Indoor Site Sought to Feed Needy : Santa Monica: It would be a help to have the meal program inside--and out of the limelight--some say.

For about a year and a half, media cameras have rolled and clicked at the spectacle of hundreds of hungry people on the front lawn of Santa Monica City Hall, waiting for a plate of ham and beans. For some observers, the scene translates into an image of the beach city as “Home of the Homeless.”

But city officials hope that image will fade when they find a permanent indoor site for a dinner-at-dusk program, where other services, such as counseling and job placement, can also be administered. Most officials say that although they would be glad to see an end to the photo opportunity presented at City Hall, better service and not image is the main reason they want to relocate the feeding program.

Last month it was temporarily moved to Memorial Park to coincide with the monthlong opening of a regional cold-weather shelter there. The program was scheduled to return to City Hall this week, but City Manager John Jalili now says it will be delayed by landscape work scheduled there.

Even when it returns, it is not expected to stay long. Jalili said a list of possible sites for the program will be presented to the City Council in March.

But volunteers for FAITH (Family Assistance Involving the Homeless), which runs the program, said finding a new site may be difficult because of a “not in my back yard” mentality.

City Councilman Dennis Zane said the main reason for the move is to provide indoor services, but acknowledged that image is a concern.

“I do think that the feeding program on the lawn of City Hall, in front of this historic Art Deco building, made the program a favorite of the media,” Zane said. “I think it created a false image of the community.

“Certainly the image of the community as responsible is not false,” he said, “but it has granted us a position in the media as ‘home of the homeless,’ which is false.”

Vicky Cunningham, a FAITH volunteer, said some people in her organization are opposed to the move from City Hall, “but we will take what we can get.” She said FAITH organizers liked the City Hall location because it is central and highly visible. “People need to see this and to know,” Cunningham said. “If they don’t see it, they don’t care . . . ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ ”

Some homeless people have already complained about the relocation to Memorial Park, which is at Olympic Boulevard and 14th Street. “City Hall is right around the corner,” said 39-year-old David Morgan. “I like it there better.”

According to FAITH volunteers, the Memorial Park operation attracts 150 to 200 homeless, whereas the program at City Hall attracted about 300. And most of the people at Memorial Park’s indoor Latimer Lounge are not the same ones as those at City Hall, volunteers said.

Mona La Vine, founder and coordinator of FAITH, said she welcomes a move because at an indoor site food can be cooked and dishes washed. “The best situation is an indoor location--a place to heat up the food and where there is light,” she said.

She said finding a home for the feeding program is a minor problem compared to the larger issue of finding homes for those in need.

“We’ll continue to serve hot meals until some type of affordable housing (for the homeless) can be found,” La Vine said. “When people have the will to make it happen, then it will happen.”

Leslie Dutton, who heads Citizens Protection Alliance, a group opposed to the city’s liberal policies on the homeless, believes that the feeding program attracts homeless to the city and creates dependence instead of independence.

“I wish they would just discontinue it entirely,” Dutton said. “It just perpetuates the problem; it is not a remedy.”

The feeding program started in 1986 at Palisades Park, but was moved to City Hall about 18 months ago after the Chamber of Commerce complained about the presence of the homeless near the park and the crime that it seemed to attract.

Staff writer Julio Moran contributed to this story.