The Midtown Neighbors Association alerts us this weekend to an upcoming city committee meeting about funding for a large Midtown homeless shelter. The Peachtree-Pine shelter sits on the southern end of Midtown and, in my own completely unfounded anecdotal opinion, might be considered one obstacle to foot traffic between Midtown and Downtown, because there’s often a good deal of spillover out of that shelter onto both Peachtree and Courtland. If the sheer numbers of unseemly individuals lurking on the surrounding sidewalks make even me on my bike feel uneasy whizzing by (and another local cyclist AubieTurtle referred to the Peachtree-Pine folks as “[tending] to be the most aggressive of the homeless population,” though I don’t know how you back up that kind of claim), I seriously doubt any fancy-camera-sporting tourists are going to challenge their phalanx on foot to explore northward from their downtown hotels. The owner of the pub a short block away, O’Terrell’s, worries about his customers in this Creative Loafing piece about the center.

The MNA is pretty clearly taking a stand against the Peachtree-Pine center, stating in its announcement,

Unfortunately, the Peachtree Pine Shelter has failed to address the serious issues confronting Atlanta’s homeless population. This opinion is shared by not only the City of Atlanta, but numerous neighborhood organizations.
…
It is generally recognized that the Union Mission and their work with the Atlanta Gateway Center is a positive example of providing compassionate but well-managed solutions in order to address homeless issues. It is important tax dollars are focused on these positive programs aimed at addressing all the issues Atlanta’s homeless and, consequently, our neighborhoods face.

That’s a fine opinion to have, but I’m naturally inclined to ask the question: “Says who?” If you’re going to advocate a major city policy position, I don’t want to hear vague crap like “It is generally recognized…” and “numerous other neighborhood organizations.” This is the internet: show me links. Point me to the numbers. I’m no fan of the Peachtree-Pine Center and its surroundings as a nervous Midtown resident, but before you go running them out of business in favor of another homeless center (that the city backs, but takes its own share of criticism from the left), tell me exactly why your solution does something that the old one isn’t doing.

Well, Google sure doesn’t help much. But more importantly, neither does the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless — the organization that runs the Peachtree-Pine shelter. Their website is nice and broken, so I can’t go read any testimonials or reports of their progress, see any metrics of their effectiveness. Nor did the Task Force director Anita Beaty (get a chance to) make much of a case for her shelter; her quotes focused on accusations that this was a political hit by the city for their criticism of city policies, but she neglected to answer any charges that her shelter isn’t up to snuff. I’m not inclined to think this was an editorial sleight, as Mara Shalhoup and the Loaf have had a pretty decent record reporting on such issues.

It’s the 21st century, Ms. Beaty; fix your website and make your case…or start packing.

Community Development/Human Resources Committee meeting - 12:30pm on July 31st.

City Council Meeting will likely vote on Peachtree Pine funding on August 20.



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