City of Burlingame to weigh in on shelter appeals

In late October the emotions ran high when Marc Klaas, father of Polly Klaas, showed up unexpectedly at a Planning Commission meeting to protest the plan to operate the Interfaith Hospitality Network shelters. Polly Klaas was murdered by Richard Allen Davis in the early 90s and Davis was linked back to a San Mateo shelter.

But despite concerns and the criticisms, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve three of the four shelter proposals. The fourth shelter proposal, which is slated to be at St. Catherine's, was approved by a four-to-one vote.

Two of the four proposals were later appealed, hours before the Monday, Nov. 5 City Council meeting deadline. An appeal was made by Marika Metcalfe of Burlingame for the St. Paul's site. Another appeal was made by Claire Haggerty, also of Burlingame, for the St. Catherine's location.

Commissioner Dave Luzuriaga was the dissenting voter. He decided against voting for the St. Catherine's site because there would be children on the premises. According to Luzuriaga, the children-factor made the difference between a yes or no vote for him.

According to Metcalfe, one of the parties who has filed an appeal to stop the operation of a shelter at the St. Paul's site, children have never been the issue.

"Our problem is with the administration of the program," Metcalfe said. "Our objections are three-fold. We object to the fact that the program is completely undocumented. The screening procedures are insufficient and there are no verifiable statistics on possible problems [that other IHN shelters may or may not have caused in residential neighborhoods]," Metcalfe said.

According to Metcalfe, IHN purports to have several shelters nationally and more than ten years of experience in shelter assistance, yet they have not come to the table with any statistics regarding how these other programs have operated "whether or not there's been increases in violence, traffic, theft, litter or anything," Metcalfe said.

Luzuriaga stated that he understands the concern of the neighbors, but that proper screening procedures are a crucial part of the shelter's approval. If the shelters are found to not be in compliance with the screening requirements, they will lose their license, according to Luzuriaga.

These assurances have in the past done little to satisfy residents who are concerned about the shelters. "We, as close neighbors of St. Paul's, are being imposed upon unnecessarily by the potential for added danger," Metcalfe said. "They say to us 'if something happens, the neighbors will complain and something will be done.' We, as neighbors, don't want to have to do that."

At previous meetings there was a lot of rhetoric going around about how important homeless shelters are and how needed they are in the Peninsula Area. There were, however, few assurances and few facts presented on what IHN would do to insure the safety of the neighborhood, according to Claire Haggerty.

Metcalfe echoed those sentiments. "Everyone was so busy with the political and religious posturing that our concerns were never answered," Metcalfe said. "What we want is accountability, assurances and statistics. And they gave us nothing."

Councilmembers are not allowed to comment on how they might vote tonight. But in an earlier interview with the Daily Journal Galligan did express that he had some concerns about the project.