Sarasota News Leader

03/07/2014

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this area. The number of homeless increases every year, but the number of shelters does not, so these shelters will spill out into the community." The Military Academy also is located on Orange Avenue near the 1330 N. Osprey Ave. site. Michael Barfield, vice president of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, noted city police gave out 107 citations for out-of-door lodging in the first six weeks of the new year. "There are a lot of things to be excited and positive about here," he said. "I believe a shelter will go a long way to clean- ing up a community." He lives in Bradenton. Diana Hamilton pointed out that all of Sarasota effectively is a homeless shelter now. "There are homeless camps all over the city; they are everywhere in our city," she said. "Moving for- ward proactively is our only choice here." She lives in Laurel Park. THE 'REALPOLITIK' Eileen Normile paid her own site visit to Pinellas Safe Harbor in Clearwater, another Marbut-designed shelter. "The annual bud- get is $1.6 million per year, [mostly] paid by the county. The cities of Clearwater and St. Petersburg add $100,000 each," she told the Sarasota City Commission. That shelter is about a 20-minute drive from downtown St. Petersburg, and it offers no Homeless people gather on Central Avenue in Sarasota in early 2013. Photo by Norman Schimmel Sarasota News Leader March 7, 2014 Page 22

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