Officials Outnumber the Homeless at Aid Event

It was supposed to be “Connection Day,” linking the homeless in Sunland and Tujunga with social service and government agencies that could help them.

But the 50-plus officials far out-numbered the 20 or so homeless people at Thursday’s meeting at Howard Finn Park.

The thin turnout was in part due to Monday’s closing of an encampment on private land known as Jurassic Park in Sunland, officials and homeless people said.

Although officials had agreed upon a July 1 deadline to close homeless settlements in dangerous brush fire areas, the private property owner in Sunland decided to bulldoze the site.

On Thursday, several angry homeless people said the action raised fears that if they attended the meeting they might be individually identified for future encampment closings.

“It was a devastating thing,” said Pattee Colvin, a former Jurassic Park resident who had lived in the settlement of huts and tents for one year. “What did they connect me with here? I’ve already been with L.A. Family Housing and the San Fernando shelter. . . . We thought we could get jobs.”

Colvin’s friend, Benny Colon, who lived at the encampment for three years, said no shelter will accept him with a dog. Colon added that he had been content with the steady flow of odd jobs in the Jurassic Park neighborhood.

“Even if I got a job, I love being outside,” he said while eating a lunch of teriyaki steak, mashed potatoes, salad and corn served by servers in chef hats and aprons who ladled food from chafing dishes on white linen tablecloths.

One Sunland resident, Elizabeth Goodknight, 45, said she would try to help her displaced friends, such as Colon.

“I don’t feel they should be pushed out of the neighborhood,” she said. “My daughters have known him for four or five years. I’ve hired them to work for me and they help with gardening and jobs around the house.”

Thursday’s event offered a free lunch to homeless individuals who met with five service agency representatives, such as the federal Veterans Affairs department, San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission, American Indian Housing and about 30 other organizations.

While several homeless people were fearful or skeptical of city efforts to assist them, social service representatives were disappointed with the low numbers of people they could help.

“We were expecting obviously more,” said Judy Maurella, a case manager at the Sepulveda Veterans Affairs medical facility. She said about 10 people visited her information table, and perhaps five were vets.

“I guess a lot of the homeless may lose faith with the social service agencies that were trying to help them,” said John Horn of the Los Angeles Family Housing Corp. “It’s very frustrating.”

But Pat Davenport, deputy to Councilman Joel Wachs, said the homeless should not rely upon the July 1 date, which is based on brush fire danger.

The fire hazards are already apparent, she said, and some private property owners can take action ahead of government agencies.

“Community improvement is displacing encampments that were formerly out of sight,” she said, citing two new developments scheduled to be built in the Tujunga area. “There are steady pressures from a changing community.”

Since January, Davenport said her office has received about 15 complaints from businesses and residents. She said a few of those were about Jurassic Park.

One man, who wanted to be identified only by his nickname “Munchkin,” said he had been homeless for 10 years but always found odd jobs instead of relying on general relief or other benefits. Shelters were not an option, he said.

“We’re trying to live like the Native Americans,” he said, keeping watch over his black and white dog. “To live off the land.”