Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : CITIES : Reluctant OK Given Shelter for Homeless
After an emotional hearing, the Anaheim City Council, sitting as the city’s Housing Authority, reluctantly agreed to help establish a 100-bed shelter for the city’s homeless.
The shelter is planned for the old Elks Club, which is being purchased and will be operated by the Anaheim Services Network, a coalition of about 30 private agencies. The project didn’t require city money, but it did require that the city apply for a grant from the state Emergency Shelter Program.
The city estimated that $24,452 worth of city staff time would be required, and Councilman Fred Hunter said that city funds should not be used for charity. Besides, he added, the shelter would only attract the homeless to Anaheim.
Bill Taormina, co-owner of a trash-hauling firm and a community activist, tearfully signed a blank check and handed it to the council. “The check is blank,” he told the council. “Whatever it (the city’s cost) is, I’ll pick it up.”
Councilman Irv Pickler, who said he did not want to accept the check, asked Hunter, “Is this what you want? For Mr. Taormina to pay the $24,000? Something is wrong up here. I don’t know what it is, but something is wrong up here.”
Pickler noted that last year the city made $250,000 in interest-free loans to preserve the Freedom Bowl football game.
Councilwoman Miriam Kaywood said the city granted $710,000 to the Anaheim Museum to rehabilitate its building, a gift for “a small group of people” interested in museums. “How is that different?” she asked.
After Taormina promised to pay the city’s cost, Hunter changed his vote. The final vote was 3 to 1 in favor of the shelter. Mayor Ben Bay voted no.
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