Rising Property Values Threaten Agencies

Manuel lives in an alley in Wilmington. He is 41 years old, his only resume a three-page rap sheet that lists his criminal accomplishments: several robberies, a kidnaping, a drive-by shooting. But he says he went straight--”I don’t even jaywalk anymore”--when he was released from San Quentin in 1980.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, Manuel leaves his alley to walk about five miles to the Crossing, an interdenominational Christian mission at 7th and Centre streets in downtown San Pedro.

There, he finds a hot meal and spiritual guidance.

Manuel, however, is worried about the Crossing’s future. The building is up for sale, and there is some uncertainty about whether the mission will be able to raise enough money to buy the property so that it can continue its work.

‘It’s the Only Hope’

“Not only is this place needed, but a lot of other places like this are needed,” he said. “If it wasn’t for places like this, where else could people eat. . . ? It’s the only hope that the poor people have. If the well-to-do people take this away, then there’s nothing else.”

Although no well-to-do person is proposing to abolish the Crossing, Manuel is not entirely off track.

The spiraling cost of living in San Pedro is making it increasingly difficult for nonprofit social service agencies such as the Crossing to do business there. As property values escalate, some social service providers are wondering whether they--along with the poor people they serve--will eventually be squeezed out of a community that for decades has been populated mostly by the working class.

“The increasing land value of San Pedro makes it very difficult to sustain a low-income population,” said Howard Uller, executive director of Toberman Settlement House, a social service agency in the Barton Hill section of San Pedro.

Said David Christiansen, executive director of Harbor Interfaith Shelter, which provides housing for 17 homeless families: “It’s real clear that parts of Lomita and Harbor City and Wilmington and other areas seem to be a lot more affordable than San Pedro.

‘Getting More Expensive’

“The land values have gone up so fast in the last two or three years, it has made it very difficult for anybody to do business here, either nonprofit or for-profit. It’s just expensive for everybody, and it’s getting more expensive.”

Nancy Taylor, economic development coordinator for the San Pedro Revitalization Corp., a nonprofit organization that is overseeing downtown business improvements, says this trend affects not only social service providers, but all nonprofit groups and “low-rent payers”--even her own agency.

But Taylor also noted that, particularly in downtown San Pedro, revitalization is not occurring overnight. Downtown, she said, is still considered affordable by artists and antique dealers who are being priced out of other, even more expensive areas, such as Santa Monica and Redondo Beach.

“San Pedro has just started to become discovered,” she said. “That always brings good and bad with it. The poorer uses get priced out. But we also absorb a lot of people that are being displaced in other faster-growing areas of the beach. . . . That’s just an economic situation that exists everywhere.”

Indeed, Uller, Christiansen and others agree that what is happening in San Pedro has happened in coastal communities all over Southern California--and will continue to happen in communities that are undiscovered, as San Pedro once was.

‘Falling Out the Bottom End’

“Everything is going up and what’s happening is the poorer folks are falling out the bottom end,” Christiansen said.

In San Pedro, there are several recent examples:

* A newspaper editor recently revived debate on a 2-year-old plan by the San Pedro Peninsula Chamber of Commerce to relocate residents of the low-income Rancho San Pedro housing project and convert the land to commercial uses. Christiansen said he believes that the plan never would have been proposed “if this neighborhood was on the skids and you couldn’t give real estate away. . . .”

Although the Los Angeles Housing Authority has thus far rejected the suggestion to raze Rancho San Pedro, Uller said he believes that if the land becomes valuable enough, “natural marketing forces will raise that possibility.”

* The owners of the building that houses the Harbor Interfaith Shelter are trying to sell that property and build 29 condominiums on land next to it. Harbor Interfaith wants to buy the shelter building, and owner Joe Good is amenable to negotiations--he says he would like to help the homeless. But Good fears that the shelter will diminish the value of his condominium project. He said he told Christiansen that “I felt like we didn’t want them there because they would hurt our property. I said, ‘Your people are sloppy.’ ”

Good said he is willing to sell all the land to Harbor Interfaith and give up his condominium plans. But Christiansen said it will be difficult for the agency to afford the purchase price, which exceeds $4 million.

