Want to use a train? In L.A. Union Station is just outside of skid row. It is in a location next to Olvera Street, a tourist location to see some of our Hispanic heritage. Now local government and the transportation czars want to turn the neighborhood into a support system for the homeless. Expect the illegal aliens to take this over as they have the airport in Chicago and the entire of Manhattan. Literally, the crime in this region will keep tourists from visiting, killing off small Hispanic businesses.
“LA Metro is working on a plan with other county agencies to build a permanent homeless services center on the ground floor of their headquarters building, directly adjacent to Union Station.
Labeled as a “homeless navigation hub,” it would be located in a vacant “welcome center” at 1 Gateway Plaza, the 26-floor office building used by Metro employees. The homeless center, which would not serve as a shelter or include any beds or dwellings, would be located just off the curb from the Patsaouras Bus Plaza and just steps away from the eastern entrance to Union Station in northeast Los Angeles.
If you wanted to kill off train service in L.A., this is a great idea. Government is working overtime to kill off L.A.—and they are doing a great job of it.
LA Metro considers adding homeless navigation hub next to Union Station
LA County is also looking at a side project to use an empty bail bonds building across the street as a shelter with beds
By STEVE SCAUZILLO,| Daily News, 10/6/23 https://www.dailynews.com/2023/10/06/metro-pursuing-a-homeless-navigation-hub-at-downtown-headquarters-next-to-union-station/
LA Metro is working on a plan with other county agencies to build a permanent homeless services center on the ground floor of their headquarters building, directly adjacent to Union Station.
Labeled as a “homeless navigation hub,” it would be located in a vacant “welcome center” at 1 Gateway Plaza, the 26-floor office building used by Metro employees. The homeless center, which would not serve as a shelter or include any beds or dwellings, would be located just off the curb from the Patsaouras Bus Plaza and just steps away from the eastern entrance to Union Station in northeast Los Angeles.
If built, it would be the first homeless service center to serve this busy transportation station, which serves several Metro rail lines, Metrolink, Amtrak, Metro buses, long-distance bus companies, the LAX-Fly Away shuttle as well as taxis and ride-hailing services.
Under the tentative plan, Metro would re-design the existing Welcome Center, which once provided customer services, that has been left vacant for several years into a homeless navigation center, Metro reported.
The navigation hub could include a homeless service provider, administrative case management personnel and housing navigation management, Metro reported.
“It’s where folks experiencing homelessness on Metro’s system could get access to a service provider that would link them to things they are in need of,” said Craig Joyce, deputy executive officer for homeless initiatives in an interview on Sept. 29.
The proposed homeless services center would not be a shelter. “There would not be beds. There’s no space for that,” Joyce added.
Union Station has the highest number of unhoused individuals among stations in the vast LA Metro system, said Los Angeles County Supervisor and LA Metro board member Hilda Solis.
The Metro system is unintentionally providing shelter for about 800 unhoused people every day, according to a Metro count from 2022. A new count was done last month but those numbers have not yet been released, Joyce said.
While still in the preliminary stage, Metro board members discussed the idea at the Executive Committee Management meeting last month as part of a homeless operations update. Homeless riders on the system have cited homeless people on trains, buses and platforms in Metro surveys as a reason why people avoid taking Metro light-rails, subways and buses.
However, during the meeting, Solis said having the navigation hub at this location “could create problems.”
In answers to emailed questions on Wednesday, Oct. 4, she didn’t say if she was in favor or against the proposal. She pointed out the high number of homeless at Union Station on any average night needed addressing.
“I am supportive of Metro partnering and collaborating with county, local, and philanthropic partners to develop and deliver innovative solutions where they are most needed to address the crises affecting customer experience on transit,” she wrote in her response.
Solis had said at the committee meeting that L.A. County was also looking at one or several nearby buildings where a small shelter could be built that could go hand-in-hand with the navigation center. “We are having conversations across the street at a bail bonds building,” she said. “They will have the possibility of some beds there.””
The exact location of a building was not available. But Solis said L.A. County was investigating a possible building for a shelter with beds across the street from the proposed navigation hub at the corner of Vignes Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue.”
Joyce said he was not involved in that part of the plan, but confirmed “that is something the county is working on.”
As to the homeless navigation hub, Joyce has submitted a blueprint of the former Welcome Center to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and has asked the agency to draft a proposal that would show what kinds of services could be put there and what it would look like, he said.
LAHSA confirmed it is meeting with Metro about creating a housing navigation center at the location next to Union Station. Joyce also said he’s working with Cheri Todoroff, executive director of Los Angeles County’s Homeless Initiative.
Joyce said the navigation center would be a good fit with the nonprofit agencies already working under contract with Metro to address how to move the unhoused off the system, including Union Station. Teams from Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) operate from 3 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on the A, B, D and E train lines. Christ Centered Ministries (CCM) puts teams on the B, D and E lines from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., he said.
Metro recently, Metro gained access to 25 interim housing beds and is looking for more to be available to them. Since August, Metro has enrolled 128 people in homeless services and connected 34 to interim housing, he said.
The agency is looking at Metro-owned property for possible RV parking or interim shelters, he said. Where there are homeless encampments on Metro property, the agency posts signs saying they have 14 days to vacate the premises, he explained.
The city of Whittier built a homeless navigation center and it has reduced homelessness in the city, said City Council member and Metro board member Fernando Dutra.
A vote on the Metro navigation hub has not yet been scheduled.
As if substance-abuse homeless and mentally-ill people can be navigated anywhere? They need to be institutionalized, against their personal will, if necessary, because they cannot make rational decisions or secure the ongoing care they need to try and improve. They cannot live alone or be trusted to do virtually anything to conduct their personal lives.