Teen Center in Artists’ District Rejected

Bowing to objections from artists and small business owners, the San Diego City Council on Tuesday refused to put a transitional housing center for homeless teen-agers in a Centre City East neighborhood that has become a nascent arts district.

Instead, the council promised to help permanently locate the Toussant Teen Center in a Marina District warehouse--without consulting the property owner. The council had previously imposed a three-year occupancy limit for the center at the warehouse.

Led by Mayor Maureen O’Connor, the council promised in an 8-0 vote to lift the three-year limit it imposed on the State Street property last April, and said it would instruct the Centre City Development Corp. not to issue requests to redevelop the property owned by Larry Cushman.

Asked whether the council vote gives his proposed center for homeless teen-agers a permanent home, the Rev. Joe Carroll, president of the St. Vincent de Paul social service arm of the Catholic diocese, responded: “Good question. . . . (Cushman) owns the whole block and he’s planning to develop it.”

St. Vincent de Paul must find a permanent site by Nov. 7 or forfeit a $2.1-million federal grant to operate a center that will provide housing, education, job training and drug and sex counseling for 30 teen-agers who want to get off the streets.

St. Vincent de Paul had tentatively struck a deal to put the facility in the historic Eagles Hall at 733 8th Ave. But the council refused to go along Tuesday, agreeing with neighbors who testified that the area is already overburdened with human service and residential treatment facilities.

The center would have been next to Rachel’s Women’s Center and within a quarter-mile of six centers serving the mentally disabled, pre-release prisoners, people in alcohol rehabilitation programs and people in job training programs.

“We need to recognize that there has to be a point at which we draw a line and say, “We’re really going to try to make this area more livable,’ ” said District 2 Councilman Ron Roberts, who represents the area.

In April, the council approved a maximum three-year lease for the center at 633 State St. after intense opposition from residents of nearby upscale condominium projects.

Carroll said his organization abandoned plans for that facility when the opportunity to permanently site the homeless center in the Eagles Hall presented itself. Now, he said, it is unclear how much it will cost St. Vincent de Paul to renovate the State Street site.