* The Crossing is attempting to buy its building from Mercy Ships International, a worldwide social service agency that is leaving San Pedro because of the high cost of living. Mission officials hope to raise $850,000 to buy and renovate the building into a 50-bed shelter for homeless men. But some downtown business leaders say the Mercy Ships building is better suited for retail uses. Complained Crossing Executive Director Harlan Heyer: “There are those who would like to push the homeless out of San Pedro. I’m not sure where they’d like them to go.”

Low-Income Segment

For decades, the areas in and around downtown San Pedro have been home to the low-income segment of the community. The Rancho San Pedro housing project is just north of the downtown business district, as is much of the affordable housing that remains in San Pedro.

The six hotels that participate in Los Angeles County’s welfare assistance program for homeless people are all in and around downtown, with two across the street from the Crossing. County welfare officials say 321 people were referred to those hotels in June, the most recent month for which statistics are available.

Agencies such as the Crossing tend to locate downtown, near their clientele. The Harbor Free Clinic, which provides medical care to 8,500 patients each year, and the Harbor Crisis Center, which helps poor people find food, clothing and shelter, operate out of downtown offices.

But downtown is changing, albeit slowly, as trendy restaurants and shops move into the storefronts. Social service providers say that as this pattern continues, forcing an inevitable rise in rents, downtown may eventually become too expensive for them.

For instance, Donna Brown, administrator of the Harbor Free Clinic, said she knows the clinic pays less than the going rate for its 20,000-square-foot space. “I think we’re real lucky because our landlord is very supportive of us,” she said.

Request to Spruce Up

Although no one has suggested that Brown’s organization leave its spot at 6th and Mesa streets, she said some of her downtown neighbors have asked that the Harbor Free Clinic spruce up its image by buying new curtains. Brown said she takes the suggestion seriously.

“We’re in the center of the revitalization,” she said. “I know it’s a priority for them that we look appropriate for the neighborhood, but we just don’t have the money to spend on new window coverings.”

However, Brown added that the clinic will fix the windows “so that we look nice, so that we don’t have to be threatened with, ‘You don’t look nice, and we don’t want you here.’ ”

In the case of the Crossing, the issues are more complex than simply fixing up the windows.

Business leaders say the Mercy Ships building occupies a crucial corner for the rebirth of downtown San Pedro. It is at the southeastern tip of the corridor designated for revitalization; across the street is the downtown redevelopment district, where a new 10-story hotel and office tower are under construction.

“Our approach is that that’s a valuable corner to be converted,” said Tom Eidem, executive director of the San Pedro Revitalization Corp. “Where you have corner lots, you want to make a geographical and a strong environmental statement saying, ‘You’ve now entered a shopping district.’ ”

Merchants Want to Entice

Said Leron Gubler, executive director of the San Pedro Peninsula Chamber of Commerce: “You don’t want to dislocate the poor and say we’re throwing them out. But at the same time, the community is working very hard to turn the downtown area around. . . . Merchants are counting on being able to entice people in the hotel building and the office building to come up the street and shop.”

Gubler suggested that the Crossing might be better off looking for a building elsewhere in San Pedro, away from 6th and 7th streets, which he described as “the critical streets” for revitalization. He said a building outside the revitalization district might meet the needs of the Crossing at a lower price.

But Heyer argues that the Mercy Ships building, a former hotel, meets the Crossing’s needs because it can easily be converted to a shelter.

Heyer said it is important for the mission to remain at its present location because that is where homeless people live. He notes that the LaSalle and Cabrillo hotels, which cater to homeless and low-income people, are across the street from the Crossing.

‘It’s Where They Live’

“We didn’t bring these people here. They were here long before we got here,” Heyer said. “It’s where they live.”

According to Heyer, the Crossing has entered into an escrow agreement with Mercy Ships for purchase of the building, although the agreement states that Mercy Ships may continue to negotiate with other buyers in case the Crossing cannot raise the money during the next six weeks.

Heyer, however, said he is confident that the money will be forthcoming.

“I believe that’s what God wants,” he said. “He wants us to minister to these people, to help them spiritually and emotionally. . . . I don’t believe that we as a society can just continue to shove our problems into someone else’s community or under the rug and pretend that it’s not there.”