New rules proposed for food handouts on the Parkway

If you're poor and hungry, you can get a free meal almost any day of the week on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

On Sunday and Monday nights, the volunteer group Food Not Bombs hands out hot dinners.

On Monday afternoons, Adam Bruckner, an advocate for the homeless, sets up in front of the Free Library with chicken hot dogs and pasta - his routine for 10 years.

There are meals from members of a Korean church, as well as once-a-week rice dinners from an older woman whom everyone calls Mom.

The outdoor feedings draw dozens, if not hundreds, of the city's most desperate people. They come from shelters and halfway houses. Some live on the streets; others are just out of prison.

But the routine on the Parkway could be disrupted if the city's Board of Health succeeds in setting new regulations for outdoor feedings.

The presence of food lines in the heart of the city's museum district has been a long-simmering source of tension between those who want to help and those who think there is a better way to do it.

Last week, the Board of Health approved a draft of new rules - the first such guidelines for outdoor feedings. If the rules are made final, groups will have to get a permit from the city to hand out meals. The kitchens where they prepare meals will have to be inspected and they will have to tell the board where and when they will dispense food and what they will serve.

Deputy Mayor Donald F. Schwarz said the city does not now have any regulatory authority over groups that give away food outdoors. "My purpose in doing this is about the safety of food for people in Philadelphia," Schwarz said.

A final vote on the new rules cannot occur until after a 30-day comment period that ends March 15 and another hearing.

Many organizations view the proposed rules as an attempt by the city to rein in outdoor feedings on the eve of the opening of the $200 million new home of the Barnes Foundation, one of several big investments on the Parkway. The Rodin Museum also completed a $19 million face-lift, and the $4.7 million Sister Cities Park is opening across from the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul.

Schwarz, who also is health commissioner, denied any connection between those events and the new regulations. "I don't really want to take on all the people who are concerned about the Barnes," Schwarz said. "There will never be a time to implement regulations where something isn't going on."

Schwarz said the Department of Public Health was motivated to act because of an "incident" involving a large outdoor feeding last summer. He would not discuss specifics, but said it did not occur on the Parkway.

In January, Schwarz said, the board began reaching out to individuals involved in feedings to talk about the need for health standards, training, and permits.

Brian Jenkins, director of Chosen 300 Ministries, an indoor free-meal program, was one of them. He said that while he welcomed the city's offer to train groups that want to prepare free meals, he fears that the permitting process will deter individuals who want to help. The Board of Health has not set a fee for a permit, but the regulations would require forms and approvals.

Jenkins also sees a direct connection between the city's action and ongoing pressure from Center City interests to move feedings off the Parkway.

"They can dress it up all they want, but that's the reality of it," Jenkins said. "They want to prevent people from serving on the Parkway."

Under the proposed regulations, if a group does not get a permit to conduct an outdoor feeding, it will be cited, Schwarz said. If the warnings are ignored, it could be fined.

Sharon Kelly, a volunteer for Food Not Bombs, said the imposition of rules would "hamper our ability to get food for people."

Her organization relies on food contributions from wholesalers and distributors, and does not know in advance what it will cook and distribute to people.

Bruckner also worried about the impact and questioned the timing. "Is this a health issue or is it about getting a problem out of the public eye?" he asked.

With the prospect of regulations, groups are weighing whether they will register.

Bill Golderer, convening minister of the Broad Street Ministry, has offered his facility on South Broad Street to groups that may want to move their meals indoors.

His church, across from the Kimmel Center, has the capacity to seat 500 for lunch or dinner. It recently invested $500,000 to upgrade its kitchen.

Currently, the Broad Street Ministry serves two free lunches a week, but Golderer said it could bump that up to daily dinners if other groups were interested in coming inside.

"We are willing to open our doors," he said. "It's cleaner and safer. It's the difference between feeding and dining."

Indoors, he added, the ministry can also offer other services to people in need, such as housing counseling and medical help.

"If we are going to say we don't want to do feedings outdoors," Golderer said, "we definitely need to think about moving indoors and making that sustainable."