City Hall slams door on homeless shelter

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, May 3, 2001 | 10:44 a.m.

Six more weeks was all Kelli Arrieta needed.

A diploma from UNLV certifying her as a licensed paramedic was almost in her grasp, a chance for the single mother of three to start a career where she could earn enough money to give her children a home -- a home far from the MASH Village homeless shelter where she has been living for five months.

Arrieta, 34, recently picked up her graduation papers but now her dream to give her family a permanent home has been shattered, she says.

In a matter of minutes Wednesday, to an audience of homeless women clutching their toddlers, the Las Vegas City Council voted unanimously to terminate an agreement with MASH Village rather than give in to its demands. City Councilman Michael Mack abstained from the vote because he sits on the board for MASH Village.

The vote left the Rev. Joe Carroll, who heads the 6-year-old shelter, no choice: "We're gone," he said following the vote. "MASH Village will close in 30 days."

The decision shocked residents at the shelter and staff who were watching the meeting on TV, including Arrieta, who now says she won't be able to get her certification because she won't have stable housing or child care. Weighing more heavily on her mind was where she and her family will go after the center closes.

"What am I going to tell my daughter -- that she's going to have to go out on the street or to Shade Tree because the mayor took her housing away?" she said.

Emotions were running high at the shelter and at the council meeting, where a breakdown in communication is partly to blame for the decision to terminate the contract with the homeless shelter.

MASH Village representatives have made several demands from the city in recent weeks -- threatening to leave the city if it did not sell it the land that the shelter sits on. The shelter's five-year contract with the city expired in December. The contract said the shelter must make $5 million in capital improvements before the city would sell it the land. MASH Village has only made $2.5 million in capital improvements.

But it appeared that some headway was being made this week, when both parties sat down to negotiate a new contract. Even after Carroll this week shot down the city's proposal to sell the center the land as long as it invested money elsewhere in the Las Vegas Valley, Goodman said he had a cordial meeting Tuesday with a MASH Village board member Arnold Stalk.

Goodman said the two had a gentlemen's handshake to continue the discussions two more weeks so an agreement could be made.

Goodman had planned to ask for a two-week continuance on the agenda item, but Deputy City Manager Steven Houchens slipped a note to the mayor during Wednesday's council meeting that said Carroll wanted an answer right away or MASH Village was leaving.

"We need an answer today," Carroll told the council.

Goodman was furious that shelter representatives were going back on their word to give the city more time to come up with an agreement and quickly made the motion to kill the contract with the shelter.

"They lied to me," Goodman said. "I told them I needed two weeks to make this happen, we shook hands on it, and I won't tolerate a lie."

The anger spilled into the City Hall courtyard where Carroll publicly lashed out at Goodman for his decision to place the shelter's 105 residents, including 34 families and 66 children, in harm's way.

"To be treated like dirt by him ... he is no man of honor," Carroll said. "This is the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen."

The Crisis Intervention Center and the medical clinic at MASH Village will close Friday and shelter staff will spend the next three weeks trying to relocate residents.

At a press conference at the shelter following the announcement, Carroll said shelter staff was crying -- not over their jobs but over the families they know won't have a place to stay once MASH Village closes.

Tasha Gates had never stayed in a shelter before but found a haven at MASH two weeks ago with her toddler daughter. Her purse, containing the $600 she had saved for a deposit on an apartment, was stolen.

Gates, 28, said she feels safe inside the shelter gates during the day but doesn't venture out after dark when dozens of homeless people line the fence to spend the night.

The stay at the shelter has been hardest on 16-month-old Mya, who has had to forgo her usual afternoon nap. "All I have is that stroller, and it doesn't recline," Gates said, while Mya colored with crayons. "She's become very aggressive the last few days. I feel awful putting her through this."

Carroll said he could not agree to a two-week delay because he is already spending $20,000 to $30,000 per week to run the shelter. That money was coming from San Diego, where Father Joe's headquarters are located.

And while a board member may have told Goodman a two-week delay was acceptable, Carroll said he has the final say on all negotiations. He also said Goodman agreed in December to sell the land to Carroll, but then went back on his word.

A few hours after the vote, Goodman had settled down but was still angry at what had transpired. He said if Carroll wants to come back to the city to talk, the door is always open.

"We appreciate MASH. We appreciate the crisis center," Goodman said. "But they went back on their word today, and I'm not going to deal with people who don't tell the truth. If they want to come back and be reasonable, this city is always ready to hear from them."

Another option that will be explored in the coming weeks, Houchens said, is sending out a request for proposals to other nonprofit companies to come in and run the center.

Arrietta said politics shouldn't play into human lives.

"I would have been a licensed paramedic," she said. "It took a matter of two minutes for them to shut down our world. He (the mayor) took all this away from me." Sun reporter

Emily Richmond contributed to this report.

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