Acoalition of downtown landlords, business owners and residents recommended last week that Santa Monica City Council eliminate feedings in public spaces.
The Bayside District Corp., which manages the Third Street Promenade in cooperation with the city, voted to recommend the city council take steps to limit the number of people who can be fed in a public place, as well as the frequency of feedings groups can sponsor.
Some officials believe the root of Santa Monica’s homeless problem stems from outside church groups that host public feedings in Palisades Park and on the front lawn of City Hall, which draws hundreds of transients to the downtown area. There are as many as 21 public feedings taking place on a weekly basis.
So this week Q Line wants to know, “Do you agree the city should do more to limit the size and frequency of public feedings? Or do you believe there are better ways the city can address its homeless problem downtown?”
Call (310) 285-8106 with your response before Thursday at 5 p.m. We’ll print them in Friday’s paper. Please limit your comments to a minute or less; it might help to think first about the wording of your response.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 22, 2002. Read the original PDF.