Long Beach : Committee Sues Over Letter Opposing Homeless Shelter

A homeless advocacy group has sued the Long Beach City Council, alleging that five of its members broke state law when they sent a letter to a federal official opposing a plan to convert surplus U.S. Navy property to a homeless shelter.

The Homeless Organizing Committee filed the lawsuit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking an injunction to bar the council members from taking similar action in the future.

State law requires that nearly all council action be conducted in public. While the City Council decided against endorsing the homeless shelter proposal in a public meeting, it did not publicly vote to send the July 27 letter.

Deputy City Atty. Heather A. Mahood said Vice Mayor Jeffrey A. Kellogg and council members Evan Anderson Braude, Les Robbins, Doris Topsy-Elvord and Ray Grabinski did not break the law when they signed the letter.

She said each had a right as an individual to sign the correspondence, and it did not constitute formal council action.

Christian Outreach Appeal, which provides shelter and other services for the homeless, has proposed building a shelter on part of the property making up the Savannah and Cabrillo naval housing projects in west Long Beach.

The City Council has endorsed a plan to use the land for a university-related research park and for junior and senior high schools.

Navy officials will make the final decision on who gets the property, which will soon be vacated by the Navy as it reduces spending in the post-Cold War era.