|
There
was an article recently in the Dem/Gaz by Kristin Netterstrom regarding the
successful low bid by River City Ministries (RCM) to temporarily house the
homeless day service center for the entire County. The cities and county have contributed a
total of $300,000 per year for operation of this day service center as part of
the city's contribution to reduce homelessness and address the issues of the
homeless. Click on the Read More button
below for the full article in the Dem/Gaz about the shelter
The
successful winning bid for the homeless service center was River City
Ministries (RCM) at 1021 East Washington Street. RCM is
located approximately 5 blocks east of the Enclave and about four blocks east
of I-30. This contract is a temporary
one until Little
Rock figures out
where it wants to build a permanent homeless service center which could take
several years given the controversy associated with this issue. This contract will allow RCM to serve an
additional 125 people over the 100 they now serve everyday.
My
concern is not with RCM or the services they will provide, which are badly needed. Homeless
service centers should be sited in close coordination with the communities in
which they are located making sure there are adequate services and facilities
to address the needs of the homeless.
The following photograph shows the front of the RCM
facility.
And this is the rear of the facility
As you can tell the only recreational
facilities available is one basketball hoop in the parking lot, there are no
outside benches, no waiting areas, no trash cans, no places for people to gather to wait for the facility to open each day. Frankly, the City of NLR puts more care and planning in siting daycare centers affecting as few as 10 children.
At daycare centers playgrounds are required, traffic must be addressed as well as the pedestrian
and safety to the neighborhood and to the patrons. The RCM facility appears to address none of
those issues in their low bid. The items
listed in the newspaper article addresses additions and changes to the inside
of the structure.
Assuming
many of the homeless live in LR as opposed to NLR. it is likely the new
Junction Pedestrian bridge and the Main Street bridge will become major thoroughfares for homeless
pedestrians working their way everyday to the homeless day service center at
RCM on East
Washington Street. I doubt the Enclave, Alltel
Arena or the NLR Chamber of Commerce will be thrilled with the idea of their
street becoming a pedestrian thoroughfare for up to 225 homeless people
everyday using the day services at RCM.
The siting of shelters and homeless service centers or the major
expansion of shelters should just not be done on a low bid basis. They should be done in close, careful
cooperation with the community and with requirements to make sure the facility
is addressing the needs of those whom they serve. For all of these reasons a permanent solution
to the day shelter should be obtained as soon as possible, however, this is in the hands of LR city government, not NLR. It looks like until LR is able to address
these issues for permanent shelter, NLR in particular East Washington will become a thoroughfare for the homeless.
Good
news, at City Council Monday night, the City determined this was a change in
use for the RCM property and will require a Conditional Use Permit. This will require hearing and review by the
NLR Planning Commission and City Council.
Hopefully the issues raised here and other impacts will be addresses
before a permit is issued.
 Comments (9)
|
NLR is will be ending leaf vaccuum service on March 3. Regular leaf vacuum service is over but until March 3rd you can get special service by calling the NLR Sanitation Dept. at 371-8345 between 9 & 4. Just make sure you you rake the leaves to the area between the sidewalk and curb.
And the winner of the 200th registered user of Argenta News is.........bushbaby. Congratulations. Your free subscription to the Argenta News can be found here every day. Your balloons are pictured here.
Even though I did travel with the Ringling Brothers circus on and off for several weeks over a two year span in the early 90's, I guess I never did pick up on the carney fortune teller thing. Fox16 filmed a news piece in Argenta on Tuesday afternoon. Apparently it got bumped due the fight and shooting in Boyle Park. So much for my predictions. 
