Thanks to Councilman Garcetti's Office for their quick reply to our post about the article in the Beechwood Voice yesterday. Good to know that someone in City Hall is reading what we say, unless it's Jack Weiss, then we're kind of scared. The Council Office gave us their standard letter to all letter writers in support of the Permanent Supportive Housing project at Hollywood and Gower.
"In 2004, a group of Hollywood-based religious leaders known as LA Voice (not the blog -ed.), along with more than 500 residents of Hollywood, pledged to find and support permanent housing for homeless men, women, and children in Hollywood. Since that time, LA Voice (still not the blog -ed.) has been joined by the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and the Corporation for Supportive Housing to make such a project a reality. Through an open and public process, the CRA and our office is working not only to provide much-needed housing in the area, but to provide critical services to the supportive housing apartment building's residents as well. This proposed apartment building would serve as a new, permanent home for families and/or individuals. It is our hope that this building would actually work to address the challenges you mentioned in your correspondence. This project will help to alleviate the homeless problem in Hollywood by reducing the number of homeless individuals sleeping and loitering on our streets. For this reason, we believe that the question before us is not whether to do this project , but how to do the project right. Your voice will be an important part of shaping this project into a haven that all of us in Hollywood can be proud of. We strongly encourage area residents to be involved in the ongoing public process that will work to shape this facility. Thank you again for taking the time to write and for sharing your views on this issue. We will inform you and include you when the CRA forms a working Committee. If you have any further questions, or would like more information on upcoming public hearings, please contact John McCoy at the Community Redevelopment Agency at (213) 977-1766 or e-mail him at jmccoy@cra.lacity.org or you may contact our office at (323) 957-4500. Sincerely, Baydsar Thomasian, Hollywood Deputy." We also were happy to receive emails from a few of you who plan to write letters of outrage to the Beechwood Voice. If we can cause community outrage at least once a week, then we've done our job.
· Hollywood Cries Foul Over New Homeless Housing [Curbed LA]