The Ukiah City Council Wednesday unanimously upheld permits approved for a homeless services center on South State Street by denying an appeal filed by a nearby business owner.
“We have a problem, and (Redwood Community Services) is willing to jump on this and try and make the community better,” said Mayor Jim Brown, describing the agency as having a “proven track record” and adding that he believed the facility it proposes to run would not be the “Band-Aid” that many opponents described, but rather a “stepping stone.”
“We are the county seat and we need to act like it,” said Vice-Mayor Kevin Doble, saying that in order to adequately address the issues surrounding Ukiah’s homeless and transient residents, the community needed to “dig deep in our hearts” and treat everyone as human beings worthy of respect.
“I think everyone in this room agrees that we need a shelter,” said Ed Haynes, who filed the appeal of the project. Haynes owns Ukiah Veterinary Hospital, located three blocks south of the building where RCS wants to operate a daytime homeless services center year-round, as well as an overnight shelter a few months a year. “The problem is the location and the size.”
Haynes said he and other members of the community want the facility “to make our homeless numbers go down,” not attract more people to the area, and he was concerned that there was no way to pull the plug on the project if it did not improve the situation for not only the nearby residents and businesses, but the community as a whole.
More than one longtime Ukiah resident told the City Council that they had seen their city change from one where “all you saw was some kids skateboarding” on the streets, to one with public areas littered with people passed out, fighting, urinating, defecating, starting fires and leaving behind garbage.
“There is an element that is seedy, disrespectful and lawless,” said one man. “It’s not everybody, but they’re there, and we need to find a way to weed them out.”
When City Council member Doug Crane asked RCS spokeswoman Camille Schrader how her organization would decide whom to serve first, she said her staff would be utilizing a system that uses several risk factors to determine who was the most vulnerable and in need of assistance.
“People are working together to address this situation, and maybe it won’t change, but maybe it will,” said Don Poplawski, his voice breaking as he said the center might be able to “alleviate some of the bad behaviors we’ve been having in our streets, doorways, fields and creeks. It’s not perfect, but let’s give it a chance: even a little seed grows into a big tree.”
Resident Mark Mountanos said he did not see the facility as helping solve most of the problems mentioned because, “We have no housing. Where is the transitional housing (the clients) are supposed to move into?
“And this facility you’re proposing is nicer than City Hall. Why do we need to build a monument to the homeless?” he continued, proposing that a cheaper, larger building could serve many more people. “RCS does great work, that’s not the issue. We need to put something like this on the ballot and let the citizens vote.”
“The community wants accountability,” said City Manager Sage Sangiacomo, explaining that his staff made changes to the project plan that “added considerable checks and balances, and ultimately the whole permit itself has a revocation process” if the center doesn’t operate as promised and the problems people are seeing near their homes, offices, businesses, parks and creeks don’t improve.
The City Council then voted unanimously to uphold the permits for the project proposed for 1045 S. State St.
