Warehouse May Be Used by Mission on Pope’s Visit

Hundreds of homeless who sleep on beds and chairs at Skid Row’s Union Rescue Mission may be relocated to a city warehouse on Crocker Street while Pope John Paul II visits Los Angeles in September, the mission’s executive director, George Caywood, said Thursday.

Security measures surrounding the papal visit had raised concerns whether the mission, which houses nearly 700 people nightly, would be closed. It is located next to St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, where the pontiff will be staying overnight on Sept. 15 and 16.

But police officials said the mission will not have to cut off its services.

“The Union Rescue Mission is not being shut down,” said Los Angeles Police Cmdr. George Morrison, who is in charge of the department’s security arrangements for the visit. “The only thing that is being disrupted is access by the transient clientele.”

Under plans being formulated, the approximately 470 transients served by the mission would relocate during the Pope’s visit, Caywood said. Another 185 men enrolled in alcohol and other rehabilitation programs and 15 mission employees would likely remain at the mission, he said.

The facility also provides 2,000 meals a day, and this service would also be relocated.

Caywood said a representative of Councilman Gilbert Lindsay had offered his organization the use of a building at 527 Crocker.

Lindsay’s office did not return calls seeking confirmation. Ali Webb, spokeswoman for Mayor Tom Bradley, said the mayor’s office was unaware of the proposal.

But Morrison said, “We’re working on the logistics, and we hope to be able to finalize the majority of the agreements and accommodations by the latter part of next week.”

Caywood said he was told of the alternative site during meetings over the last several days with Los Angeles Police officials and Darlene Kuba, an aide to Lindsay, who represents the downtown area.

“We advised the Union Rescue Mission of certain restrictions that can be imposed by the (U.S.) Secret Service and the City of Los Angeles,” Morrison said. “By law, there are specific distances that can and must be maintained around a protected person.”

Morrison noted that in addition to the mission, other businesses in the vicinity will also be affected by security concerns.

“Our planning group is meeting with owners and managers of these facilities and basically discussing what the impact will be,” he said.

Morrison would not discuss “specific security” measures. But he said businesses are not being asked to close, although public access and deliveries are likely to be affected.

While the Skid Row area had been subject to police sweeps of sidewalk encampments of homeless over the last several months, Morrison said, “We do not have sweeps planned as part of the papal security.”

One section of the one-story red brick building at 527 Crocker is already being used as a 90-bed shelter for the homeless. It is one of two emergency shelters that were set up by the City Council after four homeless people died of exposure on the streets last winter. It is scheduled to close Aug. 31.

Prepare Building

Apart from the current shelter operation, the remaining portion of 527 Crocker contains a windowless area used by the city to store surplus cabinets, doors, wooden steps and other items.

“It’s going to be a lot of work,” Caywood said of the task to prepare the building for nearly 500 more people.

But he said that he had been assured that preparations will be made at “the city’s (expense) not ours, thank God.”

He said he was still hopeful that security officials will change their minds: “I would rather not do it. I wish we could just continue to operate as we always have. But we’re going to do the best we can to make it work.”

Caywood said the relocation would likely take place from Sept. 14, the day before the Pope arrives, through Sept. 17, when he leaves.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese disassociated itself from the relocation plan.

“We want to make it very clear, this is not the thinking of the archdiocese or the archbishop,” said Father Joseph Battaglia, archdiocesean spokesman. “Obviously this is a decision the Secret Service and the LAPD made to protect the Holy Father, but we don’t see this (the mission) as necessarily a problem.”

Battaglia also said the archdiocese has no current plans to aid the transients if they are temporarily displaced. He indicated that church officials would consider that step if such a decision is made.

Caywood said he still looked forward to the Pope’s visit.

“It really has the potential to reawaken the community, particularly the religious community, about their obligation to helping the poor,” he said.