Posted on 05/23/2005 5:54:59 AM PDT by Fido969
Monday, May 23, 2005
Unruly new neighbors
By KELLEY BOUCHARD, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend
Staff photo by Gordon Chibroski
Ivana Iankoulov strolls with her 5-month-old grandson, Christian, near her Frederic Street home. She says she had to wait in her car for 15 minutes one night because several Logan Place residents were on her front steps and she was afraid to enter her home.
Staff photo by Gordon Chibroski
Mark Swann, director of Preble Street, the agency that oversees Logan Place in Portland, says residents' criminal records are checked before they are allowed to move in to the new $4.3 million complex for the chronically homeless.
Staff photo by Gordon Chibroski
Frederic Street resident Matthew Fix, left, says he is in favor of housing the homeless, "but I don't like the idea of drunks walking up and down my street, all hours of the day and night."
Staff photo by Gordon Chibroski
Bruce "Gator" Wallace, right, lives at Logan Place and is troubled that a few unruly residents have brought negative attention to what he considers a godsend.
It's a homeowner's nightmare. But it's only one side of the story.
A 30-unit efficiency-apartment building for chronically homeless people opens at the end of a dead-end residential street. Visibly intoxicated men and women wander back and forth, carrying bottles of beer or wine, congregating on neighbors' front steps, talking loudly into the night, vomiting on shrubbery, urinating on fences.
That's how it was soon after Logan Place opened March 26 on Frederic Street, off Congress Street, near Interstate 295. The $4.3 million complex built by Avesta Housing is the first subsidized housing project of its kind in Maine.
It reflects a national trend away from shelter housing that has some Frederic Street residents and others torn between their concern for the homeless and their desire for a safe neighborhood.
"I have feelings both ways, " said Matthew Fix, 37, a financial services manager and father of three who lives on Frederic Street. "I support the idea of providing homes for the homeless, but I don't like the idea of drunks walking up and down my street, all hours of the day and night. I don't need my 9-year-old daughter seeing some guy peeing on a fence. I don't want to let my kids play out here unattended."
For Bruce "Gator" Wallace, a Portland native, Logan Place is just about his last chance.
Wallace spent most of the last 14 years wandering the streets of Portland, looking for his next drink and a warm place to lay his battered body down.
Most nights, the former masonry worker found himself at the city's Oxford Street Shelter on a 3-inch-thick floor mat, side by side with more than 100 other homeless people. He blames no one but himself, relentlessly. He knew he was in trouble the first time he took a drink, back when he was 16 years old.
It tasted good. It always tasted good.
Until about 10 years ago, when the years of alcohol abuse, HIV and a stroke started to cripple him. At 54, he struggles to walk with a cane, and struggles even harder to stay sober. He came to Logan Place clean and stayed that way until a recent three-day bender.
Now, he's back on track. He counts each day of sobriety as if his life depends on it. So does living at Logan Place.
It's his first real home since his wife divorced him in 1991. He loves having his own kitchen and bathroom. He relishes the comfort of his twin-size bed and the wide, plush easy chair that was donated by a local furniture store.
He had his first physical therapy appointment last week - something doctors have recommended for 20 years but wasn't a priority when Wallace was on the street.
It troubles him that a few unruly residents have drawn negative attention to Logan Place. For him, it's his last thread to success, thin and frayed as it may be.
"My drinking days are over," said Wallace, his speech slurred from the stroke and gruff from years of smoking cigarettes. "Without this place, I'm out on the street. And if you're out on the street, sooner or later you're going to drink . . . I gotta stay around people who are sober-minded."
Things have calmed down since Logan Place first opened. There were 25 calls for police or emergency service in April, but few since staff from Preble Street, the agency that runs Logan Place, tightened several resident and visitor policies.
Residents continue to be screened before moving in, excluding anyone convicted of serious drug violations or violent crimes. "We don't want people here who have rape or drug convictions," said Mark Swann, director of Preble Street.
Residents are required to follow typical tenants' rules, respecting others' privacy and property. Preble Street has two or more specially trained social workers on duty around the clock and offers a variety of social programs in the first-floor community room.
RESIDENTS' VISITORS SCREENED
Logan Place doesn't require residents to be sober or prohibit drinking on the premises, but all visitors are now screened and prohibited from entering with or under the influence of alcohol. Some visitors have been banned altogether, a policy encouraged by some residents who found they had trouble turning away homeless friends.
"They've asked us to help us keep people out," said Jon Bradley, assistant director of Preble Street. "It's too hard for them to say no and they really want this to work."
When Police Chief Michael Chitwood spoke to the City Council's public safety committee recently, he admitted a change of heart about Logan Place. He noted that several chronic petty offenders hadn't been in contact with police since they moved to Frederic Street.
"I hope by working with them, (Logan Place) will be a success," Chitwood said. "We'll see as time goes on."
