Still No Fixed Address for the Homeless

Jason Paransky, chairman of the Laguna Relief and Resource Center, at the site of the proposed homeless sleeping area behind City Hall, and across Laguna Canyon Road from the Festival of the Arts' grounds. On one of the muggiest nights of the year, one of the muddiest issues to come before the City Council only got muckier: what to do with the homeless?

After more than two hours of mostly dissenting comments from residents, the council unanimously voted to table a recommendation of setting up a temporary, canopied 3,000-square-foot cage for overnight sleeping near City Hall. The proposed location behind the old water tower is at the north end of an allday and-night employee parking lot on Laguna Canyon Road and across from the Festival of Arts and the Laguna Playhouse. Both organizations opposed the proposal.

The ongoing issue of how to help abate the number of homeless people in Laguna Beach will be further discussed Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 3 p.m. in the Council Chambers by the Advisory Committee on Homelessness, which for months has internally debated possible alternatives.

The recommendation proposed Tuesday, from Mayor Kelly Boyd and councilwoman Toni Iseman, who are members of the advisory panel, instigated protest from both camps, those in favor of providing shelter and services for the homeless and those opposed.

"My heart is heavy," said Councilwoman Iseman at the conclusion of comments from 26 speakers. "When people who are in a position to make this go forward threaten to blow it up, I don't know whether we want to go forward. I heard that this evening. I heard somebody say, 'You go ahead and do this and just wait and see what this certain center is going to do.' That is not being cooperating. I hope we can fix some of these things but it's almost an impossible task."

Iseman referred to comments from Jason Paransky, chairman of the Laguna Relief and Resource Coalition, which operates a disaster relief and homeless center at 3305 Laguna Canyon Road at Glen Oaks Drive. The recommendation for the temporary shelter also included expanding operating hours at the volunteer-run relief center from 8 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday, to eight hours a day. In return, the city would pay for the center's utilities as well as purchase a new water heater, if needed. The center distributes food, provides cooked meals for the homeless on a rotating schedule, bathrooms, washers and dryers as well as counseling services.

"I know that you can't enforce or force the resource center to expand its hours," Paransky told the council. "We have to vote on that and not you. Should you decide to enact this ordinance and we decide not to go along with it, we could bomb it right there if we want." Paransky said that wasn't the center's interest and apologized to Iseman on Wednesday. "I don't withdraw my point," he said, "but I guess I pulled a Joe Biden. You don't win friends talking that way."

But the first speaker, Ed Sauls, chair of the homeless advisory committee, also started things off on the opposing foot.

"This is the first time we've seen this recommendation in the form of actual specifics, its budget, its location," he said. "I will say this is an urgent issue. But to tell the people involved you can't take two weeks to make a more informed decision and consider some fine tuning I think is inappropriate."

The proposed temporary structure, a "pilot program," according to John Pietig, assistant city manager, consisted of a chain link fence with a canvas roof enclosing 14 parking spaces. With 50 cots to accommodate both men and women, three portable toilets, no showers or lockers, the proposed site, which included an onsite supervisor's office with observation windows, was slated to be open from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. and locked at all other hours commencing by Oct. 1. Set-up costs were estimated at $57,000 and monthly operating costs at $15,300, which would total $240,000 annually.

The temporary shelter is an attempt by the City Council to comply with the settlement of a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union last year. The lawsuit contended the city's enforcement of overnight "camping" prohibitions, citing and arresting disabled homeless people for sleeping in public places rules, was illegal because no other alternative was provided.

The city rescinded its anti-camping ordinance and settled the suit by agreeing to remove consequential citations and convictions of "no fixedaddress" individuals from public record.

Once an alternative overnight sleeping facility is established, however, the city intends to enforce state illegal lodging laws prohibiting people from sleeping in parks, on beaches or other public property as well as private property without the owner's consent, Pietig said.

"The recommendation of the city council subcommittee is to undertake enforcement under the state law," Pietig replied. "So, we're not talking about an ordinance. Enforcement activities would resume upon the establishment of an alternative location for sleeping."

"We're not doing this because of the ACLU lawsuit," Council member Elizabeth Pearson said. "We're doing this because we need an alternate place for the homeless to sleep instead of below people's houses on the beach."

Saying she was disappointed in the short-range focus of the plan brought before the council Tuesday, Councilwoman Verna Rollinger said: "This is not what I thought would be on the agenda." She questioned Pietig about the appropriateness of a proposed $25,000 bridge over the Laguna Canyon flood canal, which would be built directly in line with the signal and crosswalk across Laguna Canyon Road at the Festival of Arts.

The location of the bridge, which purportedly would direct homeless people away from walking through a city employee parking lot, also caught the ire of Wayne Baglin, president of the Festival of Arts, who opposed the recommendation.

"That is our front yard. It is also your village entrance," he said, referring to a long-delayed park and parking structure envisioned on the corner. Aside from its summer exhibition, the Festival of Arts' grounds hosted 21 groups during 70 days last year. "They parked on the left-hand side," said Baglin. "That is just across from the bridge that you proposed."

In addition, he said, the homeless will be sharing a crosswalk with festival patrons and volunteers. "Those people who are eight to 89 are parking right where that bridge is. They start rehearsals at 7:30 in the evening. It doesn't work," Baglin said.

He voiced a gripe raised by others at Tuesday night's meeting. "We were not contacted. This came out of left field for us. This is not going to change where the homeless are during the day. I'd really be intrigued to see you forcing them to be there at night."

Karen Wood, managing director of Laguna Playhouse, who also opposes the recommendation, pointed out that the proposed opening time of the shelter at 8 p.m. is also curtain time at the playhouse.

Another sore point among the crowd was the issue of public safety. Kim McSorley, a former police officer now working as a community services officer, was concerned about employees who come to work early and leave late.

"I suggest that persons with as- saultive, combative behaviors and sex registrants should not be allowed to reside in the shelter," she said. "The ones that concern us are the ones we encounter almost daily as we respond to calls, the ones that know us well from these contacts and from the time they've spent in our jails, those with criminal records and the sex registrants. And now, they'll be walking with us to our cars as we leave or arrive to work? Again, many of your female employees whose shifts start at 11 p.m., 1 a.m., 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. need to feel safe when they arrive to work."

Last Sunday afternoon, police arrested two middle-aged homeless men for engaging in oral sex on the front lawn of a beachfront residence on Gaviota Drive. One was a registered sex offender. The previous Friday night, a homeless woman told emergency room staff that she had been raped by a homeless man in Heisler Park on Cliff Drive.

Homelessness is only part of the problem. Joblessness, alcoholism, drug addiction and mental and physical disabilities also mire the solution.

"They're recent veterans, very recent veterans, and a lot of them with severe mental handicaps," said Jane Fulton, a retired attorney and public defender who has interviewed many of Laguna's homeless. "It's got to be services first. I didn't meet anybody combative. You've got to go down and shake some hands before you start judging."

A repeated suggestion by a group of well-informed residents was to research the Housing First model being used by other communities such as Contra Costa in the San Francisco Bay Area, Venice Beach and San Diego to make progress with the problem of homelessness. The program helps homeless people find permanent rental housing immediately and then offers a variety of services to help them attain a job and achieve a sense of overall well-being. Individuals must comply with their lease agreements in order to remain in the program.