Council Approves Compromise Plan for Homeless Facility

By Mark McGuigan and Jorge Casuso
Staff Writers

August 13 -- In the words of Mayor Richard Bloom, it was “the mother of all public hearings.” And when the drama ended after a contentious seven-hour marathon session early Wednesday morning, a frazzled City Council voted 5 to 1 in favor of a controversial homeless shelter in the Pico Neighborhood, but decided to keep the “drop-in” center near downtown.

Amidst rising tensions, council members hammered out a plan to obtain, then lease to the Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC) a two-story vacant office building at 1751 Cloverfield Boulevard that the non-profit agency will use to provide 55 transitional beds for the homeless

But the drop-in center expected to serve more than 200 homeless people daily -- which many Pico residents feel would turn their neighborhood into skid row -- is now destined for the site behind the City bus yard currently used to provide lockers and showers for the homeless.

The $7.4 million plan was publicly floated by City staff Monday night in an effort to quell a community backlash spurred by news that the current 20-bed shelter and drop-in center at 7th Street and Colorado Avenue would be moved to the Pico Neighborhood to expand the bus yard.

“Clearly in my mind the shelter use which is housing, doesn’t create the negative impacts that I think people are scared about," said Councilman Ken Genser. "It is people who have been prescreened and want to use this as a process to move on with the next step in their lives. If they don’t follow the rules, then they’re no longer in that shelter.”

“If we can avoid having the access center at this location," Genser added, "then I think we should.”

“I think (OPCC Executive Director) John Maceri and the OPCC organization are stars among stars in our community," Bloom said. "We have a great social service network that we fund here, and OPCC is out there with the best of them.”

But Councilman Bob Holbrook, who cast the lone dissenting vote, decried "dumping" another social service provider in the Pico Neighborhood.

“For years and years two or three people in the Pico neighborhood have said to me, ‘We’re just a dumping zone for everything, everything gets dumped on us,’" Holbrook said. "I think they’re right. I just wish that we didn’t constantly do these things to the same area over and over.

“I feel kind of betrayed," Holbrook added. "I really think that it’s inappropriate. I’m happy if the OPCC folks stay right where they are. I’d just leave it the way it is now. I think it would be better for everybody and restore some faith in the community.”

The final vote was cast after supporters and opponents staged rival rallies outside City Hall, then packed the council chambers, overflowing into the hallways, the downstairs lobby and outside the building. Before the meeting began, 176 requests to speak had been logged with the City Clerk.

People from every stratum of the community -- including a representative of State Senator Sheila Kuehl, Pico neighborhood residents, high school students and the homeless and their advocates -- stepped up to the podium to express their feelings on the new facility, which was first announced one month ago.

In a letter read to the council by a representative, Kuehl cited the “outstanding work” being carried out by OPCC, saying that “one of the most important roles of government is to help those who are not able to help themselves at a difficult time.”

The homeless, a section of society that had been a quiet voice in a raging propaganda war, spoke out Tuesday night.

“I am one of the homeless and I never thought I’d end up there," said Mary Johnson, who is a resident of OPCC Daybreak Shelter and attends the Venice Skills Center. "Once you go over the cliff it’s very difficult to climb back up, especially without services. I am very grateful to OPCC for all their help, three meals a day and a roof over my head.”

Lance Martin, an employee of OPCC, spoke of the dignity and respect members of the homeless found in OPCC shelters, something he said was missing on the streets of the city.

“We’re about redirecting lives," Martin told a somber council. "We don’t look at them as homeless, we look at them and we tap into their potential, and we lift their spirits. I know their plight from my own personal experience.”

Some supporters of the plan lampooned the fears of residents, many of who packed the downstairs lobby watching the proceedings on television and waiting to speak.

"I live six blocks from ground zero, which will undoubtedly become radioactive after the homeless move in." said Chuck Maniri. "This is a question of nimbyism, and everybody in the room recognizes it. The homeless are not going anywhere. They have a constitutional right to travel."

Opponents -- who during the past month have mounted an offensive against the Cloverfield site that has included the release of a videotape and an aggressive lobbying campaign -- lambasted the proposed location across the freeway exit from residences, a school and a park.

"I live in a neighborhood overrun with public giving," said Beverly Danailoff. "What you're proposing is needed, but I don't agree with your location. It's all location. I think we have enough" service providers in the Pico Neighborhood.

"It will affect choices of walking out at night, walking downtown, walking by the center," said David Luce. "It will bring more homeless to an area that is already in peril. To do more than our fair share will not solve and national and regional problem."

Gallery owners at the adjacent Bergamot Station submitted a petition signed by 45 representatives of 34 galleries opposing the Cloverfield site. And a representative of Friends of Sunset Park read a letter from the neighborhood group asking the City to delay any decision for 60 days to gather more community input and discuss pending issues.

The Chamber of Commerce echoed concerns that the project had been railroaded through with little public input and called for a more extensive analysis of the potential environmental impacts, including those on safety, traffic and noise.

"The chamber is concerned that the decision-making process has short-circuited input from the community," said a letter from the chamber read by its chairman Dr. Michael Gruning.

Defending the aggressive timeline of the planned purchase, Mayor Bloom noted that when it comes to real estate transactions, communities elsewhere in the state move even faster than Santa Monica and with much less concern for public sentiment.

“I understand this seems like it’s incredibly rapid," Bloom said, "but the reality is that if this had been in some other community, it would have happened six months ago, and we’d be just finding out about it now."

“It was really at the earliest possible time,” the mayor continued, seemingly attempting to contain the growing tension. “As soon as the property transaction went into escrow, staff and OPCC were on the streets and spreading the word, not quiet about it at all. Sending out mailings, knocking on doors and for that, they were treated like s--t.”

“It’s an embarrassment to me in this community that people would be treated this way,” he stated before apologizing for his “inappropriate” outburst, adding, “I guess you know how strongly I feel about this now.”

In ironing out the details of the proposed development, the council moved to explore additional affordable housing on the 33,000-square-foot Cloverfield site, including an outreach initiative aimed at vulnerable members of the community such as low-income families and youth already living in the Pico neighborhood.

“I’d like to suggest," said Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown, "that in pursuing what the housing might be at the Cloverfield site some special attention be made to outreach to the low-income community in Pico from which we heard tonight, from which we don’t always hear and from which I’d like to hear more.”

In addition to providing drop-in services off-site, the plan changes the original funding structure, which called for the City to make a $7.4 million loan to OPCC hat it did not anticipate would be repaid.

Under the plan approved by the council, "OPCC would purchase the property with redevelopment funding assistance from the City, and immediately convey the property to the Redevelopment Agency," according to a supplemental staff report released Monday night.

"The Redevelopment Agency would then immediately lease the property back to OPCC for a term of 55 years, and the City/Redevelopment Agency would provide additional funds to OPCC for the costs of renovating the facility," according to the plan.

After 55 years, the Redevelopment Agency would convey the property to the City at no cost "if the City requires it," said Housing Director Bob Moncrief.

The council also set a limit of $400,000 on a loan to OPCC from the TORCA Housing Trust Fund and approved the payment of $800,000 in HOME funds.

In addition, the council authorized up to $1.8 million of Big Blue Bus funds for the relocation of OPCC.

“This has been a remarkable evening,” Mayor Bloom said before the vote. “I was near despondent a couple of weeks ago as I viewed some of the more regrettable actions of some of the people in the community to stir up a controversy about this particular proposal,” he said, referring to the PNA video.

“But I should have known the resilience of the Santa Monica community and I should have known that most people would see through that,” Bloom said.

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