When a Community Improvement District criminalizes poverty…
The South Grand CID issued a letter to its member firms along this popular business strip in St. Louis telling them to stop giving free food and water to homeless people during a recent heatwave. Some business owners took exception and organized a protest, along with activists from the neighborhood and city wide. The letter included a threat to call police to remove the "vagrants" even though no law exists against giving food or drink to the homeless.