Editorial: Prejudice and policy

Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2003 | 8:48 a.m.

Sharon Segerblom, director of the city of Las Vegas Neighborhood Services department, draws a distinction between homeless people and "regular" people. This came to light Friday on the "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" TV program. Ralston was moderating a discussion about Las Vegas' designation by the National Coalition for the Homeless as the "meanest" city in America.

Segerblom was making the point that the city has an obligation to property owners, pedestrians and other citizens who object to the lingering presence of homeless people. She sought to differentiate between the homeless and people who call the city objecting to their presence when she said, "Regular people ... have to feel some safety." The comment was objectionable because it suggested the city views homeless individuals as in a class apart from -- and lower than -- everyone else, even though public policy should be free of such prejudice. During and after the show Segerblom was given the chance to modify her comment, but declined.

Even more objectionable were her remarks about the city's truly mean policy of cutting back on shelter space. She dismissed shelters as yesterday's solution. This could only be true, however, if the city were in a position to offer today's solution, which she emphatically stated is low-cost housing. Unfortunately, the city's tiny steps toward low-cost housing have come nowhere close to meeting the need. Meanwhile, thousands of homeless men, women and children are exposed to the elements and deprived of services that any good shelter would offer. Sounds pretty mean to us.