WPCNR THE HOMELESS NEWS. By John F. Bailey. November 28, 2007: Before a packed gathering of 26 homeless advocates, clergy, and concerned neighbors from North Broadway, Reverend Carter Via of the Presbyterian Church asked a reluctant and skeptical Common Council directly for an answer as to what he should tell the County Executive when asked if the Council was supportive of selected churches in downtown White Plains housing undomiciled persons not enrolled in the county Department of Social Services homeless program.

Reverend Carter Via, with the "Discussion" on the homeless about to break up, with no movement and the Council refusing to render a decision on the warming shelter in White Plains, and only agreeing to another meeting, challenged the council for a decision. He got one.

The council, put on the spot, managed a 4-2-1 tentative position in favor of a church run shelter with conditions.

The Council, every one of whom had expressed grave concerns about security, threats to neighborhoods, and legality, but admired the group of White Plains Clergy for taking the initiative, then in an unofficial consensus indicated they could support it by a 4-2-1 vote.

Benjamin Boykin, Rita Malmud (who was the strongest supporter), Mr. Roach and Mr. Power were for. The Mayor was neutral. Mr. Hockley was against it unless a poll of the neighborhood was taken to gain the neighborhood consent in which the designated church was located. Mr. Bernstein said police presence and neighborhood buying in to the idea was essential.

 The four councilpersons expressing positive attitudes, said they could tentatively support a church located warming shelter within the central downtown area, if it were temporary (the proposal is for a four month run rotated among 2 to 4 churches), if it were furnished with police presence, and well supervised by Grace Church Community Services, and complied with zoning and codes.

Via told WPCNR after the vote that was not a vote (as the Mayor said there would be no votes taken at the top of the meeting), he (Via) would seek a meeting with County Executive Andrew Spano tomorrow to confirm the commitment and the conditions under which the White Plains Common Council would seek approval. Asked by WPCNR when the shelter could become operational Paul Anderson Winchell of Grace Church Community Services said about a week or so.

However, there will be another meeting with the clergy and the council to report back on the Reverend Via's meeting with the County Executive. Via promised Councilman Glen Hockley he would seek out a definitive answer as to whether the bus depot could be used as a shelter (located behind the train station), or possible other locations Hockley had suggested.  Rabbi Lester Bronstein who said that the churches had a right to run the shelters without city approval, but would rather have the city behind the issue.  Mr. Hockley chided Via and Bronstein for not getting county answers to his suggestions the shelter be housed at the abandoned Greyhound bus terminal, on executive park parking lots in tents.

Rabbi Lester Bronstein said the clergy and churches willing to host the Warming Shelter did not want to do it without city support, but were prepared to go it alone, since they were legally able to do so. The Council and the Mayor were going to check into that issue.

Via also said he would attempt to get an answer from the county as to why the airport drop in shelter was closed by the County in the first place.

Via said the leaders of four churches, two in the downtown, had secured church hierarchy approvals, but they also had to take a sense of the congregations as to whether the congregations wanted the churches to support a homeless drop in.

Paul Anderson Winchell  of Grace Church Community Services, eased most council fears by explaining the potential clients served would gather at Open Arms, and be bused to the shelter whatever church it was located at, at 10 PM then picked up and bused back to Open Arms at 6 AM for breakfast. He also said that Project Trust would attempt to work with the drop in clients to get them into the county system.

He confirmed when asked that a major reason for drop-in users refusing county services was the requirement that most of their social security checks had to be turned over to the county. He also said many were mentally ill and unable to function, which meant a lot of them got sanctioned out of the system after having entered it, repeating the process many times. He said the proportion of drop -ins who were sexual offenders and felons was greatly exaggerated.

Anderson-Winchell said it was hard to tell how many homeless there were sleeping over night in the streets and alleyways of White Plains. The Mayor said there appeared to be about 11, based on White Plains Police experiences, riding about with Project Trust personnel who attempt to find homeless persons each night and talk them in to the DSS services. Police house homeless they pick up at Police Headquarters, the Mayor said.

It appears that the homeless shelter (with cots) would not be up and running for at least two weeks -- and possibly three -- deep into December. Tonight's temperature at 10:30 P.M. is 40 degrees.

The Crowd, including Television News Coverage from RNN and News 12 overflowed the Mayor's Conference Room and the "Discussion" was held in the Common Council Chambers.