Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/132206
'SLO-MO' RUMBLE Plans are under way to create a tent city for the homeless at 1003 N. Washington Blvd. in Sarasota. Photo by Norman Schimmel ANALYSIS: THE PROSPECT OF A 'RAILROAD TRACK TENT CITY' FOR THE HOMELESS IN SARASOTA IS RAISING ISSUES GALORE By Stan Zimmerman City Editor A piece of property on the northeast corner of Washington Boulevard, along the Seminole Gulf Railroad tracks near 10th Street, threatens to become a political bomb with a sputtering fuse. On May 6, Vallerie Guillory, executive director of Trinity Without Borders, announced she was in discussion with the owner of 1003 N. Washington Blvd. about using the property, and on May 21, she said it was under lease. Gillespie Park are aghast. "Please don't turn our neighborhood into a shanty town," Wayne Zlair begged the city commissioners Monday evening, May 20. THE POOR HA BEEN WITH US FOREVER VE Virtually every religious tract in the world talks about the poor. Allah smiles on those who give alms. Matthew 26:11 says in part: "The poor you will always have with you …." Guillory wants to turn the 4-acre parcel into Sarasota has struggled with the homeless poor for decades. But in rea tent city for Sarasota's homeless, and cent times, the situashe believes her plan tion has changed. The People on the street are engaged numbers are growing. is almost ready to be in this perpetual circumstance of moving. A biennial survey and launched. The neighbors with homes in adjacent Tom Barwin City Manager anecdotal data show the population is