FYI:
Thanks to all of you who were able to attend the city council meeting tonight. I believe we were able to show them that we are concerned about the propsed move to 12th & Keo and we want to see more of a balance of responsibility. The direct question was asked if they would consider a different location and what they came back with is a series of meetings to take place in the next 30 days to help make a decision about the location. It is extremely difficult to trust this attempt for inclusion as we were not included before and we do know that they really want to secure this location and move forward with it. I understand they have already begun to raise the funding for it.
I don't think any of us are against the fact that the shelter needs to expand it's walls, we just want the entire community to take some ownership for this population. We must continue to let council members know our concerns as well as to contact Polk County Board of Supervisors and let them know. The County will not be involved in making the decision about the location; however, they will be involved in providing the funding.
The struggle continues. If you have not signed a petition, we need you to do so. We also need you to submit letters to John Mauro - our Polk County Board of Supervisor representative. Send additional letters to the council members. We must not give up or let it go.
We must stand for our children and elderly in our neighborhood. We want business development and expansion for our area and the homeless shelter should be allowed to stay and expand where they are, or they should be able to give us a good reason why they can not. We have not yet heard that!!
I also want to share some additional information with you on how this whole scenario came into being. We will keep you informed as we move forward with our activities regarding this matter! The two paragraphs below is how the whole discussion started. I find it interesting that they want to hurry and resolve a problem that they never was seeking to solve until the shelter contacted the city for expansion. The way they go about handling matters that affect neighborhood residents is extremely disappointing.
On Wednesday, April 26th AMOS sponsored an informational meeting on the status of the Churches United Shelter at Central Presbyterian Church. With AMOS that evening was Ms. Jean Brown, Director of the shelter, several shelter board members, Mr. Rick Clark, Des Moines City Manager and Senator Matt McCoy.
As I understand it from what was explained to AMOS that evening, the Churches United Shelter had made a request to do some renovations to its existing shelter that required approval from the City. (I believe it was a building permit they had to apply for). The city either denied the request and/or used the request as an opportunity to inform the shelter they had other plans for the land the shelter was on. We were told that was how the shelter first learned of the city's intentions to move them. It was then from there that discussions began between the shelter, the city and others for a new site which has now ultimately led to the proposed site on Keo.
By Deb Carr- Assoc. President
Thanks to all of you who were able to attend the city council meeting tonight. I believe we were able to show them that we are concerned about the propsed move to 12th & Keo and we want to see more of a balance of responsibility. The direct question was asked if they would consider a different location and what they came back with is a series of meetings to take place in the next 30 days to help make a decision about the location. It is extremely difficult to trust this attempt for inclusion as we were not included before and we do know that they really want to secure this location and move forward with it. I understand they have already begun to raise the funding for it.
I don't think any of us are against the fact that the shelter needs to expand it's walls, we just want the entire community to take some ownership for this population. We must continue to let council members know our concerns as well as to contact Polk County Board of Supervisors and let them know. The County will not be involved in making the decision about the location; however, they will be involved in providing the funding.
The struggle continues. If you have not signed a petition, we need you to do so. We also need you to submit letters to John Mauro - our Polk County Board of Supervisor representative. Send additional letters to the council members. We must not give up or let it go.
We must stand for our children and elderly in our neighborhood. We want business development and expansion for our area and the homeless shelter should be allowed to stay and expand where they are, or they should be able to give us a good reason why they can not. We have not yet heard that!!
I also want to share some additional information with you on how this whole scenario came into being. We will keep you informed as we move forward with our activities regarding this matter! The two paragraphs below is how the whole discussion started. I find it interesting that they want to hurry and resolve a problem that they never was seeking to solve until the shelter contacted the city for expansion. The way they go about handling matters that affect neighborhood residents is extremely disappointing.
On Wednesday, April 26th AMOS sponsored an informational meeting on the status of the Churches United Shelter at Central Presbyterian Church. With AMOS that evening was Ms. Jean Brown, Director of the shelter, several shelter board members, Mr. Rick Clark, Des Moines City Manager and Senator Matt McCoy.
As I understand it from what was explained to AMOS that evening, the Churches United Shelter had made a request to do some renovations to its existing shelter that required approval from the City. (I believe it was a building permit they had to apply for). The city either denied the request and/or used the request as an opportunity to inform the shelter they had other plans for the land the shelter was on. We were told that was how the shelter first learned of the city's intentions to move them. It was then from there that discussions began between the shelter, the city and others for a new site which has now ultimately led to the proposed site on Keo.
By Deb Carr- Assoc. President
