedings "lure" the homeless away from social services. Other organizations and agencies provide free food and shelter if drugs and alcohol are ditched at the door.
"Nothing changes what we're trying to do, and that's to get these less fortunate people into social service centers, faith-based centers, so the professionals will be able to transition them back into the community," Mayor Oscar Goodman said.
Goodman acknowledged that the case was not the first time the ACLU has successfully challenged a city ordinance on constitutional grounds.
"It probably won't be the last," he added.
But he added that City Council members listened to the city attorney's office for advice.
"Talk to Mr. Jerbic about why his ordinances are declared unconstitutional," said Goodman, a former criminal defense attorney. "We rely on our city attorney. I'm not practicing law up there. I trust the city attorney."
Jerbic said he found two times in the past 14 years in which the ACLU challenged city ordinances successfully and another time when the organization unsuccessfully challenged the city.
"Two out of three lawsuits in the last 14 years hardly sounds like a string of pearls to me," Jerbic said.
Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, questioned the true intention of the city's latest ordinance. He cited sweeps conducted by the city that drove the homeless from the social services corridor.
"This is a shell game that has absolutely no credibility whatsoever," Peck said. "All they're doing is pushing these people around."
He noted the timing of the court's decision. Government agencies regularly promote their free Thanksgiving meals at homeless shelters.
"I have no doubt that we are doing to see displays of 'compassion for the poor' on the part of the city on Thanksgiving so long as nobody has to look at them and most of us don't have to deal with them," he said.
"The real actions against the poor is evidenced by what was said in court."
Since the ordinance took effect, several summonses have been handed out by city marshals at parks in the downtown area, several miles from the Strip.
One Municipal Court judge tossed out a misdemeanor case against a California activist last month and called the ordinance unconstitutionally vague. The judge said the measure denied equal protection of the law to all citizens.
A final ruling by Jones in the Sacco vs. City of Las Vegas case is expected to affect several similar cases pending in Municipal Court.
Review-Journal writer David McGrath Schwartz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From Las Vegas Review-Journal

Las Vegas Food Not Bombs under attack.

MAYOR ISSUES PLANS TO
CLEAR HOMELESS OUT OF CITY PARKS

AUTHOR: David McGrath Schwartz
SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal
LOCATION: Las Vegas Review-Journal Web Site: http://www.lvrj.com
[ORIGINAL]:
DATE: June 22, 2006
INFO:

Unbowed by criticism and lawsuits attacking his handling of homelessness,
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman on Wednesday promised aggressive tactics to
clean up city parks, including asking police to force a homeless person to
get services.

Goodman laid out a number of proposals to fight homelessness,
including an
ordinance banning "mobile soup kitchens" in parks, prohibiting public
drunkenness and requesting judges to throw the book at those violating the
law at Huntridge Circle Park.

Most provocatively, the mayor instructed Las Vegas police in
attendance at
the council meeting to take the next person they find who is mentally ill
and refuses services to WestCare, a publicly supported nonprofit that
provides substance abuse and mental health programs.

"I want one person, one lucky person who'll be our test case ... whether
they like it or not," Goodman said. "Take them to WestCare. If they
don't
want to treat him, I want to know why because we give them a lot of
funding."

He then added, motioning like a prize fighter taunting an opponent,
"If the
ACLU wants to sue us ? come on, baby."

The head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada said his
organization would be happy to oblige.

"I don't think there would be a question," said Gary Peck, the
organization
's executive director.

Peck and ACLU of Nevada general counsel Allen Lichtenstein ripped the
city'
s proposal as blatantly targeting the homeless.

"Being homeless, or even being mentally ill, is not a crime,"
Lichtenstein
said. "This inflammatory rhetoric is not helping the problem of
homelessness one iota. If anything, the rhetoric is hurting."

The discussion Wednesday was meant to find solutions to the homeless
taking
over Circle Park, on Maryland Parkway south of Charleston Boulevard. The
issue came to the fore earlier this year when city officials arrested two
activists who had been feeding homeless people at the park.

Residents voiced complaints and frustration with a park littered by
broken
beer bottles, condoms and syringes and filled with homeless people.
Deputy
City Manager Orlando Sanchez produced statistics showing that in years
when
the park has been open, crime in surrounding neighborhoods has been
higher.

Karen Veljkovic said she has stopped taking her grandson to Circle Park
because of the conditions there. They tried to use Baker Park, but
homeless
surrounded the children's playground.

"As far as I'm concerned, I've lost two neighborhood parks," the 14-year
resident said of the area.

Representatives of homeless service groups blasted the practice of
feeding
the homeless at the parks, a situation that has led to a broad
challenge of
the city's rules.

