Roswell blocks Food Not Bombs from central plaza

For a year and a half, volunteers of a local nonprofit gathered at Pioneer Plaza in downtown Roswell every week for open air picnics where they served food to anyone, no questions asked — until the city intervened last year.

Jocelyn Smith, organizer and founder of Food Not Bombs’ Roswell chapter, said there were 40 to 50 guests near the beginning of the shared meals in 2024, growing to approximately 100 people a week last year.

“I was seeing a lot of people that were going to get food from other organizations in town, but were being asked for different forms, things like an address, an ID, a number of things I didn’t feel was right in order to get food,” Smith said in an interview.

Food Not Bombs is a 46-year-old, loosely-knit international organization with independent local chapters advocating for nonviolence and justice known for recovering excess food that would otherwise be thrown away and offering fresh vegetarian or vegan meals as part of its ethical message. It has also responded to scenes of disasters with food assistance for rescuers and survivors.

But the city began pushing back last June, Smith said, starting with an employee of the city’s visitor center, located nearby, followed by a visit from Roswell police officers. In November, Smith said the city issued a written notice that her organization would need an event permit to continue its meetings at the plaza, which is centrally located and easy for community members to access.

The city cited an ordinance forbidding any person to “offer for sale, dispense or purvey refreshments, food, beverages or goods, wares and merchandise of whatever description” on city property without “a duly granted franchise or concession agreement.”

Besides the fees associated with the permits — which Smith said could range from $50 to $150 — a policy pertaining to special event permits published on the city's website states that applications must be submitted 120 days in advance.

“Those things are not feasible for us,” Smith said. “I can’t wait for you to approve a permit while I’ve got food waiting to be served.”

Food Not Bombs co-founder Keith McHenry said permit demands are a nonstarter across the organization’s chapters worldwide.

“We don’t need a permit,” he told the Journal on Thursday. “We never need a permit to feed the hungry. That’s just a fact. We’ve won federal lawsuits over it and we just don’t have to — particularly now, during a war when the economy’s crashing. The message is: Money for food, not for war.”

On Monday, the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and the law firm Smith and Marjanovic called on the city to rescind the ordinance and allow the group to continue sharing food and handing out political flyers.

“The city of Roswell is trying to say that this really broad ordinance … purports to regulate any kind of food sharing, not just food distributions,” Marco Alarid White, the center’s public benefits attorney, told the Journal. “By the strict language of that ordinance … you wouldn’t be able to share just a picnic with your friend in a public place.”

The three firms issued a demand letter to the city arguing the ordinance is overly broad and the permitting process vague, making it easy for city officials to stifle activity protected by the First Amendment.

“The City has many less restrictive means to address concerns related to public space use, such as congestion and safety,” the letter stated. “Neutral, generally applicable park-use rules or simple ministerial reservation systems would suffice without singling out food sharing or other expressive conduct.”

The letter requested a response from the city by March 30 as to whether it would stop applying the ordinance to Food Not Bombs or face litigation. 

“We’re prepared to take legal action to protect the constitutional rights of Food Not Bombs Roswell,” Alarid White said. 

The Journal reached out to Mayor Tim Jennings, the city attorney and the public affairs department, and got no response.

Dozens of municipalities across the U.S. have used permitting and other measures to restrict Food Not Bombs’ activity. However, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida’s permit requirements in 2018, finding that the group’s sharing of food is constitutionally protected expression. Fort Lauderdale had banned sharing food in public parks without a conditional use permit in 2014, prompting lawsuits.

Smith said the Roswell group is currently serving food at an area church, but attendance had dropped considerably. She said they hope to return to Pioneer Plaza as soon as possible.

Community organizer Jeneva Martinez agreed, stating in a news release, “Our public plaza should be a place where people can gather and share food as a community — that is what public spaces are meant for.”

Algernon D’Ammassa is the Journal’s southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.