October 2002


For the Homelesss, a Haven Becomes Less Sure

By Nick Madigan, New York Times
October 12th, 2002


On the wide front lawn at City Hall, dozens of homeless people gather in an orderly, patient line every Saturday morning for a modest meal, provided free by a church group and a small cadre of cheerful volunteers.

If they ask, the homeless are also given a blanket, a razor blade, a clean shirt. On any given day, a homeless person can get food — nothing elaborate, but food nonetheless — at half a dozen places in Santa Monica and its immediate environs.
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"There's no excuse to be stealing food in this town — plenty of food lines here," said Fred Chauff, 47, a former merchant marine master captain who has been homeless since losing his nerve, as he put it, after accidentally killing a man on the job.

Santa Monica, an oceanfront city where the government helps pay for about two dozen programs for homeless people, runaways and youths emerging from foster care, has long been known for its kindness to the dispossessed. But cracks are appearing in its tolerance.

Last Tuesday, the Santa Monica City Council took the first step toward approving a pair of ordinances aimed at the city's homeless population, which various estimates put at 1,000. If passed by the council on a second reading, scheduled for Oct. 22, the measures would forbid sitting or sleeping in doorways in the downtown business district at night and restrict groups that feed the homeless.

Many homeless people and their advocates say the measures are tantamount to ejecting the homeless from Santa Monica, where the population of 85,000 swells to as many as half a million on summer weekends.

"This is a tourist town — rich people live here," said Viper Meade, 31, holding herself up with a walker because of a spine injury sustained in a car accident six years ago. "They want to push the homeless out of here. They blame us for everything." Ms. Meade said she had spent almost all her life on the street.

While over the years a state trespassing law and several previous ordinances here — including nighttime park closures, passed in 1995 — have been used to rein in the homeless, the new, more stringent measures are part of an effort by downtown business owners to stop what they see as a blight that affects commerce.

"We need to take a tough-love stance," said Wally Marks, a landlord on the Third Street Promenade, a bustling pedestrian thoroughfare, and former chairman of the Bayside District Corporation, which runs the downtown business area. "There's always a bad apple. Sometimes people were just being fed twice a day and they didn't want anything to do with rehabilitation. That's trouble when you're trying to keep the place clean."

Mr. Marks said that cleaning up after homeless people who use doorways as toilets is not in the job description of the clerks who open businesses in the morning.

"It's not good," said a manager at the Broadway Bar and Grill, who asked not to be named. "These people take up every bench on the promenade, with all their stuff, and shoppers can't sit down. It looks bad to see these people sleeping all over when we've got visitors from all over the world."

The rule against sleeping in storefront doorways would be enforced between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. The other ordinance would require charities to obtain county health department permits in order to conduct feedings, which would then be regulated by the city as distinct events. Charities fear that in the competition for space with other organizations planning events in the parks, they would be edged out.

To officials here, no other city in the area is doing enough for Los Angeles County's 84,000 homeless people, leaving the burden to Santa Monica.

"But it's hard for me to accept the argument that because we do more than our share, we should force people out who have nowhere to go," said Mayor Michael Feinstein, 43, who voted for the measure regarding sleeping in doorways but against the restrictions on feeding. He called it "a way to starve people out of the city."

With the economy faltering, and charitable contributions down, "this isn't the moment for a compassionate city to draw the line and say, `No more,' " Mr. Feinstein said as he visited the City Hall lawn today on in-line skates.

To some of the homeless waiting to eat here today, that line was drawn long ago.

"I hate this place," said a 44-year-old musician who calls himself Melodious Mike, a regular here who lives under a bridge in Culver City, a couple of miles inland. "I don't like the vibe. I don't like the cops."

Others were more understanding. "All Santa Monica is trying to do is clean up the act," Mr. Chauff, the former merchant mariner, said as he waited for the church group to arrive with the food — canned tuna, crackers, mayonnaise, relish, granola bars, bagels, fruit juice and coffee.

"The city is trying to cut down on excessive panhandling and excessive behavior," he said, "and you can't blame them for that."

Some food providers said they would try to go along.

"If we can, we'll comply with the letter of the law," said Fernando Moreno, director of campus ministry at Loyola Marymount University, which has run a feeding program for five years. "There's always a way to help the poor — that's a gospel mandate. It's really not an option that we have."


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