DL Open Thread: Sunday, November 10, 2024

I kinda buried this story a couple of days ago,  but it deserves better.  As do the people that Purzycki and the cops are trying to roust out of Buccini/Pollinville:

Last month, Wilmington officials and the ACLU of Delaware settled a lawsuit over the city’s policing of homeless people – an agreement that barred local police from arresting individuals who had asked strangers for money or who had lingered in public areas.

But, in the wake of the settlement, police appear to have taken a new strategy, one that critics say is unfairly targeting society’s most vulnerable populations.

Less than an hour after the ACLU announced its deal with the city last month, police were outside the offices of a local homeless services organization, called the Friendship House, which also had been a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Officers had been called there following reports of people doing illegal activity on sidewalk benches that sat just outside the doors of the Friendship House.

What followed was a tense exchange between police and officials of the Friendship House and of the church that owned the property.

Police asked to remove the benches, which for more than 30 years had provided respite for homeless individuals to drink coffee or wait on an open restroom at the center.

But the leaders of the organization and of the church refused.

Officers responded by threatening to shut down the Friendship House and cease its operations, according to Kim Eppehimer, executive director of the Friendship House.

Then, they left.

About an hour later, city officials returned with tools and a police escort, and promptly cut the benches from the sidewalk, trucking them away.

They placed cones over the nearly inch-long pieces of rebar that were left protruding up from the concrete on the sidewalk.

This is unconscionable.  Although something you would expect from Mayor Mike and his Elsmere-based police force.  We know that dimwit Carney doesn’t have an iota of empathy.  So, it’s up to us.  I recommend that you at least do what Al does–donate to Friendship House.  Shout-outs to Al and Joe Connor for keeping the story alive.

Just a question: Does anybody on Wilmington City Council give a shit?  Or do they too view the homeless as inconvenient nuisances interfering with Buccini/Pollin’s ‘vision’?

Unions About To Get What They Deserve.  White House prepares to shed Union Label:

Joseph R. Biden Jr. promised to be the most pro-labor president in history. He embraced unions more overtly than his predecessors in either party, and filled his administration with union supporters.

Labor seemed to respond accordingly. Filings for unionization elections spiked to their highest level in a decade, as did union victories. There were breakthroughs at companies like Starbucks and Amazon, and unions prevailed in organizing a major foreign auto plant in the South. A United Automobile Workers walkout yielded substantial contract gains — and images of Mr. Biden joining a picket line.

As Donald J. Trump prepares to retake the White House, labor experts expect the legal landscape for labor to turn sharply in another direction.

Based on Mr. Trump’s first term and his comments during the campaign — including his praise for Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, for what he said was Mr. Musk’s willingness to fire striking workers — these experts say the new administration is likely to bring fewer challenges to employers who fight unions.