HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-12-2013 pc lakeman-Goodwin, Heather
RECEIVE D
JAN 14 201 3
Grimes, Maev e
t:Monday, January 14, 2013 10:15 A M
To :Goodwin, Heathe r
Subject:FW : homeless issue possibilities in portlan d
Attachments :Hope's Village Support Itr_Lakeman .pdf
SLO CITY CLER K
COUNCIL MEETING :ia-/ 13
ITEM NO .:
Please forward and post this email and attached file as public correspondence for the January 12, 201 3
workshop . Thank you .
maeve kenneay c,Rlme s
City Cler k
city of sari Luis onisp o
990 Palm Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 9340 1
phone : (805) 781-710 2
emaiL :mgrimes@slocity .org
From :Carter, Andrew
Sent :Friday, January 11, 2013 6 :21 P M
Grimes, Maeve
Johnson, Dere k
jest:FW : homeless issue possibilities in portlan d
Public File .
Andrew Carter
Council Membe r
City of San Luis Obispo
From :Sandra Lakeman [sandralakeman@gmail .com ]
Sent :Friday, January 11, 2013 6 :09 P M
To :Marx, Jan ; Smith, Kathy ; Carter, Andrew ; Carpenter, Dan ; Ashbaugh, John ; Kenneth Schwartz ; Judy Lang ; James
Lopes ; Allan Cooper ; Joeseph Abrahams ; Kathleen Ruiz ; Ashley Schwellenbach ; The Tribune ; Elizabeth Thyne ; Dian e
Brown ; Dixie Cliff; Diane Duenow; Linda Groover ; Prof Cannistraci ; Ellie Pearson ; Ellen Noterman n
Subject :homeless issue possibilities in portlan d
Mayor Marx, City Council members and Interested persons : i was forwarded this letter and am forwarding it t o
you for hopefully some future benefit for SLO . i hope you will take the time to read it and consider simila r
answers for San Luis Obispo . Portland is now working on a third homeless area just past the freeways in the
Northwest part of the city .
Best regards, sandra lakema n
•
Sandra Davis Lakeman
Emeritus Professor of Architecture
- California Polytechnic State Universit y
Luis Obispo, CA p340 7
805 541 322 3
www .sandralakeman .co m
•
•
ing address :
1677 Foreman Court
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
2
COM M
1639 SE l 2'h ,Portland, Oregon 97214 ph : 503-230-129 3
he 503-445-4430,wvvw .cornno,oiteoetiereiret
1-4-201 3
To :Municipal Officials, Community Organizations, Businesses, and Individual s
Re :Hope's Village of San Luis Obispo, C A
Dear Members of the San Luis Obispo Community .
As a supporter of SLO, whose family resides here, I am writing on behalf of my leadin g
architecture and planning firm in support of the remarkable Hope's Village project . As a proponen t
and consultant for similar successful projects in other cities, I am excited that Hope's Village wil l
provide a missing piece in the continuum of care that is pro-active, constructive, cost effective ,
and inspiring . As cities such as Seattle, Olympia, Portland and Eugene have already seen, ther e
is indeed a way to enlist distressed people in providing for themselves, to work together t o
improve their conditions, repair themselves, and create strong relationships in the communitie s
around them . With your support, Hope's Village will do this for San Luis Obispo too .
As a cutting edge design firm, our own relationship with projects of this kind began 13 years ag o
with the inception of Dignity Village in Portland . Our experience with this successful project ha s
been immensely educational and personally rewarding . indeed, we have been able to watc h
people learn and grow as they've worked to help each other find safety and shelter, and mee t
eir other needs as individuals and as a community . The growth and recovery at Dignity ha s
een deeply inspiring and has certainly proven the basic worth and goodness of humanity . Wit h
help from us, and many other community organizations, we have seen a true village rise, built b y
the people who live there as they've acquired and shared priceless life skills . In fact, not onl y
have the villagers benefited, Portland has become a better place and a stronger community for it .
Though our mayor and city council were initially hesitant, that quickly changed . Mayor Vera Kat z
personally cheered the villagers on, and the council provided land for the project to commence . I n
fact, her successor actually came out to help build housing on the site . This kind of initiative ca n
absolutely provide a win-win for everyone in the community . Business owners will be relieved tha t
their doorways are clear and clean, and many will end up being happy to donate and help .
Students will be able to gain valuable experience working with their hands and minds to suppor t
local civic solutions . Homeless people will become warm and safe, becoming part of solution s
rather than embodying problems . All communities will see that local solutions can solve loca l
problems . Finally, local leaders will see how much potential resides in our communities, even i n
the worth of people who have fallen into unfortunate situations .
As a bright light in perilous times, Hope's Village has our unhesitating support . I hope that it wil l
have yours . Let's get this done, and then get on to the next set of issues that await us .
Thank you for your consid-ration .
Mark Lakema n
Design Principal at communitecture ,Co-Founder of The City Repair Project