Southeast / Long Beach : Plan for Halfway House in Industrial Area Is Opposed

Proponents who want to open a halfway house in North Long Beach knew their neighbors would be a hard-sell. For that reason they chose a quiet industrial area surrounded by warehouses to provide job training and housing to 50 nonviolent inmates nearing parole.

“How could you find a better location?” said Bob Pratt, president of Volunteers of America, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit group behind the proposed facility. He said the location is ideal because it is devoid of residents and surrounded by potential employers.

But warehouses have neighbors, too. Area business owners, residents in other areas of the city and Paramount officials have insisted that the facility be placed elsewhere, perhaps at the soon-to-be-closed naval shipyard on Terminal Island. Critics say placing the facility in North Long Beach would disrupt nearby businesses and further tarnish the troubled area’s name.

Both sides plan to make their cases Oct. 17 before the Long Beach City Council, where the charity group plans to appeal a ruling last week by the city Planning Commission. Commissioners ruled the proposal conflicted with the area’s zoning for industrial uses.

Pratt says his organization operates 10 similar programs across the state, screens potential residents rigorously and puts them under strict supervision.

State corrections authorities are ready to support the program with $1 million a year to reduce overcrowding in state prisons.