Bayside ‘compassionate’ when addressing homeless issues
A downtown organization that instigated two anti-homeless laws earlier this year has been recognized by a charity that helps mentally ill and unhoused persons.
It was announced last week that the Bayside District Corp. will get the “Heart of the Community Award” from Step Up on Second, a non-profit organization that serves about 1,000 people who live on the street and suffer from such diseases as bi-polar disorder, depression, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.
The Bayside District Corp., which helps manage the commercial core with the city, formed a public safety committee earlier this year to address concerns over transients’ anti-social behavior. Residents, tourists and business owners have been complaining that transients have been urinating and defecating in doorways of downtown businesses and aggressively panhandling.
In response, the public safety committee made recommendations to the city council to pass two laws to address the growing number of transients downtown.
The council passed those laws in October among widespread controversy.
The first law forces charitable organizations running free meal programs in city parks to apply for a permit if the gathering is over 150 people. Each organization must also receive a permit from the Los Angeles County Health Department, verifying its program follows stringent health codes and is not conducted more than three times in a 90-day period.
Some believe the reason Santa Monica has such a high population of homeless people is because they are attracted by church groups outside of the city who offer free food in parks and in front of City Hall several times a day.
The council also unanimously enacted a law that makes it illegal to sleep in doorways and vestibules downtown and in the commercial zones along Main Street from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Tod Lipka, executive director of Step Up on Second, told Bayside board members last week that the announcement of the award was probably surprising to them given the amount of controversy and politics surrounding the issue.
But despite that Bayside was the originator of the laws, the organization has worked collaboratively with homeless service providers in trying to get people off the streets, Lipka said. He added that Bayside has looked for common solutions like working with Step Up on Second to employ its clients at the twice-weekly farmer’s market on the Third Street Promenade.
“We’ve seen Bayside compassionately address homeless issues,” Lipka said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 25, 2002. Read the original PDF.