"Campus of Caring" NIMBY controversy
HOBOMATT@aol.com
Wed, 26 May 1999 10:20:16 EDT
This appeared in the local Colorado Springs daily paper, May26, 1999. Another
aspect not covered in this article is that the proposed homeless complex is
directly across the the street from a multiblock redevelopement project that
is trying to mimic a European village. One has to wonder what THEIR reaction
will be to this "homeless magnet" next to the upscale developement. Another
aspect not mentioned, and sure to come up, is that for all the proposed
millions to be spent, few if any new services are going to be added to the
local "get-people-off-the-street effort. It is simply a consolidation of
existing agency services, in far nicer quarters.
Matt Parkhouse, RN, Colorado Springs,CO
<<< Hillside wary of homeless
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By Eric Gorski / The Gazette
Story editor Valerie Wigglesworth; headline by Gary Houy
An effort to create a major new center to offer services for the homeless in
Colorado Springs has at once expanded and narrowed: The project now includes
a new American Red Cross shelter as a centerpiece, and the agency is under
contract to buy a site on the edge of the Hillside neighborhood.
Several social-service agencies have worked for more than a year and a half
to bring the project to fruition.
Finding a workable site and involving one of the nation’s largest nonprofit
groups represent significant progress.
The advances, however, also pose a difficult, albeit expected, set of
problems. Whenever a site for a homeless shelter is proposed — no matter
where it is — neighbors usually are up in arms.
In this case, the neighborhood at stake is one that’s labored hard to pull
itself out of a long period of decline and gained national recognition for
its success.
To many Hillside residents, a one-stop shopping center for the homeless is an
asset to the city but could destabilize their redeveloping neighborhood,
Hillside Neighborhood Association officials said.
The discussion about the site has only begun: Hearings before the city
Planning Commission are still to come, and neither project organizers nor
neighborhood leaders say they’re finished listening to each other.
The property under contract is the former Sutherland Lumber site now owned by
artist Michael Garman at the southeast corner of South Wahsatch Avenue and
Costilla Street. Catholic Community Services secured an option to purchase
the land. The agency runs the Marian House soup kitchen and was then the
project’s leader.
The Red Cross took over after sensing a chance to move out of a former
warehouse on Sierra Madre Street that it wants to vacate despite $350,000 in
renovations there during the past four years, said Debbie Mitguard, shelter
director.
There are no plans to increase the number of beds from the existing 260,
Mitguard said. She said the new space would allow for better separation of
single men and women, families and young couples, as well as offer a nicer
environment.
“The kind of facility we provide reflects the value we put on them as human
beings,” Mitguard said. “We’d like to get away from warehousing people and
provide a place where people feel some dignity and privacy.”
The rest of the homeless center concept hasn’t changed: It still would
include the soup kitchen moved from Marian House, as well as meals, medical
care, mental health counseling, job and legal services, voluntary spiritual
counseling, transportation and personal services such as laundry, showers and
storage space.
Parry Thomas of the urban design and planning firm Thomas and Thomas in
Colorado Springs said the Garman property would be greatly upgraded.
Possibilities include adding trees, open space and parking and demolishing
some building additions while saving the original building facing Wahsatch
Avenue.
The developers have yet to apply for a conditional use permit, which would
need Planning Commission approval.
David Morikawa, executive director of the local Red Cross chapter, said the
purchase option expires at the end of June, and his agency is working to
extend it. He would not disclose the price being discussed.
Perhaps just as crucial as clearing bureaucratic hurdles will be working with
the Hillside neighborhood.
Nearly a year ago, Steve Ferguson, then president of the neighborhood
association, supported the Garman site. He reasoned that welcoming the center
is “the social contract we have with the community.”
Ferguson since has been voted out of office, and the association approved a
statement opposing the project after meeting with project organizers this
month.
The group recognizes the need for homeless services, said Jason Gaulden, the
association’s interim director.
But he said the association thinks it was not included in discussions until
the site was selected. It’s also concerned about deteriorating property
values, unanswered questions about the project and the proposed center’s
proximity to Helen Hunt Elementary and an Urban League child development
center.
“We reject the notion that it’s OK to take problems from northwest downtown
to southeast of downtown and put it in Hillside,” he said. “We’re not a
dumping ground.”
He also addressed a concern specific to his neighborhood: “We’ve been there,
we’ve been at rock bottom as a neighborhood, and we’ve worked really hard not
only to dispel the negative elements but the stereotypes of the
neighborhood,” he said.
However, Gaulden said the association was not closed to being convinced that
the center could work there.
City Councilman Leon Young said he doesn’t think Hillside is stable enough
yet to take in the center.
“Hillside has been an area that’s always had to fight to come back and get
rejuvenated, and now that you begin to do that, why put some of your problem
people in there?” he asked.
Mitguard said center organizers wanted to involve the neighborhood earlier
but needed to wait until the site and the project came into focus.
She said organizers recognize what Hillside has gone through and will attempt
to alleviate neighbors’ concerns.
“We’re very sensitive to their fears and concerns, but we’re hoping to work
together,” Mitguard said. “They set a great example of how to really pull
together and make a difference in their community. I think there’s probably a
lot of lessons we can learn from them.”
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