Suburbs Respond To Prisoner Release Program: No Way!

On Tuesday, state and local officials proposed that inmates released from the downtown Twin Towers Correctional Facility (county jail) should be sent to the community from which they were arrested.

In other words, if you were arrested in Long Beach for public intoxication, when you are released, you should be sent back to Long Beach. Too many people are released in downtown Los Angeles, and then end up homeless on Skid Row.

Well, the local suburbs have responded… and quickly… Here are some of their responses:

Calabasas Mayor: "This is a plan for balkanization of the region, with every city trying to do the same thing without any expertise and the advantage of a concentration of resources," he said. "We would never fight a common war city by city. But that is what this plan would have us do."

West Covina Councilmember: "They shouldn't go back to where they were arrested unless they live there."

Montebello Mayor: "I understand not leaving a person in downtown, where there's already a serious problem. But then again, if you are going to simply transport the problem to another community, I am not sure that would be the kind of solution folks in the local cities would approve of."

Pasadena Mayor: "Returning people from downtown seems equitable, but it does require that resources are available to tackle the issue these people have. Right now, there is a concentration of resources downtown. A redistribution of resources is not going to be easy to achieve."

A regional approach is obviously the solution—spread out the services and housing for homeless throughout the County. Especially when homelessness occurs all over. The difficulty is NIMBYism (Not In My Backyard!).

What bedroom community in L.A. County is going to welcome with open arms, a 100-bed homeless shelter. Overcome this reluctance, and a regional approach is the proper solution…