DEBATE OVER HOMELESS SHELTER OFFICIALS SET TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS.Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer GLENDALE - After a split with his wife left him on the street a few months ago, a 48-year-old Apple Valley man decided to work his way to Glendale, where it was warmer, jobs were more plentiful and a homeless shelter Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people. Usually located in urban neighborhoods, they are similar to emergency shelters. The primary difference is that homeless shelters are usually open to anyone, without regard to the reason for need. was available. At 6 a.m. Wednesday after his first night at the Glendale National Guard Armory, the man had had a cup of coffee and was heading out to look for a job - something that would have been nearly impossible without being able to take a shower or eat a meal at the shelter, he said. ``Once you live like this, it's hard to get on your feet again,'' he said, recalling his last experience with homelessness 10 years ago. ``You need to go to a shelter with a good program, where you can get cleaned up. If the city doesn't have this shelter, homeless people are going to be all over the city.'' What has long been a tightrope act for local jurisdictions - having a social conscience yet maintaining the quality of life expected by residents - has become a source of heated debate this month as homeless shelters open for the winter. Glendale's city officials, concerned about a rash of crimes in the week since its shelter opened Dec. 1, will meet Wednesday to determine ways to stem problems with those who use the shelter at 220 E. Colorado St. - located across from a public park, a senior center, the central library and the retail center in downtown Glendale. Like clockwork clock·work n. A mechanism of geared wheels driven by a wound spring, as in a mechanical clock. Idiom: like clockwork With machinelike regularity and precision; perfectly: each year, police say, the city experiences a spike in violent crime and robberies after the shelter opens its doors. On the morning after the shelter's first night of operation this year, a tow-truck driver was stabbed nine times in a restroom of a fast-food restaurant near the shelter. A homeless woman has been charged with attempted murder In the criminal law, attempted murder is committed when the defendant does an act that is more than merely preparatory to the commission of the crime of murder and, at the time of these acts, the person has a specific intention to kill. , and investigators said she had several prior arrests for violent crimes and told police she was in town to go to the shelter. Glendale police have responded to 25 incidents involving homeless people since the shelter opened and have made nine arrests. Half of the incidents were directly related to the shelter, as were three of the arrests, the police said. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the department's calculations, there is an 8 percent increase in the number of calls in the vicinity of the homeless shelter in the months it is open, compared with the months it is closed. The violations included public urination urination Process of excreting urine from the bladder (see urinary system). Nerve centres in the spinal cord, brain stem, and cerebral cortex control it through involuntary and voluntary muscles. The need to void is felt when the bladder holds 3. , public defecation defecation or bowel movement Elimination of feces from the digestive tract. Peristalsis moves feces through the colon to the rectum, where they stimulate the urge to defecate. , street solicitations for money, public drunkenness and a man exposing himself to young girls at the public park next to the library. Mitchell Netburn, executive director of the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Homeless Services Authority, said while it is challenging, cities can create effective programs with constant communication between residents, service providers and law enforcement. ``Our experience is that I honestly can't think of a single shelter where community concerns cannot be met,'' he said. ``When there are community concerns, rather than running away from them, you face them and address them.'' Glendale City Manager Jim Starbird said the city's answer will not be moving the shelter to a different location or shutting it down. ``There are communities that say, Not in my community. That's an easy answer, but not a socially responsible one,'' he said. ``It's a constant balancing act. On the one hand, it's easy to say this is a problem, let's get rid of it, but on the other hand, it increases the problems for another community.'' At Wednesday's meeting, Glendale police will propose short-term and long-term solutions to dealing with criminals in the homeless population. The short-term proposal is to make sure the shelter operators enforce the city's long-standing ``Good Neighbor'' policy and either evict repeat criminal offenders from the shelter or restrict access to the shelter. The Police Department would supply the shelter with a watch list of the names of homeless people who commit repeat offenses. ``We're concerned that we might have a sexual predator The term sexual predator is used pejoratively to describe a person seen as obtaining or trying to obtain sexual contact with another person in a metaphorically predatory manner. coming over from Los Angeles and possibly unknowingly sic this guy on our community, so to protect the Glendale public, we have to tighten up Verb 1. tighten up - restrict; "Tighten the rules"; "stiffen the regulations" constrain, stiffen, tighten confine, limit, throttle, trammel, restrain, restrict, bound - place limits on (extent or access); "restrict the use of this parking lot"; "limit the our processes here and cull cull the act of culling. Called also cast. those people who are destitute des·ti·tute adj. 1. Utterly lacking; devoid: Young recruits destitute of any experience. 2. Lacking resources or the means of subsistence; completely impoverished. See Synonyms at poor. and need a place to stay from those who prey on our community,'' said Capt. Mark Distaso of the Police Department. The long-term plan is to develop a plan to try and eliminate homelessness in the next decade. The idea is that when a chronic criminal homeless person An individual who lacks housing, including one whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility that provides temporary living accommodations; an individual who is a resident in transitional housing; or an individual who has as a primary residence a - someone who has been on the streets for an extended period of time, resists services and doesn't want to transition out of homelessness - is convicted of a crime, he or she would be sentenced to the local jail facility. Once there, homeless service providers can have direct access to them, determine the root cause of their homelessness and be able to refer them to mental health and rehabilitation rehabilitation: see physical therapy. facilities when appropriate. The program would cost Glendale between $250,000 and $300,000 per year. Distaso said that by police estimates, about 65 percent of Glendale's homeless population has a chemical dependency chemical dependency n. A physical and psychological habituation to a mood- or mind-altering drug, such as alcohol or cocaine. chemical dependency , serious mental illness, or both. ``With the long-range plan, we're not just trying to treat the cold; we're trying to eliminate the virus,'' Distaso said. Staff writer Eugene Tong contributed to this report. Naush Boghossian, (818) 546-3306 naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) John Mancuso leaves the homeless shelter at the Glendale Armory after the doors closed at 6 a.m. on a recent morning. (2) Mark Decker sits on a bench near the central library, smoking a hand- rolled cigarette after waking up at the Glendale shelter last week. John Lazar/Staff Photographer |
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