THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 7, 1996 TAG: 9602070407
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
The City Council agreed Tuesday to accept an $800,000 federal grant to build a homeless shelter but not before promising the residents of Nottingham South the shelter would not be in their neighborhood.
Originally the council was scheduled to vote only on whether to accept the money. It was to have decided later where a shelter would rise.
But pressure from the London Bridge Road community wedged between Oceana Industrial Park and Oceana Naval Air Station forced Councilman W.W. ``Bill'' Harrison to propose that the city accept the money on condition that Nottingham South be excluded as a potential site.
That idea set off a debate about potential sites and the city's ultimate financial responsibility and dredged up an attitude that homeless advocates have heard for years: Not in my back yard.
After Harrison's proposal, an attorney retained by the community stepped forward to argue Nottingham South bore no connection to the homeless question because the neighborhood itself has few, if any, homeless people.
Also, he said that children like to play in the wooded areas around the community - woods that could attract homeless men and women when they leave the shelter during the day.
Instead, attorney R.J. Nutter suggested that another proposed site - on 18th Street at the Oceanfront near the new Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue Building - made more sense because it was closer to where most homeless people live.
``We're not opposed to the homeless or the city helping the homeless,'' he said.
Councilwoman Barbara M. Henley said, ``Everyone has a great deal of compassion for the homeless, but this will be difficult. We have to be wise enough not to create problems for other people who are doing the best they can to make a living.''
The debate got so sidetracked that Councilman Linwood O. Branch III, who was instrumental in getting the grant, said, ``I thought we were just going to vote on an appropriations ordinance. I think we're getting ahead of the curve here. This is not something we're going to slip through or do under the table. This is one step in a long journey.''
The vote was 10-0, with Councilwoman Nancy K. Parker absent. Afterward, one homeless advocate was upset at how Harrison framed the debate.
Teresa Stanley, the social minister of St. Nicholas Catholic Church and a longtime homeless advocate, said it was ``dishonest of Harrison to raise the NIMBY issue.''
For the past nine years, a coalition of churches and activists working with the Volunteers of America have worked to feed and house the homeless, with churches taking turns to house those in need.
A separate program run by the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center also receives help from churches.
A task force appointed by the city spent several months last year developing a proposal for how the grant money should be spent. The group recommended establishing a permanent facility. by CNB