New Union Mission on Skid Row Dedicated : Charity: The homeless view the ceremony through a fence. Some question the efficiency of getting donations to the needy, none of whom were invited.

Separated by the razor-wire-topped fence that secures a lot where the new Union Rescue Mission is being built, a group of homeless people viewed the center’s dedication ceremony Monday through chain links.

About 200 people, including corporate sponsors of the mission, its staff and Mayor Tom Bradley were on the inside, praising the new $16-million complex and the expanded services it promises to offer. Askia Abdulmajeed, a rehabilitated drug abuser, talked about his recent appointment to the state Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Program Planning Committee and about how the mission aided him during the climb out of the squalor on Skid Row.

But on the outside, the group of homeless people questioned the need for elaborate dedication ceremonies for the shelter, which will be built on San Pedro Street near 5th Street, and wondered about its efficiency in getting donations to the needy, none of whom were invited to the event.

“They hired 18 men to come here this morning and sweep away all the trash,” said Cameron Clarke, 26, an unemployed security guard, as he watched guests turn over their cars to the valet parking team working the reception.

“They think they can do a quick cover-up of all the homeless people. When rich people come down here, they don’t want it to look so bad.”

James Hall, 41, a custodian supervisor at UCLA who used to frequent the mission and now stays at low-rent hotels in the area, said the ceremony was typical of what he sees as a lack of substantive measures to address the problem of homelessness.

“Everybody wants to go to happy land,” he said as Dixieland jazz wafted across the street where Hall stood with a group of men.

“There are thousands of people who are mentally ill down here, and the rest of Amercia is sitting at home in front of their TVs with a smile. They’re going to send this picture of the (dedication ceremony) back to those people and that’ll keep them smiling. It’s strange how they talk about the mission helping so many people, and you don’t have a single homeless person in the whole lot over there.”

Known on the street as “The Union,” the mission has, since 1891, served up sermons and meals to the homeless in the downtown area. The privately supported charity has developed job training camps, substance abuse and youth counseling centers and employs a staff of 99 to run its programs throughout the state.

The new mission complex will be nearly triple the size of the existing building at Main and 3rd streets. The shelter serves 2,600 meals a day and provides sleeping spaces for 1,100 each night. The new building will be equipped to serve 60% more clients.

The fund-raising campaign, titled “Points of Light,” received donations of $500,000 from Security Pacific Corp., a foundation of the Milken Family and the Ahmanson Foundation. Donations in $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000 increments were given by more than 40 other corporations and individuals.

“The mission helps . . . it does,” said a man who identified himself only as Attwell. “But I’d like to know where all the money goes. They have millions of dollars, so you would think they could help better.”

Standing nearby, Hall added: “I wonder how many people they could’ve fed with all the balloon money they used up.”