Insider’s View of Homeless Problems: No Easy Answers

Business looked to be good Wednesday night in the retail stores clustered at the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and 19th Street.

A block away at the city library, they were closing for the day. A young boy and his mother were among the last to leave, with the boy clutching his newest library book, “Mr. Baseball.”

Another block away, some people were playing softball in Lions Park. The metallic crack of bat on ball reverberated in the crisp night air.

The winding down of another day in Costa Mesa, but it could have been lots of places across America. It suggested a line from an old Harry Chapin song, “And it was just an any old kind of day/The kind that comes and slips away.”

While all this was going on, however, a few dozen citizens were meeting in the Neighborhood Community Center, located next to the library and park and not far from the retail shopping center. What brought them out on this otherwise ordinary night was the nagging question of how to handle Costa Mesa’s homeless population, generally estimated to be a few hundred out of its listed population of a little more than 100,000.

It seemed to me, while listening to these citizens, that they could have been anyone, anywhere, from one end of the country to another. No one spoke with rancor or condescension. Strangely, it was one of those nights where it was more instructional to listen to people’s questions than it was to hear them suggest answers: “Do we as a society have a responsibility to help people who apparently cannot help themselves?” one man asked.

Another woman asked if Costa Mesa was “getting everyone’s homeless.” She said she didn’t object to the city taking care of its own residents but wondered whether it was taking on more than its share.

Another woman asked why concern for the homeless wasn’t balanced with concern for “taxpayers’ problems.” She said people are tired of paying for programs that don’t solve problems and that taxpayers “should be getting just as much sympathy” as the homeless.

On Thursday, the day after the meeting, I asked Costa Mesa Mayor Joe Erickson how he sees the homeless issue. “You ask if I’ve got questions; I’ve got lots of them,” he said.

“It’s going through my mind all the time. I’ve lived in Costa Mesa all my life, I was raised in Catholic school by nuns and taught that you care for people, but I’m the mayor of a city of 104,000 people. . . . My No. 1 responsibility is the health, safety and welfare of the people of Costa Mesa, and that includes people from all economic backgrounds, races, everybody.”

He hears from citizens who fear that Costa Mesa has become a magnet for vagrants because the city does more for street people than most, if not all other Orange County cities. “I favor allowing the service-providers (that help the homeless) to stay, but I’m under a lot of pressure and probably one vote away on the council from having their use permits revoked.”

On the other hand, he didn’t run for council so he could chase homeowners out of Costa Mesa. “In my mind, my city competes with other cities. I’m a business person. You offer the best quality product you can . . . and in my city I’m competing to attract business.” He goes on to say that you can’t attract businesses without neighborhoods in which people want to live and invest.

As much as Erickson may want to help the homeless, he can’t pooh-pooh citizens who say they’re frightened by people who live in public park restrooms or who urinate in their yards. He applauds the Police Department for respecting the rights of homeless citizens, but is also concerned that citizens’ fear of being panhandled in the retail shopping areas might dissuade them from shopping in Costa Mesa. “And I can’t let that happen,” he said.

I was somewhat off-target a few months ago for making it sound as though I was bashing Costa Mesa for considering measures to tighten the screws on the homeless. While I think those measures are wrong, the city has held up its share of the load in making life bearable for homeless people.

As the public meeting revealed, this is a vexing issue. It’s fraught with opportunities to show both people’s best sides and their worst.

What it doesn’t have to be, Erickson said, is a killer issue. “I want to do what’s right and I think what’s right is to make people aware of what we have in common. And what we have in common is that we live in Costa Mesa and we want to make it a better place to live. And a safer place to live. It’s challenging, and when I look at what we’re doing compared to what people typically think of for Orange County, it’s very different and I’m proud of it.”

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.