W. Hollywood Taken to Task for Failings of Food Program

A task force report on a controversial program to feed the homeless blasted West Hollywood’s government for “failure in foresight, planning, monitoring and decision-making.”

The report, presented to the City Council on Tuesday night by a task force formed to help relocate or revamp the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition in Plummer Park, singled out the council and the Human Services Department for harsh criticism.

“The members of the task force . . . (have) concern that the council and the Department of Human Services are not up to the task of ameliorating the plight of the hungry and homeless while maintaining an adequate level of public health and safety,” the report said. In particular, the report suggests that the city did little more than throw money at the program and neglected to weave into it any social service follow-up.

The report recommends that the program be dismantled and replaced by a meal voucher system with eligibility to be determined by local private human service organizations. The task force also recommended that the city limit spending on the program, set a cap of 100 to 125 participants and set general guidelines for eligibility.

By tying eligibility to participation in West Hollywood private social service agencies, the task force suggested that a food program could be geared toward “those trying to better their situation,” said task force coordinator Mark Vandervelden, who is also Councilman Steve Schulte’s deputy.

The report also said the program had become a beacon for homeless from outside the city. “A contribution . . . to solving the problem of homelessness should not be to add to it,” the report said.

The nightly feeding of homeless on a first-come, first-serve basis has been supported for nearly three years by city funds. The previously little-known program was thrust into the public eye in October when the council voted to dismantle it in response to complaints from neighbors of Plummer Park. Angry residents had testified that participants were remaining in the area after eating, causing crime and sanitation problems.

A Sheriff’s Department survey supported the claims, finding a concentration of crime in the area around the park. The department also said that many of the participants had outstanding felony warrants and that most were not from West Hollywood.

The October decision to end city support for the program brought to a November meeting a wave of Hollywood celebrities and advocates for the homeless who accused the city of insensitivity toward the homeless. At that meeting, the council reinstated the program for four months and created the task force to look into it.

Most City Council members cautiously admitted this week that the task force made more progress in bringing together neighbors and coalition members in three months than the council had in more than a year of wrangling over the issue.

“The task force did what it was supposed to do,” said Schulte, who provided a key vote in restoring the program last November.

Schulte also accepted the report’s criticism of city efforts, “In fact, in our efforts we did some harm, and we cannot duck that criticism. The report correctly puts the issue at the feet of the council and staff.”

But City Manager Paul Brotzman and Director of Human Services Lloyd Long tried to deflect the criticism of city staff, saying they were only carrying out council policy.

“The report picks on staff in many areas where it is not appropriate. We have suggested all along that there could be problems, but we were not directed to be a presence at the program,” Brotzman said.

“The final recommendations of the task force that the program should leave the park and we should come up with a voucher program . . . that is what we recommended back in November,” said Long.

The food coalition, which had been the target of much bitter criticism from Plummer Park neighbors, was largely exonerated by the report.

“The coalition did what it was asked to do” when it served almost 150,000 meals to homeless in recent years, Vandervelden said. “Given its resources, to expect that (it) could serve as either social workers or police was unrealistic.”

Coalition President Mike Dean, a member of the task force, approved the report, pushing the feeding program toward extinction. But he told the council Tuesday that his group could play an active role in raising funds to feed the homeless and identifying those in need.

“The money is there, but it just has to be spent and administered in the right way. Human Services obviously can’t handle this, and we don’t want to see it get lost in the City Hall shuffle,” Dean said. Brotzman and several council members were skeptical that a meal voucher program would work, because such a program would require that local restaurants accept the vouchers.

Vandervelden admitted that meal vouchers have failed in other cities, but he prodded the council to give the task force until February to work out details.

Councilman Paul Koretz, who has consistently supported the feeding program, said the recommendations are a good start: “This is the best solution I have heard so far.”

Under the voucher system, the focus would “shift from homelessness to hunger,” Vandervelden said. He said groups for whom the Plummer Park program was not accessible, such as seniors, indigents and AIDS patients, would receive the primary benefit.

The change in focus would seem to eliminate many of the current recipients. Under the current program, only intoxicated or disruptive people are not served. The task force noted that homeless people have threatened violence if their program is ended. But Dean said the food coalition will try to ensure that “those most in need will receive the benefit.”

The council agreed Tuesday to let the program continue in the park until at least March 6, when it was scheduled to end.