UPTOWN Neighborhood Initiative

On Thursday, June 12, 2014, UNI participated in the City of Corpus Christi Homelessness Summit, a five hour event in which business, non-profit, government, police, religious and other leaders gathered to formulate solutions to serving and addressing the homeless population and its impact on Corpus Christi’s quality of life for its citizens. A number of solutions to the ongoing issues with the homeless population were presented by “working groups” of diverse citizens. The following solutions presented have real merit:

1. Proposed “No Panhandling” Ordinance. Under this proposed ordinance, panhandling of any type would become illegal. Citizens contributing money to panhandlers would be fined. This does not include donations to legitimate non-profit organizations, such as the City of CC Fire Department’s annual Fill The Boot Campaign, or school organizations raising money for legitimate school functions.
2. Proposed “No Public Feeding” Ordinance. Under this proposed ordinance, feeding the homeless population on the streets will become illegal. Groups who routinely pass out sandwiches, drinks, etc. from trucks or other vehicles on the streets will be affected. The only feeding of the homeless population permitted would be located at legitimate, registered shelters, such as CC Metro Ministries, Mother Theresa Mission, and others.
3. Proposed Zoning Change: Additional shelters will not be permitted to be opened or constructed in the Uptown or Downtown area. Because many shelters are located here, the concentration of homeless living on the streets is here.

Attend the next UNI meeting for additional updates on Wednesday, July 9, 2014 at 12pm for more information on additional updates from this meeting that will affect Uptown.