Zone, Sweet Zone

A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME WHEN YOU'RE LIVING IN A cardboard box. Or when city officials want to sweep you away like litter when the tourists come to town. In a ruling designed to offer some civil rights, if not civility, to the homeless, a federal judge in Miami has ordered the city to set up two "safe zones," where those without addresses can eat, sleep and bathe without being arrested. Although the decision applies to Miami, similar legal challenges to anti-vagrancy laws are under way in Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York and elsewhere, and the Miami case breaks ground. Miami officials say they'll appeal the decision, and Vice Mayor Miriam Alonso says the judgment is bad for the city: "Homelessness is not the best image for tourism or business or the community at large." Miami also faces a shot in the pocketbook: the American Civil Liberties Union is seeking damages for the homeless of as much as $50 million.