Give Them a Chance

Only one hurdle remains now that the Los Angeles City Council has unanimously approved a zoning change to clear the way for an innovative housing and job program for the mentally ill homeless on Skid Row. The Central City East Assn., representing area businesses, could now sue the city to overturn the council’s decision. But it would do better to join in this valuable project than to continue fighting it.

The reality on Skid Row is grim for those who cannot find jobs and shelter because of some form of mental incapacity. One of the bright lights for such people is the Los Angeles Men’s Place on San Julian Street, where men now can find people with whom to talk, a warm meal, a hot shower, a daytime place to rest that is off the streets.

But for all its good work, LAMP--as it is known --does not have space in which to house people until they are ready to move to permanent quarters or in which to open the small businesses where the mentally ill could earn money while they trained for jobs. The proposed center on San Pedro Street would contain a convenience store, a commercial laundry and a coin-operated laundry to provide some of those jobs.

LAMP has raised about $850,000 to rehabilitate the building in one of the first projects on which the city, county and state have cooperated financially. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health has also agreed to contribute $500,000 over two years, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation $560,000 over four years, to operate the program.

So the problem is local opposition, not money. The business group, representing mainly area wholesalers and food processors, opposed changing the area’s zoning designation from light industry to residential. The business group worried that the center would draw more homeless people to the area. But the homeless are already there; this project would help get some of them off the streets and perhaps into jobs that have meaning to themselves as well as to society.

In September the Los Angeles Board of Zoning Appeals decided to grant a four-year variance. Given LAMP’s record, it should have a well-established program at the end of that time.

Unless the business people sue. Legal maneuvering in which the city would try to prove thatit acted within its mandate could take months, perhaps even years. We think that the city carefully balanced the property owners’ concerns with the need to care for the mentally ill and found a responsible, reasonable solution. It is time for the business people to adopt the same approach--one of cooperation for the common good.