Pasadena’s Turn To Deny Homeless “Dumping”

Yesterday’s Pasadena Star News article is titled, “Issue’s Clear: The Homeless Need Help.” Here's the article.

Basically the law enforcement officials in Pasadena say that they would not send their homeless people to downtown Los Angeles because they have their own homeless programs to send people to.

The article continues:

“Pasadena has a number of resources for the homeless. El Monte partners with a nonprofit agency for help. It's not likely officers in these departments would take a trip downtown if they had other choices, and they do. But there it is, Smith's allegation.

“Pasadena police spokeswoman Janet Pope said officers sometimes transport homeless people to one of three agencies in Los Angeles but that it is done in partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Health.

“Pope noted that the agencies are in close proximity to Skid Row, the informal name of an area that's home to rundown, low-rent hotels and a large number of homeless surviving in doorways and Dumpsters. A population indeed "on the skids."

“Perhaps that is what Smith observed, Pope offered.”

The article goes on to talk about the need for a regional homeless shelter and resource center in the San Gabriel Valley that the San Gabriel Valley Coalition of Governments should support. Then cities in the San Gabriel Valley would have appropriate options to send people who are homeless.

The article pinpoints an important theme:

“But this whole brouhaha over Sheriff’s Department deputies taking a homeless, mentally ill man to a faith-based shelter in Los Angeles again underscores the need for more homeless shelters throughout the county.”