by Sarah Gerard
20. First Amendment right to free speech: Keyes, “Courts Are Striking Back Against the Criminalization of Homelessness.”
21. Department of Justice filed a brief: US Department of Justice, “Justice Department Files Brief to Address the Criminalization of Homelessness.”
22. more difficult for municipalities to obtain HUD money if such programs aren’t in place: Pyke, “Local Officials Have Pushed to Criminalize Homelessness for Years. The Feds Are Starting to Push Back.”
23. reduce laws criminalizing homelessness: Keyes, “Criminalizing Homelessness Can Now Cost Cities Federal Money.”
24. overcrowding in the Pinellas County jail, where many of them were ending up: Nohlgren and DeCamp, “Tensions Brew over Plans for Homeless Shelter at Pinellas Jail Complex.”
25. slashing the residents’ living spaces with box cutters: Ulferts and Raghunathan, “Police Slash Open Tents to Roust the Homeless.”
26. “excessive arrests of homeless individuals”: National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty and National Coalition for the Homeless, Homes Not Handcuffs, 11.
27. “I would rather have them spend money on helping the homeless rather than arresting them”: Raghunathan, “Public defender will stop working homeless cases in St. Petersburg.”
28. six new ordinances criminalizing homelessness: National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty and National Coalition for the Homeless, Homes Not Handcuffs, 11.
29. second meanest city in the country: Ibid., 33.
30. “who were routinely penalized for using public space to perform basic bodily functions when they had nowhere else to go”: Catron, Young, Hargis, et al. v. City of St. Petersburg, US Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.
31. “Velvet Hammer”: Delaney, “How a Traveling Consultant Helps America Hide the Homeless.”
32. “perpetuates and increases homelessness through enablement”: Marbut, “Homeless Needs Assessment and Action Plan for Placer County,” 39.
33. “The mission should no longer be to ‘serve’ the homeless community”: Ibid., 21.
34. ordinances targeting homelessness: Pinellas County deputy, interview, July 30, 2015.
35. compared with $125 a day for the jail: Morrow, “Changes Expected in June Will Address Issues Plaguing Pinellas Safe Harbor Homeless Shelter.”
36. daily average of 450: Girardi, “Groups Work to Provide Permanent Housing for St. Pete’s Homeless.”
37. “not sick enough to qualify for a disability check”: Rolle, interview, July 17, 2015.
38. Many substance abuse experts agree with G.W.: Larimer, et al., “Health Care and Public Service Use and Costs Before and After Provision of Housing for Chronically Homeless Persons with Severe Alcohol Problems.”
39. treating substance abuse alone is inadequate; it must be tackled alongside homelessness simultaneously: National Coalition for the Homeless, Substance Abuse and Homelessness.
40. put them in a house and wrap services around them, and ensure that they can’t lose their house no matter what: Rolle, interview, November 3, 2015.
41. housing is a human right and not a privilege: National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, “Simply Unacceptable.”
42. the only effective way of ending homelessness: Delaney, “How a Traveling Consultant Helps America Hide the Homeless.”
43. two years before getting approved: Pinellas County deputy, interview, July 30, 2015.
44. “Right here on the stage”: Snapp, interview, July 19, 2015.
45. “Lack of money ain’t never stopped me from doing nothing”: Rolle, interview, July 11, 2015.
46. It costs $240 to feed them all: Snapp, interview, July 19, 2015.
47. “I don’t think the congregation’s in a mood right now to want to shell out more and more”: Ibid.
48. “Everyone consistently says it’s the best breakfast in town”: Rolle, interview, July 17, 2015.
49. called Marbut back for a follow-up evaluation: Stanley, “Homeless Issues Again Becoming Problem in St. Petersburg, Consultant Says.”
50. much to the dismay of High Point residents nearby: Madison, “Neighbors Voice Trouble with Pinellas Safe Harbor Shelter.”
51. 5,887 total homeless individuals in Pinellas County: Young and Moore, 2014 Point-in-Time Housing Survey, 8.
52. exactly what they’d counted in 2011: Pinellas County Homeless Leadership Board, 2011 Point in Time (PIT) Count of Homeless Individuals in Pinellas County, 10.
53. From 720 unsheltered people that year: Ibid.
54. they were now up to 1,178: Young and Moore, 2014 Point-in-Time Housing Survey, 9.
55. Over 2,500 of those counted were children: Ibid., 8.
56. Half of those counted lived in St. Petersburg: Ibid., 30.
57. “We’ve got to step it up”: Stanley, “Homeless Issues Again Becoming Problem In St. Petersburg, Consultant Says.”
58. delivered his findings to new mayor Rick Kriseman and the city council on June 5: Marbut, “Follow-Up Review of Homelessness in the City of St. Petersburg.”
59. come to an end the previous October: Thompson, “Pinellas Authorities Evaluating Homeless Diversion Program.”
60. individuals arrested for minor infractions, such as an open-container charge, were held in solitary confinement: Smith, interview, January 25, 2016.
61. “You are asking for an answer to an unanswerable question”: Thompson, “Pinellas Launching Program to Deal with the Chronically Homeless.”
