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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/22/2023 Snead (SLO Naz church Safe Parking) Donna Marie Snead < To:PASTOR DOUG PITTAM Subject:LAST EVENINGS MEETING - ROTATING OVERNIGHT SAFE PARKING PROGRAM This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond. DEAR PASTOR DOUG, You and your church team are wonderful! Your caring, pastoral heart radiated out to everyone in attendance last evening as we gathered to hear your thoughts along with the presentation made by the CAPSLO officials. Your genuine, caring concern to hear feedback from the neighborhood was straight from your heart and so deeply appreciated. You could not have been more welcoming! You and your Nazarene Board team who were on site last night were pretty terrific! Now to capsulate our current thinking: —there is no question that the heavily vetted individuals chosen by CAPSLO to participate in this safe parking program are good, solid people needing a genuine helping hand. It was well established that these folks pose no problem or threat to our local neighborhood. God bless them! Our collective hearts went out to them. —Daisy Wiberg and Jack Lahey gave very informative presentations for which we are grateful. —what was not well addressed is the proven fact that the “spill over” of non-vetted transients without vehicles always seem to find their way to the location of the City’s safe parking program. Therein lies the problem. It is precisely this homeless transient element who do not follow established rules, and who can be a serious danger to themselves and others. These are the folks who roam through neighborhoods at night. It is this transient, non-vetted population which is most troublesome given heavy drug use, theft, crime + violence, and the always looming threat of fire hazard. Were they to discover the creeks and “wooded” areas behind some of our neighborhood homes, the potential for fire looms large. —the ROTATING OVERNIGHT SAFE PARKING PROGRAM as outlined last evening seems reasonable and workable until we get to the all important SECURITY ISSUE. That’s where everything falls apart. Without all-night security for the entire 7 pm - 7 am duration of their stay, this program is doomed to continued failure as evidenced at previous locations. It will only successfully work with a HIRED SECURITY GUARD PRESENCE constantly on-site. The present protocol of a Site-Captain who does not remain on location and on site all night is completely unsatisfactory. —if the City of San Luis Obispo will commit to hiring a SECURITY AGENCY to help oversee this program, then the chances of success are greatly enhanced. Why would the City not want to insure the safety and security of the vetted homeless 1 participants who are parking their vehicles at these host sites? Why would the City not want to insure the safety and security of the neighborhoods surrounding these host locations? MORE QUESTIONS: 1. When those who have not been screened or vetted as participants in this program show up at these designated safe parking locations, how will the City keep these folks from setting up tents / tarps and unloading their belongings on the church property? (A non-issue with all night, on-site security personnel.) 2. Who is going to protect our vetted participants in the program from violence in real time? (A non-issue with all night, on-site security personnel.) 3. If unscreened and unvetted individuals infiltrate and abuse this program, what about the potential for feces, used drug needles and scattered debris on-site after the Site Captain has left the location for the night? Especially given that the on-site bathrooms will be coded and locked and the on-site dumpster will be coded and locked? (A non-issue with an all night SECURITY GUARD on duty.) 4. Who will be responsible for the clean-up of any hazardous materials that might leak from vehicles? Ex: oil and transmission fluids, radiation fluids, leaking black water tanks. What to do if motorhome pulls out of the church parking lot and parks in a residential area and is leaking hazardous materials? Is the City responsible for this clean-up? 5. Who is monitoring the arrival and departure of these vehicles each day if the Site Captain is only on-site part time? What will happen if people refuse to leave during the daytime with a broken down vehicle? 6. If the non-vetted infiltrate the parking site disobeying rules and setting up outdoor cook stoves, who will enforce the prohibition? FIRE DEPARTMENT? POLICE? (A non-issue with official SECURITY DETAIL on site all night.) LONG TERM IDEAL SOLUTION: build and establish a permanent site—a single location away from local area neighborhoods—with cameras, fencing, showers and restrooms which will offer maximum SECURITY. These good people deserve to be safe and not prey to harm. Protect the people in this program and protect our neighborhoods! Dear Pastor Doug, thank you for your sincere desire to gather information before making such an important decision for your church property and for our neighborhood. WITH THE WARMEST WELL-WISHES, Donna Marie + Jim Snead 2 3