Costa Mesa Denies SOS Plea to Wait on Eviction : Charity: Extending lease wouldn’t be fair to neighbors, council decides. The mayor says the lengthy eviction process will actually help the agency and hints of delaying final action.

Despite the impassioned pleas of dozens of supporters of the charity Share Our Selves, the City Council early Tuesday refused to grant the agency a three-month extension of its lease at a residential community center.

By a 4-1 margin, with Councilwoman Mary Hornbuckle dissenting, the council decided that an extension would not be fair to residents living near the Rea Community Center who have complained that SOS is a nuisance in the neighborhood.

The charity had already been served with a notice that it must vacate the center by Jan. 15, and those eviction proceedings will now continue, city officials said.

SOS officials say they will fight the eviction in court.

“Needless to say we are very, very disappointed, but what we have done has been very fruitful,” SOS founder and executive director Jean Forbath said of the charity’s efforts to remain at the Rea center.

Those efforts included a weekend rally that attracted more than 1,000 supporters and a 50-hour fast that ended just before Monday’s council meeting.

In addition, more than $300,000 was donated in the last week to continue SOS services, which include providing food, clothing, medical and financial assistance to about 20,000 people a month.

The 20-year-old agency had sought to extend its stay at the Rea center so that it could complete the purchase and renovation of its own building.

Ironically, the council, in rejecting the extension, was depending on the charity to fight the eviction. City officials have estimated that a protracted eviction fight could take up to 60 days as it winds its way through the courts. During that time, SOS would be allowed to remain at the Rea center.

“The normal procedure of eviction will allow the time that SOS needs” to relocate, said Mayor Peter F. Buffa.

Buffa strongly hinted that if the city wins the eviction case, it might delay final enforcement if the charity is near to occupying its own building at that time.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the council voted unanimously to endorse a contingency plan to help SOS move to temporary quarters at 1695 W. MacArthur Blvd. in Costa Mesa. Under the plan, SOS would sublet about 4,200 square feet of space from the Community Development Council, or CDC, a private, countywide poverty agency that occupies the building. The city would pay the bulk of the $3,780 rent, with SOS gradually assuming financial responsibility over a seven-year period.

SOS directors have said they would consider the plan only if the purchase falls through and they have no other options. The arrangement also must still be approved by the CDC board of directors.

Monday’s action regarding the beleaguered charity culminates two weeks of activities in which city officials were cast as everything from heartless bureaucrats to saviors.

During one fervent speech on behalf of SOS, the Diocese of Orange’s vicar for charities even suggested that Jesus Christ might be refused help in Costa Mesa today.

Council members took exception to the comments Monday, with Buffa calling publicity about SOS’ plight a “media circus” and Councilwoman Sandra L. Genis asserting that the city is being picked on for refusing to shoulder the county’s social service load.

Hornbuckle, however, said the council’s actions showed insensitivity to the city’s neediest residents.

“We are ignoring the needs of people who depend on SOS by not giving them any kind of assurance that SOS will still be there to serve them in a few weeks. Some might call that heartless,” said Hornbuckle.