62. only 93 individuals opted to go to Safe Harbor: Thompson, “Pinellas Authorities Evaluating Homeless Diversion Program.”
63. jail costs the sheriff’s department ten times more: Stanley, “Officials Once Again Mulling Over Homeless Problem In St. Pete, Pinellas County.”
64. $1.6 million comes out of the sheriff’s budget: Stanley, “Homeless Issues Again Becoming Problem in St. Petersburg, Consultant Says.”
65. those costs are offset by donations from various cities: Ibid.
66. a program run by the City of St. Petersburg had bused close to a thousand homeless people, some of them addicted to drugs or mentally ill, across the country: Frago, “Road to Nowhere.”
67. every homeless veteran by the end of 2015: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, et al., Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness in 2015 Fact Sheet.
68. roughly 58,000 veterans were experiencing homelessness in America at the time: Obama, “The First Lady Announces the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness.”
69. In January 2015, Mayor Kriseman of St. Petersburg took up the First Lady’s challenge: Kriseman, “State of the City Address.”
70. up from 5,887 the previous year to 6,853: Santa Lucia, Pinellas County Point in Time Homeless Report: 2015.
71. including 621 veterans in Pinellas County alone, of the almost 3,000 total in the tri-county area: Raposa, interview, January 25, 2016.
72. he tells me the tri-county area is now home to less than two hundred homeless veterans: Ibid.
73. “I’ve made mistakes this week”: Rolle, interview, August 8, 2015.
74. G.W. finds a way inside: Easy Street, Wideyed Films.
75. sleeping on the floor of the Dream Center: Rolle, interview, November 3, 2016.
76. “It seemed like they had me in a basement”: Ibid.
77. elderly woman who lived alone with her cats: Easy Street, Wideyed Films.
78. There are similar projects in the works in Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Alabama: Girardi, “Groups Work to Provide Permanent Housing for St. Pete’s Homeless.”
79. The 2012 census found that 10.1 percent of American homes—over thirteen million units—were sitting vacant: Heben, Tent City Urbanism, 32.
80. while maintaining their existing balance of privacy and social interactions: Ibid., xii.
81. “my visit to the site . . . left me skeptical”: Ibid., 106.
82. Eugene’s mayor formed a task force to find “new and innovative solutions”: Ibid.,
xi.
83. gathering yurt, common kitchen, front office, tool shed, and a bathhouse with flush toilets, a shower, and a laundry room: Ibid., 163.
84. balances the informal with the formal: Ibid., 161.
85. was erected for approximately $100,000: Ibid., 164.
86. housing first rather than services: Girardi, “‘Tiny Houses’ Help St. Pete Tackle Challenge to House Homeless Veterans.”
87. with a list of city-owned properties for sale: Pavese, interview, January 30, 2016.
88. He’s going to quit, he reassures me: Rolle, interview, January 24, 2016.
89. did not meet HUD criteria for homelessness: Santa Lucia, Pinellas County Point in Time Homeless Report: 2015, 1.
90. only 3,387 were reported to HUD: Ibid., 4.
91. 35,900 people were homeless in the state of Florida in 2015: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD 2015 Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Programs Homeless Populations and Subpopulations, State Name: Florida, 1.
92. 71,446 homeless children alone: Florida Department of Children and Families, Council on Homelessness 2015 Annual Report, 5.
93. have not been on a lease and had to move more than once in the past sixty days, and will continue to be unhoused due to disabilities or barriers to employment: Ibid., 6.
94. or are migrants who haven’t yet settled in a new place: Ibid.
95. low wages fall further still while housing costs skyrocket: Stewart, “Obama Will Seek $11 Billion for Homeless Families.”
96. putting $11 billion in federal funds into fighting family homelessness over the next ten years—up from $4.5 billion in 2015: National Alliance to End Homelessness, The State of Homelessness in America 2015, 6.
97. More than half of homeless families with children live in five states: Stewart, “Obama Will Seek $11 Billion for Homeless Families.”
98. HUD reported that there were only about 123,000 homeless children nationwide: Office of Community Planning and Development, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, The 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress.
99. but also that the cost to communities was the same: Stewart, “Obama Will Seek $11 Billion for Homeless Families.”
100. Molly Coyle, who, according to the G.W. character, calls him “for just about everything”: Rolle, “Things That Break,” 15.
101. appoints himself the mayor of Williams Park: Ibid., 10.
102. “They are young people on the verge of going under”: Ibid., 15.
103. He thinks about how they called for Christ after Lazarus died: Ibid., 17.
104. He agrees to hold a service for Branna that evening: Ibid., 45.
105. “Don’t do what you used to do”: Ibid., 73.
106. have gone before us to loosen our bonds and show us the way: Ibid., 74.
107. calls to tell me he’s relapsed again: Rolle, interview, January 25, 2016.
108. He’s slept through the last three days: Rolle, interview, January 28, 2016.
109. “The face of this breakfast might change”: Rolle, interview, January 30, 2016.
