Reply to Mary Cheh's new suggested locations for the homeless shelter

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[quote=Anonymous]12:09 again.  If Mayor Bowser wants support from people like me on this issue, she'll go back to the drawing board.  Instead of starting with a list of secretly chosen sites and vague comments about some "good neighbor" policy, she'll give equal voice to the communities she's roping into this plan.  Here are a few things I'd like to see -

1. An open discussion about siting, conducted by an independent broker, and not by Bowser and her political cronies in a back room.

2. A discussion about sites that make sense, which starts with a logical plan for what the city is trying to accomplish.  The current plan seems driven more by politics and less by a good-faith desire to help the homeless community.

3. A discussion that includes the neighborhoods under consideration for the sites, because the shelters impact the people in those neighborhoods, and it's unfair not to give them a voice in the process.

4. Proof of some long-term plan to reduce homelessness.  Are these shelters just a black hole into which we're going to throw city money for the next 20 years?  Or are they a stepping stone on the path to real progress?  I've seen no indication of any long-term plan that these fit into.  To me, it looks like these shelters are just a knee-jerk reaction to Relisha Rudd and the many other problems at DC General; Bowser seems to believe that if she just breaks up DC General and redistributes those problems around the District, people will ignore them for another decade.  Well, I don't want those problems simply shuffled around.  I want to see that there's some plan to reduce them.

5. A "good neighbor" plan that makes the surrounding communities feel safe.  Most evidence I've seen indicates that homeless shelters are linked to a variety of social problems in the surrounding community.  Some studies suggest the shelters don't cause the problems, but the social problems are attracted to the shelters.  The exact mechanism doesn't interest me.  I just think there needs to be a plan in place to ensure the shelters don't lead to problems in the surrounding community.  Shelters have codes of conduct, so let's see those codes of conduct extended to the surrounding community.  If a shelter resident feels the need to steal, sell drugs, or carry a gun in the neighborhood, then the shelter resident can find another living situation that's not costing DC $5,000/month.  How hard it that?  If she wants community support, Bowser should START with the good neighbor plan, and not mention that it's something she will think about later.

6. Some proof of good faith.  I notice that the Ward 4 shelter is way on the eastern edge of Ward 4, so that it's actual impact on Mayor Bowser's constituents is pretty small.  Let's see her consider a site at Walter Reed, so it's square in the middle of Ward 4, and closer to her own home.  Maybe that site will make sense, or maybe it won't, but even considering it will give me some confidence she's looking at these issues fairly and not just gaming the system to shield her constituents.[/quote]

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