Panel Denies Church Trailers for Homeless

Saying the location is too distant from jobs and counseling, a Los Angeles City Council committee voted Tuesday against placing two trailers for the homeless at a Sepulveda church whose members welcomed the idea.

After the vote by the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, members of the Sepulveda Unitarian-Universalist Society church, who have been trying for nearly two years to become part of the city program, blamed Mayor Tom Bradley for not making the program work.

“This is a moral outrage,” church member Sidney Siegel said. “The mayor delegated responsibility. He didn’t take an active role. He was too busy.”

The issue is scheduled to come before the full City Council on Oct. 17.

At Bradley’s urging, the city in 1987 bought 102 trailers from a Utah construction firm that had used them to house its workers. The mobile homes were supposed to be sprinkled over public and private property around the city for temporary housing of homeless families.

But to date, the city has placed only 61 of the trailers, partly because of neighborhood opposition, which also was present in Sepulveda.

Councilman Hal Bernson, committee chairman, said he voted against Bradley’s homeless trailer proposal when it first came before the council more than two years ago because of the placement problems that he thought it would present.

Bernson and other committee members emphasized Tuesday that they did not reject the proposal because of community arguments that trailers for the homeless should not be placed in residential neighborhoods, but rather believed that the neighborhood chosen was too remote.

“People who are in this position need more than just shelter,” Bernson said. “They need counseling . . . job training and transportation to work. They need a central location where they could have the amenities that are needed to get back into the mainstream. They’re certainly not going to have those opportunities in this location.”

Church spokesman Charles Burle disagreed. He said that major bus lines run within a block or two of the church and that there are several large employers--including the Veterans Administration Hospital--in the neighborhood. Counseling and job placement of the families accepted into the city program are automatically handled by social service agencies, Burle said.

Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler said the mayor’s commitment to the trailer program “remains as strong today as it’s ever been” despite the time-consuming process of finding suitable locations. Chandler noted that Bradley had assigned a staff member to the program full time.

However, he also said Tuesday’s committee opposition might make it difficult for the mayor to intervene on behalf of the church.

Homeowners Worried

Owners of homes near the proposed site at Haskell Avenue and Plummer Street told the committee that they fear that the trailers’ occupants will bring crime to the area. They talked about declining property values and worries about their children’s safety.

“Trailers would be totally out of character with the nature of the surrounding development,” said Cindy Calczynski, whose actions brought the issue to the committee Tuesday. Calczynski had appealed a decision by the Board of Zoning Appeals to approve placement of the trailers provided that the church met 12 stringent conditions--including fencing and a 24-hour security guard.

Burle said the council committee’s opposition could make it difficult for him to persuade the full council to see things his way.

“What can I say?” he asked. “That property values are less important than moral or ethical values?”