SAN PEDRO : Svorinich Says Homeless Advocates Rejected Deal
After weeks of angry protests, rowdy meetings and increasing political interest, San Pedro residents were told Tuesday that a compromise had been reached that would have stopped plans for a large homeless shelter in their community but that homeless advocates backed out of the deal.
However, officials of Turner’s Technical Institute, which proposed opening the shelter in surplus Navy housing on Taper Avenue, said no deal had ever been made.
Los Angeles City Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr., who represents San Pedro, told about 1,500 residents at a meeting that the institute had agreed orally to move its planned project from Navy property to a new site. But institute director Johnathon Marzet subsequently refused to sign an agreement, Svorinich told residents.
Marzet denied ever making a verbal agreement, saying it did not guarantee a new site for the shelter if the group gave up the 144 units it plans to use in San Pedro.
“This memorandum, that Rudy had typed and prepared, was not to the advantage of TTI nor the homeless citizens,” he said.
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