Crazy Amounts of Food Fort Lauderdale Could Have Purchased With the $26,350 It Blew on Anti-Panhandling Ads

By Chris Sweeney Thu., Mar. 8 2012 at 5:00 AM

Fort Lauderdale has decided to spend $26,350 on anti-panhandling ads. As discussed yesterday, the signs convey a sense that giving change to the homeless is similar to giving food to wild animals.

The city argues that panhandling increases drug and alcohol abuse, distracts drivers, and leads to violent crime. In the proposal document, the city never once mentions that some panhandlers might put their money toward food -- a key element of staying alive.

Rather than waste money on an ad campaign that won't do anything but make the city look like a bunch of stuck-up prudes, city officials should have just balled out at a grocery store or drive-through window.

Here, some food options you can buy with $26,350.

133,080 Spicy Chicken Nuggets from Wendy's

17,247 boxes of angel hair pasta and 7,096 jars of Hunt's spaghetti sauce

3,297 Italian Sausage & Pepper Trio pizzas from Domino's

6,422 jars of ShopRite peanut butter and 4,602 jars of jelly

7,339 cans of Spam

4,398 steaks that weight six ounces each

58,555 packages of chicken flavor Ramen Noodle

11,711 packages of hot dogs

908 Fresh Maine Lobster Rolls from the Breaker's Beach Club Restaurant

35,133 cans of Campbell's Pork & Beans

*taxes not included in calculations

Tags:

food, Homeless Task Force, panhandling

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Stephanie Strange

Please refer to the administration of Rudi Guiliani in NY. For goodness sake have a real social consciousness, not a knee jerk reaction to nonsense.

Holly_127

There is a homeless shelter in Ft. Lauderdale that keeps hundreds of these panhandlers off the street every year. Currently the city is 4 months behind in distributing the funds this shelter has been pre-approved and contracted for by the federal gov't. This shelter is going to be forced to close their doors because the city can't get it together. The city owes them over a half a million dollars. Where's the story about Susan Stanton being hired in Ft. Lauderdale last week???

socool

I wonder how many pizza rolls the New Times could buy for those poor panhandlers dumping on the city Library steps with the $26,000 a year they pay you to write this drivel?

Curiousss

YES!!! A food give away! That will solve the problem of vagrants and bums hanging around Fort Lauderdale....

They're like pigeons. If you feed a few, more show up, crap all over everything, then you can't get rid of them. Unless you poison them.

(Years ago a Ft. Lauderdale elected official suggested poisoning. Look that one up. And no, I'm certainly not advocating any harm toward vagrants. Action must be taken to reduce/remove them, the above amount is minor when considering the harm they can do, or the harm that can be done to them. )