Exactly right - the problem was the administration of the Shelter.
The problem was not anyone's "Brand of Christianity."
The Zoning Board did not rule that these folks "had the wrong Brand
of Christianity" or that "if they were a different Brand of
Christianity we would let them have it."
No brief written by the lawyers to the Court said these folks were
the "wrong kind of Christians" or that "a different kind of
Christian would be OK."
The Judge made no ruling that their "Brand of Christianity" was
the "wrong brand" and that a "different group of Christians would be
OK."
The claim by SUFA, and the ruling by the judge, was that the
administration of the shelter (having nothing to do with their Brand
of Christianity) was the problem, in that they were attracting the
homeless from other places and putting them on the street quickly,
which the Zoning Board found to be a detriment to the City.
The telephone call I receieved, which John and someone else
ridiculed, was from SUFA, who by the way, to my surprise, is not
Paul Vail.
Paul Vail didn't start SUFA and didn't pick the lawyers. I don't
think he is formally even the spokesperson, as a opposed to just a
very outspoken member.
SUFA agrees with me. The reference to "Brand of Chrisitianity" was
not in keeping with SUFA's objection to the shelter; it had
absolutely nothing to do with it.
I received a very gracious apology from SUFA for any confusion that
quote may have caused, and the fellow I spoke to could not have been
more polite and understanding. He certainly made a fan out of me.
The mattter is cleared up and all is forgiven as far as I'm
concerned.
--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "asburycouple" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> > Please ask for PROOF of the "evangelizing". I never got the
> > impression that they demand some sort of conversion. If I am
such a
> > mess that I end up in a shelter like that, being told that the
Jesus
> > version of a path to god is the best is not going to hurt me too
much.
>
> Some proof that they demanded those who stay beyond 10 days to
join
> their itensive religous program as well as the impact on the city
of
> all those "non-converter" being pulled to Asbury then dumped on
the
> streets. A judge clearly agreed with when siding with the city:
>
> From an article in the Coaster -
>
> "A main concern is that the mission attracts homeless and
sometimes
> addicted people to the shelter for food and housing but only a few
> enter the mission's strict religious program, while the others are
> turned back onto the street.
>
> Those men who chose to go into the group's religious program were
> allowed to stay and complete the program."
>
>
> From the Asbury Park Press - quoting the testimony to the judge
this
> summer:
>
> "There's no exit strategy to monitor the men after seven days,''
said
> zoning board
> attorney Jack Serpico, after Judge finished.
>
> Serpico contended the mission, which is called the Jersey Shore
Rescue
> Mission, could have a substantial impact on the immediate
neighborhood
> and that Market Street had failed to prove its concept would work
and
> that the city would not "get stuck'' with a large number of
individuals
> going through the program.
>
> "There's nothing in the record that closes the loop on this,''
Serpico
> said.
>
> James Aaron, attorney for the city, said men would be at the
mission
> for seven days and if they didn't get picked for the long-term
program,
> would be out on the street
"just what Asbury Park doesn't need.
>
> "You're going to put drug addicts and alcoholics on the west side
of
> Asbury Park where police have been working for years to clean
up,''
> Aaron said. ""(The program) will put these men right there. If
that
> isn't putting the tiger in the hen house, I don't know what is.
>
> "Where do these people go?'' Aaron asked. "They have no money,
They
> have no food, they have no job.''
>
> Ron Gasiorowski, the lawyer for Stand Up For Asbury, said of the
total
> 40 beds, 10 people would be in the life change program, three
would be
> staff and 27 would be "put out into the streets of Asbury Park.
>
> "If you turn 27 people out every seven days, that's 1,400 people a
> year. Where are they coming from? Where are they going?''
>
> Gasiorowski said the mission's success is predicated on people
with
> drug and alcohol addictions coming to the facility.
>
> "They can bring as many of those as they can and then cherry-pick
the
> ones they want to keep,'' he said.
>
> He said that with 10 or 20 accepted into their program, they could
get
> a success rate of 80 percent.
>
> "Then they say how successful they are, but they don't say what
1,000
> people did to Asbury Park,'' he said.
>
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