(Feb. 29, 2008) -- Residents and LB Councilman Patrick O'Donnell cited concerns over neighborhood safety -- and some residents pointed to what City Hall currently allows in Lincoln Park adjacent to City Hall and just steps from LBPD HQ -- at a community meeting to address City Hall's plan to acquire the Willow St/Grand Ave. Army Reserve facility free from the feds for a new LBPD East Division Station...with a federally-specified homeless services component.

The meeting, organized by grassroots-group Neighborhood First, drew roughly 150 residents to Buffum Elementary School's Auditorium...and produced some new information.

During the meeting, senior city management, which had always acknowledged plans to contract with a privately-run entity to provide services to mentally-ill homeless persons during daytime hours, added publicly that it plans to negotiate a thirty year contract with the group.

A day earlier (on Feb. 26), LB Mayor Bob Foster (responding to Q & A at the Jr. Chamber's monthly freewheeling Beer & Politics session) commented on neighborhood concerns over the proposal's homeless component,

"It is pretty much all by itself. It has its own area. And to me, we've got to find facilities for people. I think we try it and if it becomes a problem, we'll fix it. But I really do think it ought to be, at least let's take a shot at it, you know."

Image source: City of LB staff report, Exhibit A. To view this document in pdf (enlargable) form, click here.

On Feb. 27, Councilman Patrick O'Donnell, the sole dissenter on the December 18 Council vote, delivered a brief extemporaneous statement near the opening of the meeting. Speaking in a calm, reserved tone of voice, the 4th district Councilman said:

Councilman O'Donnell: [This is about] making sure our neighborhoods are safe, and that's why I voted no. I didn't feel there was enough safety offered to the neighborhoods with this project. What this is, is a mentally-ill drop-in shelter, requiring people to go in for services maybe one hour, I don't know, a day, and then after that hour they would be cast back out in the community, and that means that they would be obviously living out there because they are homeless. Where would they go? And I don't think that's fair to them and I don't think that's fair to us. So somewhere out there, together, we're going to find a solution to this. As I always say, don't agonize; organize. And I think that's what tonight is about...

Attending the meeting were Community Development Director Dennis Thys (city management's primary speaker), LBPD Administration Bureau Chief Braden Phillips, Development Project Manager Johnny Vallejo and LBPD East Division Commander Cynthia Renaud.

Recently-named Community Development Director Dennis Thys (a LB native who's received kudos from neighborhood groups on other issues) said (with a some sarcasm and a smile) said that when told that city management needed a speaker to address likely displeased residents, he welcomed the opportunity...and he thanked Neighborhoods First for being invited to address the meeting.

LBPD Admin Bureau chief Phillips discussed LBPD's need for a new East Division facility. He likewise commended Neighborhoods First for calling the meeting, adding that he views public input as part of the government process.

Neighborhoods First leader Joe Sopo [a LBReport.com advertiser] advised the audience that the meeting was intended to get information and clarify facts...and reminded the audience to remain respectful. Audience members complied...amid mainly polite expressions of disbelief (heads shaking "no," some voices disputing statements).

Mr. Thys reiterated city management's position that the project's homeless component involved daytime only services, but multiple residents said it would neighborhood consequences beyond those hours.

Several residents asked city officials where the mentally ill homeless would be during the rest of the day...and where they would spend nighttime hours.

One resident noted that the City officials currently let homeless persons defecate and urinate in Lincoln Park next to City Hall and just steps away from LBPD Headquarters. Another said that this and more might be expected at nearby Stearns Park and beyond.

Others said the net effect of mentally ill homeless in adjoining residential areas would make their neighborhoods less safe and more risky for themselves and their young children.

Mr. Thys said City Hall has a "10 Year Plan to End Homelessness" (still a plan, he acknowledged) and this would be part it. That prompted an audience member to question whether those using the LB mentally ill services would be LB homeless...to which another audience member said, "Build it and they will come," a comment that drew applause.

Mr. Thys noted that LB is a city of nearly half a million, and he's now seeing many families affected, and estimated as many as 5,000 people might be homeless at any given time in LB.

But Carroll Park area resident Paul DeJung, who worked with Neighborhoods First (and Better Balance for Long Beach in dealing with chronic neighborhood problems in and around 14th St. Park) disputed the figure. Mr. DeJung cited documents sought and obtained under the CA Public Records Act indicating the figure was closer to 3,700...and said City Hall admitted that some of the underlying documents on which its homeless "count" was based had been destroyed and were unavailable.

City staff said that under federal mandates the homeless accommodation is required regardless of the land use decision...meaning even if the City Council decided to recommend a use other than the Police Substation, the homeless accommodation would still be a requirement of the base reuse plan.

Some neighborhood residents challenged this...and charged that City Hall was trying to get free land from the feds for itself (for a new police station) at the expense of nearby residents...and drew applause.

Neighbors said they weren't given notice and were effectively cut-out of the City Hall-run process. City management replied that it proceeded by the book and the process was open and public from its inception, including a City Hall web page devoted to the issue with details of the application.

But residents pointed out that city management had scheduled the actual decision on the matter for a Council meeting during the holiday period a week before Christmas. (The Council approved it, 8-1, O'Donnell dissenting).

Several said that limiting "notice" to property owners within 300 feet was unfair...since those areas were mainly warehouses...and ignored the nearby residential neighborhood.

Mr. Thys said that what had happened couldn't be changed...but gave the audience his personal assurance that on a go-forward basis, the City would give residents notice of future action on the matter.

At about 9:00 p.m., Mr. Sopo thanked the City Hall guests, who were asked to exit so the meeting could continue without them.

Once they'd left, the meeting continued.

"How do we stop this thing?" one man said.

Mr. Sopo responded that Councilmembers who'd voted for it (eight of nine did) needed to hear from residents. "We need to stop this thing before it gets to the EIR [Environmental Impact Report] stage," Mr. Sopo said.