by Jeremy Morrison
The local Food Not Bombs chapter has responded to Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson’s statements Monday that he has been talking with the organization about relocating its downtown food distribution site, with the group disputing the mayor’s comments.
“It’s obvious from today’s press conference that Mayor Grover C. Robinson, IV fundamentally misunderstands what Food Not Bombs is and what we do,” began a post on Food Not Bombs Pensacola’s Facebook page Monday, following the mayor’s weekly presser.
Monday morning, Mayor Robinson had been commenting on an issue involving the Downtown Improvement Board and a local homeless advocate — Mike Kimberl, director of the Alfred Washburn Center — who was arrested for breaking the lock off of a DIB-controlled portable toilet so that a woman in the park for a Food Not Bombs food distribution could use the facility. The mayor noted that he had long tried to convince Food Not Bombs to relocate from its regular site at MLK Jr. Plaza on Palafox to John Sunday Park outside of Pensacola City Hall, having discussed the issue with Kimberl on a number of occasions.
In its response, Food Not Bombs Pensacola stressed that the mayor had never communicated with the group, but rather to Kimberl.
“The mayor has NOT reached out to Food Not Bombs. He has only spoken with one of our volunteers, Mike,” the group’s statement continued. “While we love and support Michael Kimberl, he is one individual in a group that organizes horizontally and makes decisions by consensus. Mike does not represent or speak for Food Not Bombs – no one person does. If the mayor wants to speak with us, he can do so via email or direct message.”
As alluded to in its opening line, Food Not Bombs’ response also questions the rationale and even philosophy underpinning the mayor’s request for the group to relocate its activities. Robinson contends that distributing food on Palafox, in the urban core’s commercial heart, where downtown business owners are complaining about panhandling and safety concerns, creates “conflict,” and that relocating the site a few blocks away, tucked into an enclave of governmental buildings, would create less conflict; as relayed in the group’s response, Food Not Bombs rather considers its Palafox food distribution a form of protest, or “direct action.”
“Food Not Bombs is a form of protest against militarism and nuclear weapons, poverty, and homelessness,” the statement explained. “We provide free meals as a means of direct action, and to enjoy the company of our neighbors. The meals are an act of solidarity with the people we share a community with, not a charity.”
A separate post adds clarity to the organization’s exact response to Mayor Robinson’s invitation to relocate its activities from MLK Jr. Plaza to John Sunday Park.
“Food Not Bombs Pensacola has been gathering peacefully at MLK Jr. Plaza for over 10 years, enjoying food and conversation with our neighbors, as people do in public parks,” the organization posted. “We have no desire to change locations, and there are no legal grounds to force us out.”