COSTA MESA : Foes of SOS Charity Defend Their Action

Residents who have fought to remove the embattled charity Share Our Selves from their neighborhood defended their actions Tuesday and objected to being characterized as racist and heartless.

The group was responding to comments made at a news conference Monday by religious and community leaders who rallied to support SOS and to urge the City Council to rescind a decision to evict the charity from its home at the Rea Community Center at 661 Hamilton St.

Several of the speakers at Monday’s news conference painted opposition to SOS as tinged with racism and said city officials lacked compassion.

The charity provides clothes, food, financial and medical assistance to thousands of needy people, many of whom are Latino.

Opponents of SOS, however, say the agency has grown too large for the residential neighborhood where it is located. In July, they successfully lobbied the City Council to cancel the SOS lease. The charity is scheduled to be evicted Monday.

“We accepted (SOS) years ago but have watched our neighborhood deteriorate in direct proportion to their growth,” said Janice Davidson, who has opposed the agency.

Davidson, who lives on Arnold Street, about a block away from SOS, and about 20 other residents held a news conference Tuesday to respond to remarks made at the SOS gathering.

“We were very offended at being called racists. This has long been a multinational neighborhood with Hispanic, Vietnamese, Irish, you name it,” she said.

“I didn’t see one of them (SOS supporters) willing to step forward and assume the burden. . . . They are saying this small neighborhood should carry the burden for the entire county, and it’s not fair.”