Update from Catholic Charities regarding Thursday’s 7pm Meeting

Updates from Jennielynn Holmes of Catholic Charities.

(More discussion and info at Thursday’s meeting.)

• In terms of the buildings on 7th street, Catholic Charities has hired a project manager to help with the structures on the Block. We know this is an issue and we are investing resources in it, and a lot of this is attributed to what we need to do for services as well as the need to address the concerns that have been brought forward by neighbors. This project manager will be at the meeting on Thursday to address these specific questions, since that is his area of expertise.
• I have contacted SRPD, and through a much stronger working relationship that has developed over the year they have agreed to be at the Neighborhood meeting tomorrow night to address neighborhood concerns.
• In terms of Safe Parking and the Press Demo, that was a misrepresentation, and was not directly what was said. The correct version is that Safe Parking intakes go through HSC, but the actual parking is not all centralized at HSC. The parking is going to be on scattered sites throughout Sonoma County. Right now we have three sites. That is not a physical option for us to have 45 additional vehicles on the Block on a permanent basis. I do believe this will be coming up at the meeting from other neighbors, so we do have our partners in Safe Parking coming to address these concerns just in case.
• I have also contacted a group of neighbors on the other side of the freeway who have been working with Redwood Gospel Mission and St. Vincent DePaul, and I think this is a bigger issue across the entire downtown community, and it only makes sense we start addressing it together rather than silos. Their group facilitator said she couldn’t be there this Thursday but would come to future meetings. They have taken a really great approach and I think we could look to them for continued discussions with how to move forward. I look forward to hearing other’s thoughts on whether this could be beneficial.

Please attend Thursday’s meeting for more information and/or to provide input.
Address: Family Support Center – 465 A. Street
Date: Thursday, May 22
Time: 7:00pm-8:00pm