110. Fifty people crowd inside: Bolden, interview, January 30, 2016.
111. cover of the Tampa Tribune: Girardi, “‘Tiny Houses’ Help St. Pete Tackle Challenge to House Homeless Veterans.”
112. They’ll start building in September: Bolden, welcoming statements, January 30, 2016.
113. when she Baker Acted herself: Megan, interview, January 30, 2016.
114. rescue dogs for veterans who want them: Bolden, interview, January 30, 2016.
115. “so you’re ending hunger”: Ibid.
116. G.W. texts to say he has something to tell me: Rolle, text message, February 4, 2016.
117. the last to be held at Trinity Lutheran: Rolle, interview, January 30, 2016.
118. “Hey! I’m writing. How about you?”: Rolle, text message, February 19, 2016.
Sunshine State
1. “There have been bad things written about us in the paper”: Beitl, interview, July 12, 2015.
2. dragging a broken wing on the side of Gulf Boulevard: Flying Free 2, Matheney Productions.
3. more than fifty years: Karas, “At 100, Helen Heath Puts Her Life into Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary.”
4. he lives on the bottom floor: Guastella, interview, August 3, 2015.
5. “birds come to grief at the hands of man”: Matthews, “Volunteers Rescue Injured Wildfowl,” 31.
6. “Heath is at his best saving birds which his fellow citizens have damaged”: Ibid., 34.
7. first facility in history to mate the brown pelican in captivity: McMahon, “Rare Brown Pelican Born at Suncoast Sanctuary.”
8. the bird was endangered and on the verge of extinction: Cappiello, “Brown Pelicans off the Endangered Species List.”
9. hatched the first brown pelican egg: Greene, “In a Family Way.”
10. Dewar’s Scotch had featured Ralph in their Dewar’s Profile ad campaign: Dewar’s, “Dewar’s Profiles: Ralph Heath.”
11. 20/20 did a special on Ralph and the sanctuary then the Today show: Lindberg, “Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary No Longer Taking in Injured Birds.”
12. the New York Times: Lemkowitz, “A Sanctuary for Seabirds in Florida.”
13. “Birds: Our Responsibility”: “Birds: Our Responsibility,” St. Petersburg Times.
14. Disney came to the sanctuary seeking animal stars for its Discovery Island: Mitchell, “Good Birds Make Good Neighbors.”
15. zoos all over the world, in Greece: Guastella, interview, August 3, 2015.
16. Singapore, Spain: Williams, “World-Renowned Sanctuary Most Definitely for the Birds.”
17. and Barbados: Miller, “Pelican Venture.”
18. “all atilt, with no tether”: Heath, interview, November 4, 2015.
19. took him bird-watching in his amphibian aircraft: Associated Press, “Florida Pelicans Retire in Texas.”
20. he shot films from the sanctuary yacht, the Whisker: Guastella, interview, August 3, 2015.
21. Ralph and Linda divorced three years after the sanctuary opened: Divorce certificate, Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida.
22. in 1982 he married Beatrice Busch: Evertz, “300-Acre Estate Is Setting for Busch-Heath Wedding.”
23. Beatrice had spent winters in Tampa Bay with her beer magnate father: Ibid.
24. had just finished filming a television special about the migration of humpback whales with her filmmaker ex-husband: “Beatrice Busch Promotes Sanctuary,” Boca Beacon.
25. She arrived just as Ralph was leaving to rescue a pelican hooked by a fisherman: Ibid.
26. grabbing birds with their hands, getting nipped by cormorants: Miller, “Beatrice Busch-Keefe.”
27. Grant’s Farm, a three-hundred-acre St. Louis estate: Evertz, “300-Acre Estate Is Setting for Busch-Heath Wedding.”
28. chimpanzees and elephants Gussie had trained himself: Thomas, “August A. Busch, Jr. Dies at 90; Built Largest Brewing Company.”
29. Within three years of marrying Ralph, Beatrice had given birth to three sons: Guastella, interview, August 3, 2016.
30. Within another two years, Ralph and Beatrice had separated: Marriage certificate, Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Health, Division of Vital Records.
31. Ralph refused to go with her. He couldn’t leave his birds: Heath, interview, November 4, 2015.
32. In the beginning, the birds had united Ralph and Beatrice: “Beatrice Busch Promotes Sanctuary,” Boca Beaton.
33. they postponed their trip until the St. Petersburg City Council reached a verdict: Evertz, “300-Acre Estate Is Setting for Busch-Heath Wedding.”
34. It was a plan he’d been working on since 1974: “Council Delays Gateway,” St. Petersburg Evening Independent.
35. buying land as a way to preserve it against booming development along Florida’s coasts: Griffin, “Andrew’s Island—The Third One.”
36. had community support: East, “‘Nature Lovers’
Plan Petition Drive for Bird Sanctuary Land Sale.”
37. the city wanted to zone the land for industrial use: “Council Says It’s Willing to Meet Nov. 10 with Seabird Sanctuary Founder,” St. Petersburg Times.
38. They were expected to come to a decision in December: Stiff, “City’s Stand on Sanctuary Is for the Birds.”
