Homeless Couple Now Find Streets a Bit Kinder

The streets of Los Angeles didn’t seem quite so mean Saturday to Timothy and Betty Zimmerman, a homeless couple who had been turned away from downtown shelters because she is confined to a wheelchair.

Confusing, maybe, but not mean.

They accepted offers of aid to keep them off the streets where they had slept for several days in secluded spots around the Civic Center, while two organizations considered a long-term solution to their dilemma.

After reading about their troubles in The Times, the Weingart Center, a 600-bed health and human services agency at 6th and San Pedro streets, asked police and the Homeless Outreach Team, a private group, to look for the couple.

Friday Night Arrangement

Actually, the search wasn’t necessary. It was called off Saturday morning when it was discovered that the Zimmermans actually had spent the night at the Weingart Center under an arrangement made late Friday by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services.

Weingart Center President Maxene Johnston promised that the center will care for the couple until a long-term plan can be worked out for them. “What I don’t know is what the Zimmermans want,” she said. “What do they need?”

Besides a home, Betty Zimmerman, 56, needs a better wheelchair, according to her husband. Zimmerman, 52, a former merchant seaman, said that when they left San Diego for Long Beach by Greyhound bus three weeks ago, they checked a brand-new $800 chair through baggage. But, when they arrived, the chair could not be found.

“They talk about L.A.’s mean streets, but I didn’t think they’re this mean,” Zimmerman had told The Times Friday for an article published Saturday.

By Saturday, as offers of help poured in, Zimmerman had a brighter outlook: “I feel good about the shelter, but I’m still not feeling good about the lost wheelchair.”

Offers From Bus Company

Greyhound has promised to reimburse the couple $65 for the rickety wheelchair they bought as a replacement and then offered to pay an additional $250 if the missing chair is not found by July 7. The Zimmermans got another offer Saturday.

After reading about them, Courtenay Tessler offered on behalf of the California Assn. of Rehabilitation Professionals to buy a new wheelchair and pay the couple’s first and last month rent in a place to stay.

The Zimmermans have been living on her $800 monthly Social Security check and his $180-a-month disability payment. Her hip was injured when she was mugged last October, and since then, she has had to use a wheelchair.