Sarasota, Florida -- Five Points Park in downtown Sarasota has become a magnet for homeless people and it makes Phil Grande crazy.
"Everybody thinks of a homeless guy as somebody who just lost his job at G.E., who is sitting on a park bench with his wife who looks like Mary Poppins with two kids and a puppy," says Grande.
"That's not homeless," he continues. "Homeless is a guy urinating, masturbating, stealing from you and drunk."
See also: Homeless shelter neighbors frustrated with sheriff
Grande, a businessman and radio talk show host who lives downtown, asked Vice Mayor Terry Turner to help, but Grande says Turner told him to move out of Downtown. According to Grande, the Vice Mayor said he lives in Cherokee Park and doesn't have to put up with it. Turner says it is untrue and he did not say that to him.
But Turner does admit the problem isn't as severe as it once was. He says when it was a serious problem he took it seriously. So Grande is now taking the homeless to Turner's neighborhood, of million dollar homes, once a week to feed them.
Grande says Turner thinks they they are ok in downtown, so he is going to move them to Turner's neighborhood and see if he is a hypocrite.
However, ironically when Grande brought the homeless people to the Vice Mayor's neighborhood he wasn't even home. Meantime, Turner says he's not angry with the stunt, but doesn't think it does anything to solve the homeless problem in Sarasota.
Turner says it borders on reprehensible to exploit the homeless in that way, but he adds it is a small inconvenience for him and his neighbors.
Grande says he doesn't want them in the park; doesn't want them sleeping there; urinating there; masturbating there; and getting drunk there. Grande says all these advocates say that's mean and Grande says then bring them to your house.
And that's what he intends to do each week until Sarasota solves the problem. Grande is also upset because he offered to spend more than a half a million dollars of his own money to buy a building for the homeless and give it to Sarasota for one dollar.
The city refused the offer.
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