Picus Foe Homeless for 2 Days : Candidate Walks Mean Streets

San Fernando Valley business executive Paul McKellips, a long-shot challenger to City Councilwoman Joy Picus, shed his three-piece suit to spend Thursday and Friday nights sleeping on Skid Row streets to learn firsthand about homelessness.

An unshaven, penniless McKellips, who had a Bible in hand and a bulletproof vest under his old clothes, planned to spend 48 hours on the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

During his first day and night, he was threatened by a mentally ill homeless man with a knife. He was not injured. He tried panhandling, but gave up after failing to get a dime from two passers-by. After spending the night sleeping on the sidewalk, he lined up for breakfast at the Midnight Mission.

“I looked at the breakfast they gave me and then I gave it to the guy next to me,” he said. Asked what was served, he said: “Scrambled eggs, I guess.”

Discovered by Accident

While most candidates would have alerted the media beforehand, McKellips took to the streets quietly. His mission was discovered by accident when a reporter walked past him as he sat on the City Hall lawn.

McKellips, a $51,000-a-year vice president of an executive search firm, said he got the idea from seventh-graders he addressed at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic School.

“The kids were saying how Mother Teresa in Calcutta lived on the streets for a long period of time to understand the problem before she formulated a solution,” he said. “They recommended that I do the same thing.”

McKellips, 29, was dropped off without a dime on Skid Row at 6 p.m. Thursday. He planned to stay until 6 p.m. today. He wore the bulletproof vest at the urging of a police friend.

After huddling by a fire with other street people for part of Thursday night, McKellips slept with a coat but no blanket for about half an hour on the sidewalk outside the Midnight Mission, which was full. About 1 a.m., he said, “somebody came by in a van and threw out Army blankets.” He picked up a blanket and went back to sleep until about 5:30 a.m., when he and others were routed by workers hosing down the sidewalk.

McKellips, who graduated from Oral Roberts University with a bachelor’s degree in theology, said he has learned about the indignity of homelessness.

“Even you,” he said to a reporter who at first hurried past McKellips without recognizing him, “when I called out to you, you looked back and thought, ‘Who’s this guy?’ ”

“As I go down the street, people won’t even make eye contact with me.”

McKellips said he was surprised to learn about the prevalence of illegal drug use on Skid Row. “There are so many jobs available to people down here,” he said. “But the problem is that they all pay $3.65 an hour. Somebody just has to sell two rocks, and they have a full day’s income.” Rock is a type of cocaine.

A homeless man who identified himself only as Tony praised McKellips “because somebody needs to know the truth.”

McKellips’ wife, Debra, a flight attendant, said she was “scared to death” when her husband left home, “but I am real proud of him.”

Homelessness has not been a big issue in the campaign in the upper-middle-class West Valley’s 3rd District, where McKellips is among six challengers to Picus in the April 11 election.

“You look at the Warner Ridges and the light rails and all those kinds of things, and those are all dealing with peoples’ desires and wants,” he said. “But when you look at the human needs of food and shelter, those are needs, and we have to address those before we address too many wants.”

McKellips said he has become more appreciative of things that he has taken for granted.

“This morning, I would give anything for a cup of coffee,” he said.