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city will continue to take steps to put every person <br />experiencing homelessness on a path to permanent housing. Is this what we are <br />doing with this ordinance? <br />If you are so unfeeling that you believe you have no choice but to enact this <br />ordinance, then why the huge area of exclusion? You effectively include all <br />the transportation connections in the region, with this law. This goes beyond <br />and affects more than the ones you are marginalizing. What about the tired <br />college student who is waiting at the Train Station for a greyhound bus? This <br />would not let them sit or lie down. <br />Further, the ordinance's requirement for Permits to give any services to the <br />homeless who naturally use the train station and bus stops to get around, is a <br />travesty. Many more people are stepping up to serve those in the margins. <br />What about that person who wants to celebrate her 16th birthday by giving <br />back to her community and the homeless. Would they be breaking the law and <br />be subject to fines and possible incarceration because they wanted to do <br />something for their community? <br />I currently volunteer with Mercy Watch. These volunteers go to where the <br />homeless are, to care for their basic needs. The Medical Teams are serving <br />them instead of waiting for them to show up in the ER. How will that much <br />needed ministry be able to serve those in the margins? <br />I have included for you a copy of a poster enumerating the 13 religion's core <br />values. You may use this as a reference point as you make decisions for ALL <br />citizens in our community, most especially the vulnerable in the margins. <br />In closing I want you to think about the opening quotation from <br />Ecclesiasticus, Are we delivering the oppressed from their oppressors or have <br />we become the uncaring persons headed for the Pit. <br />2 <br />