Las Vegas marshals cited Gail Sacco and Lyla Bartholomae on Feb. 19 for
having a gathering of 25 people or more without a permit while they were
passing out hot food to the homeless at Circle Park. They were told
that if
they came back to the park within six months, they would be arrested for
trespassing, a threat the city attorney's office later rescinded.

The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of
both
of those actions earlier this month, as well as the city's practice of
making parks "children's only" parks.

Activists such as Sacco and Bartholomae say there are not enough services
close to where the homeless are, a contention with which Goodman and some
homeless advocates disagreed.

Duane Sonnenberg, director of grants and special projects for the Clark
County Salvation Army, said they prepare about 1,000 meals a day. He told
the council that with their new kitchen they could feed three times that
number.

Shannon West, regional homeless services coordinator for the Southern
Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, said that social workers with her
organization have been going to Circle Park to offer services to the
homeless. She said 29 are now in temporary or permanent housing or in a
treatment facility. Meanwhile, 57 refused services.

Offering food at the park separates the people from the social services
they could be getting, she said. And feeding them at the park draws the
homeless to the area.

"Feed them, they will come," she said.

Two Las Vegas police officers who described themselves as "homeless cops"
said they work with the homeless to help them get treatment.

"Not one person has been turned away by Salvation Army or Catholic
Charities," officer Bill Gibbs said.

But Peck disputed that.

Details of the city's proposals were not clear Wednesday night.

Goodman acknowledged a possible conflict regarding the separation of
powers
over his request that judges be asked to impose a maximum sentence for
those
cited for misdemeanors at Circle Park.

Also, the city regularly has people publicly intoxicated on Fremont
Street
Experience, City Attorney Brad Jerbic acknowledged.

And the ACLU questioned how a "mobile soup kitchen" can be differentiated
from a family sharing a picnic at a park.

Also unclear is what Las Vegas police will do with Goodman's direction to
bring a homeless person to a treatment center forcibly. The mayor asked
West to accompany police to identify someone who needs help but refuses
services.

After the meeting, West said of Goodman's comments: "The spirit is on
target."

The council unanimously passed the resolution.

? 2005 Las Vegas Review-Journal

We had a reporter from the Sparks Tribune come out and do a little story on us a few weeks ago...

Food Not Bombs
Staff Report
No questions were asked of the day laborers and other men who lined up for free food on Sunday near Fisherman?s Park. An organization of young people offered vegetarian meals to anyone on Galetti Way. Only about 25 people showed up, less than usual, meaning others may have found work for the day.
?In the past five years, the need for food has grown,? said Joe Ferguson of Food Not Bombs. ?If enough food were donated, we would serve free meals seven days a week.?
The organization started in 1980 in Cambridge, Mass. Since then, it has spread to major cities across the U.S. and Europe.
Locally, the group has been collecting, cooking and serving food donated by stores and restaurants for 10 years.
The Sunday meals are served at noon in Sparks and at 3 p.m. at Barbara Bennett Park in Reno. The group serves more meals at 4 p.m. on Wednesdays at Barbara Bennett Park.
Tress Smith of Sparks helps prepare and serve some of the homemade food. Since the meals are free and not prepared in a commercial kitchen, Smith said the group does not need a permit.
More donations and volunteers are always needed said Ferguson. Anyone interested can e-mail Ferguson at joe_ferguson@riseup.net.

This week?s meal included vegetarian chili, salad, garlic bread, bagels, cookies and tea. Some men returned for seconds.

Don't Forget!!! Critical Mass at 5:30 PM on the first Friday of every month at Brick Park. On the corner of 1st St. and West St. beside Java Jungle across the river from Wingfield Park. Whose Streets? OUR STREETS!

Volunteer opportunities abound here at Reno Food Not Bombs. Help with cooking, serving, and cleaning is always in demand, and it is fun, so what is your excuse? We also need people who want to help with gardening, food procurement (including dumpster-diving, and getting donations.) and other activities such as fund raising, clothes drives, etc.

Reno FNB has regular volunteer meetings monthly. This is where we decide things like when we are gonna dumpster dive, who is doing the cooking, cleaning, and serving for the next few weeks. We also plan future events and talk about radical ideas. We meet on the last Sunday of the month at 4:30 at the Spacement (351 East Taylor St.)

Getting involved with the Reno Chapter of Food Not Bombs is easy. All it takes is a bit of time out of our busy (or not so busy) schedules a week to have fun and cook some delicious food. We start cooking every Sunday morning at 10 am, and serve our first meal at 12 noon. We usually cook more at about 1pm to get ready for our 3pm serving. After 4pm we concentrate on cleaning up the kitchen. If Sundays aren't on your availability schedule, Wednesdays may be an idea. On Wednesdays we start cooking at around 2pm and serve at 4pm. We are usually done cleaning up by 6, so you still have time to get to band practice or the Wednesday night punk shows.