By Kenneth McCrae Santa Monica
Once again, that boogieman called homelessness appears on the front page of the Jan. 19 Santa Monica Daily Press. In it, John Wood writes that critics maintain the “generous” programs offered by the city continue to inflate the local transient population. True, some local residents probably do believe Santa Monica’s “continuum of care” and its four food lines are “homeless magnets.”
But if this is true, why do only 2 percent (according to “Bring LA Home,” a coun-tywide taskforce) of L.A. County’s approximately 84,000 homeless reside in our city? Why not 5 percent? 10 percent? After all, we’re only an hour’s bus ride away from skid row. We should be thankful that Santa Monica really isn’t attracting that many homeless.
If anything, the city’s approach to “helping” the homeless has been somewhat hypocritical, or at least short-sighted The old RAND property could have been used, temporarily, as a homeless walk-in center, shelter and indoor meal site without the time and expense needed to purchase land and construct new structures. Instead, the city opted for the quick demolition of the property so it can be turned into a park, which will probably become the haven of homeless with no other place to go.
The city long ago could have asked our local social agencies to get out from behind their collective desks and provide outreach at all existing food lines, thus providing their much-touted “continuum of care” without driving away President Bush’s “volunteers.” Has the city issued a warrant for President Bush’s arrest as an accessory before the fact for instigating people into committing the crime of feeding hungry people?
The city keeps urging that public meals for our homeless and needy be served indoors, but has never even suggested a location where this might be done.
Even now, as OPCC prepares to move into new, smaller quarters, attempts are being made to somehow accommodate the hundreds who attend public meals within their walls. Will this mean there will be lines of hungry people stretching along Olympic Boulevard? Will this create large groups of people standing around outside, hurriedly trying to bolt down their food? In the past, OPCC’s policy regarding eating even their meager brown-bag lunches has been “If you don’t have an appointment, move off our property.” Are they really ready to change that?
For our homeless residents, times are not as rosy in Santa Monica as some might think.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 21, 2005. Read the original PDF.