Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Homeless summit seeks answers, understanding

By JON WILSON
Published February 21, 2007

City Council member Leslie Curran wants a veiled side of the homeless issue forcefully brought to light, she said Tuesday.

"What's being brought forth is that there's this homeless population out there that's being mistreated by the city, if you will. I think there's a side to this people haven't considered at all," Curran said.

"Some of those individuals don't want assistance," she said. "I'm talking about Tent City. And we have businesses in particular, and not just in the downtown area, that are really suffering because of activities by some who may be homeless, but may have other issues and don't want help," said Curran, whose framing shop is a few blocks from the collection of tents at First Avenue N and 18th Street.

That perspective, and others, will be aired during a crash course on the nature of the city's homeless issue.

A "homeless summit" is planned 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg's Student Activities Center, which is on the northeast corner of Second Street S and Sixth Avenue.

"It's very open. It's not exclusionary in any sense. Anybody can come," said Barbara Heck, co-chair of the event, and chair of the Council of Neighborhood Associations.

It's free to attend, but registration is required. To register, call (727) 893-7539 by 3 p.m. today.

Residents, business people, officials, activists and the homeless themselves will hear an overview, then break up into focus groups to come up with solutions.

"Hopefully, we will be able to glean from the participants two things: disseminating a picture that will better paint what homelessness is, and then how we can go about addressing it," said Goliath Davis, deputy mayor.

Curran and Downtown Partnership president Don Shea also are serving as event co-chairs.

Jamie Bennett, a City Council member who is chairman of the Homeless Leadership Network, said he's hopeful some good things will come from the summit, but cautioned that four hours isn't much time to tackle a complicated issue.

Bennett, who will speak to CONA about the issue at 7 tonight at the Sunshine Center, 335 Fifth St. N, said he is pushing for quicker action to find beds for people on the street.

He is encouraging people to "blast e-mails" to city and county officials.

"Get those beds up and running," Bennett said. "Do it right and do it ASAP."

[Last modified February 20, 2007, 21:08:52]