Where I Stand— Mike O’Callaghan: City hassles homeless

Thursday, June 28, 2001 | 8:34 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.

SO TOMORROW, FRIDAY, is the big day when the city of Las Vegas can celebrate running homeless people from what little comfort they have found north of the downtown area. This time it is the Neighborhood Services Department that has pulled the trigger on people who can't defend themselves.

During the past five years the city of Las Vegas has misused law enforcement people to run off the homeless from one site to another. Even people who are willing to feed homeless men, women and children have been pushed from where their poor clients come to eat.

When considering all of the millions of dollars spent on social projects, hasn't somebody taken the time to see how other cities have handled the homeless problems? There's no simple solution but the Las Vegas solution of running them off isn't a solution at all. It's a less than human approach to a problem that has spread from one jurisdiction to another in most warm climate areas.

Why haven't the mayors and council members during the past decade looked outside of their own staffs to seek other responses to the gathering of homeless people? For example they could learn much from the experiences of the Metropolitan Ministries of Tampa, Fla. That group even developed a small sleeping park for the homeless. It was called Morgan's Park and had the following rules:

* Gates open 4:30 a.m.-11:00 p.m. to provide outdoor sleeping in a safe environment.

* Park is evacuated and cleaned every morning at 7:00 a.m.

* Refuge from inclement weather.

* No drugs, alcohol or weapons allowed in park.

* Monitored by staff and 24-hour security.

Did it work as planned? No. It was too small to handle the demand and they had problems between some of the homeless in the park and those who couldn't enter it because of too little space. It was about 100 x 40 feet and had to be limited to 80 people. Today the park is only used for overflow but a staff is available for counseling.

The Metropolitan Ministries have also recognized the problems large gatherings of homeless people have caused for public relations. Today the organization has 18 places where the homeless and hungry can be served. Several religious and social groups form the Metropolitan Ministries. Baptists, Methodists, Catholics and university groups are but a few contributing members.

Look back over past trips city officials have used to learn how to improve services and prevent problems. It's wise to learn from the successes and failures of other people.

Personally, I'm impressed by the people of the Tampa Metropolitan Ministries. They are friendly and more than willing to share their experiences with people willing to listen.

We already know the past and present approach of simply tearing down cardboard shacks and tents and running people into the desert isn't an answer. There is no simple solution to any complex social problem but there are some people in Tampa who can teach us how to do better than we have been doing.