Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves has announced on social media that someone has obtained a permit for Food Not Bombs to continue its Friday food giveways in the Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza.
Post: “Great news on this Friday to share. An individual has stepped up to obtain a permit to ensure the good work of assisting those in need at MLK Plaza can continue. This is a positive and a harmonious resolution to what is an ambiguous situation. It’s also a reminder of what we can achieve when we work together in good faith to support one another. Thank you to Food Not Bonds for this work and our city staff for making it happen.”
Background: On Friday, Nov. 28, Food Not Bombs organizer Mike Kimberl was arrested for refusing to show his ID to a Pensacola police officer, who wanted to issue him a warning that the food events violated city ordinances.
At his press conference on Monday, Reeves addressed Kimberl’s arrest, calling the incident “another case” of problems created by informal “handshake agreements” rather than written policies.
“This particular incident was rooted in some ambiguity,” Reeves said. “There was a handshake agreement from 14 years ago, and I tried to do my best for the sake of both parties to always get rid of handshake agreements and have some clarity.”
While expressing appreciation for efforts to help the homeless community, Reeves said he reviewed video of the incident and “stand[s] fully by our officer and his professionalism and his conduct throughout this particular incident.”
“I don’t think that Mr. Kimberl had any ill intent, and I certainly don’t think our officer had any ill intent,” the mayor said. “But this is one of those things where why we try to eliminate ambiguity is that there is a rule on the books clearly that the park closes at night.”
On Tuesday, please ask Mayor Reeves to very clearly explain why his employee Officer Roper claimed last Friday night that Food Not Bombs was unlawfully feeding the homeless in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza. Yes, legally it is a city park and normally it is closed after sunset. City Code Section 6-3-2(c) provides, “The hours of the parks are sunrise to sunset, unless otherwise posted.” However, for 14 years Food Not Bombs has had the permission of Mayor Hayward, Mayor Robinson and then Mayor Reeves to be in the park after sunset on Friday nights feeding the homeless. So, Mayor Reeves needs to explain the legal basis for Officer Roper to assert Food Not Bombs was in violation of city law. Clearly, the group had Mayor Reeves’ permission. If there was no violation of law, Officer Roper had no basis to investigate let alone demand anyone to include Mike Kimberl produce ID. NO LAWS WERE VIOLATED. We also still need to know if Officer Roper was working for the City “or” for the DIB and why no one in his chain-of-command provided much-needed adult leadership. If Officer Roper had truly believed that Food Not Bombs was violating city law, he should shut down the event and taken all of them into custody. He did not. Instead, Officer Roper went out of his way to make an example of Mike Kimberl. The people are not powerless. If Mayor Reeves is incapable of serving as the chief law enforcement officer of the city, and a prior city attorney once made the point in writing that our mayor is, then it won’t be hard to get city voters to amend the city charter to directly elect the police chief, as is done in other municipalities in Florida. The Florida Police Chiefs Association told me so. Also, the city charter’s Section 7-2 allows voters to adopt ordinances. It only takes one voter to initiate a charter amendment and there is no subject matter limitation except with respect to the city’s boundaries. Such an ordinance could keep the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza open 24/7. Then, citizens would be free to walk from one side of Palafox Street to the other without fear of arrest by the PPD with potential fine (up to $500) or imprisonment (up to 6 months in the county jail) for “each” violation. In his honor, we could call it “The Dan Lindemann Law.”