City OKs homeless shelter

Gordon cited a slew of opposition letters he and the council received as the basis for his against.

“I think we need to put the people’s concerns first who live there,” he said. “Most of the opposition is not the concern of helping the needy but where it’s located. I think we need to step back on this issue and see if there’s some other way we can do this. I am reflecting the concerns of the people I represent. I don’t represent the people who are bused into this community.”

Councilwoman Anja Reinke, speaking with the majority, said residents have no need to fear those staying at the shelter.

“I think we’ve addressed all your fears — honestly, they are unrealized,” she said. “We are doing this on a year-by-year basis. If it turns out there are some significant impacts to the community, I will have to reconsider my position, but I don’t have any objective data to tell me this will impact the neighborhood. Last year, it turned out to be really good thing.”

Under tight constraints to supply necessities in a timely matter last year, the community turned out in full force to support the shelter, which housed 8,655 people last year. Businesses donated funds; churches and synagogues provided hot meals and donated time and services; Burbank schools held shelter donation drives; and city officials held clothing, toiletry and food drives.

Like last year, the shelter will be run by Union Rescue Mission and the nonprofit group EIMAGO, which has received $383,407 to run the 2008-09 shelter in Burbank, according to a city report.

Though Burbank would not be held fiscally responsible for the shelter’s operation, there are monetary obligations for the city associated with running the site.

At the pick-up and drop-off point for shelter residents on Front Street across the street from the Downtown Metrolink Station will be one portable restroom facility that will cost Burbank about $2,500. The council approved a plan Tuesday to offset that cost by using a portion of anticipated revenues from a short-term lease of city-owner property on Front Street for Christmas tree sales.