Some problems persist, as they likely will, because most Logan Place residents have substance abuse problems, mental health issues or both.
One afternoon last week, a man wandered up and down Frederic Street carrying a clear plastic water bottle filled with beer, resting occasionally in an easy chair that was on the sidewalk for the spring large-item trash collection. A woman, guided by a friend, staggered down the street, a bottle of cheap wine tucked in her coat pocket.
On Thursday, the staff at Logan Place evicted a resident, the first since it opened. The man left agreeably, Bradley said, because he knows he isn't ready for the minimal constraints of living there. Bradley hopes the man is able to return sometime in the future.
"It's really hard to evict anyone because we know they're just going back on the street," Bradley said. "But if they cannot follow the rules, they will be evicted."
One day a neighbor called Logan Place and left a message, angry and distraught about behavior she saw outside her home and fearful for her children's safety. Bradley gathered some of the building's worst offenders and played the tape for them. They were taken aback after hearing someone's reaction to their presence in the neighborhood.
"They all got it," Bradley said. "It was one of the things that really helped curb how they behave when they're outside."
If the residents of Logan Place can stick it out, statistics show, their chances of having a better life will improve. And their cost to the community will drop, too. According to one study, each homeless person costs taxpayers more than $40,000 a year in emergency housing, health care and other services.
SUPPORTIVE HOUSING AN INVESTMENT
In contrast, homeless people who move into supportive housing, such as Logan Place, have 50 percent fewer hospital visits, 80 percent fewer detox visits and greater use of preventive health care. They also have a better chance of getting sober, staying sober, finding a job and keeping it, according to Carol Wilkins, spokeswoman for the Corporation for Supportive Housing.
"It's a much better investment to use those dollars to put people in permanent housing where they can get those services, become good neighbors, find employment and become part of the community," Wilkins said.
Some residents have already joined the fledgling Libbytown Neighborhood Association. Others are planning a backyard garden of flowers, vegetables and herbs.
Portland officials know it won't be easy. As much as they want Logan Place to succeed and would like to see more permanent housing built for Portland's homeless population, they understand how the neighbors feel. The City Council approved special zoning that allowed Logan Place to be built on Frederic Street, but generally, group homes and other housing projects are allowed if they meet zoning regulations.
"It's a very delicate issue," said City Councilor William Gorham, chairman of the public safety committee. "I understand the neighborhood concerns, but there's a definite need for this type of housing, and more of it. This is the first one, and I think there's going to be a big learning curve. I have faith that Avesta Housing and Preble Street will address problems as they come up."
Some neighbors of Logan Place are prepared to be patient. Curtis Barnes, 61, and his wife, Becky, befriended some of the homeless people who used to live in a "hobo jungle" at the end of the street, before the Maine Department of Transportation started building the I-295 connector through the area a few years ago.
Sometimes, Barnes and his wife would let homeless people use their telephone to make emergency calls. He's willing to give the residents of Logan Place the benefit of the doubt.
"Until I feel threatened - when I honest to God don't feel safe - I can live with it," said Barnes, who runs a janitorial service.
"I hope it can work. I'd like to see nothing better. They've got a nice place over there. Maybe if some of them wake up to the fact that people are trying to help them, they can turn things around."
Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:
kbouchard@pressherald.com
"I support the idea of providing homes for the homeless, but I don't like the idea of drunks walking up and down my street, all hours of the day and night.
They probably had it good and people were trying to help them long before the majority chose to become homeless.
Torn?
It's a no brainer.
Let's see... what's more important, coddling drunks, druggies whackos and losers? Or the health safety and welfare of my family?
Hmmmmmm. Let me think. This is a tough one!
Be patient. I'm thinking!
I'll ge tback to you.
Great strategy... throw money at losers and then claim that it costs too much.
Hello?!!?
How about spending $40k per normal family to protect them from whackos, drunks, losers and parasites?
If they've already decided these people are chronically homeless, why let them out in the first place? Lock the doors, nobody goes out, clean 'em up whether they want it or not, and leave the area residents alone already!
Obviously Mr. Gorham doesn't live on Frederic Street near Logan Place.
I am more of a tough love guy - kick them out on the street and offer them menial labor jobs they can do even with a massive hangover. Gee, I sure would like a FREE apartment too.
WHAT?!?!?! And put some illegals out of a job? What are you thinking? Vincenti Fox would not be happy with your approach. /sarc
Heres a radical thought. Make it a condition of being " given" and apartment that the person must attend AA or NA meetings. No Alcohol is allowed in or on the premises. The person must be actively seeking employment unless he is disabled. And by disabled I don't mean does not like to work so he disses employment so he is able to bum around all day. Also the neighbors should post No Trespassing signs and the police should strictly enforce this. There also should be a curfew for residents. No reason for them to be out on the streets at all hours.
Of course, the city council, mayor and other do-gooders live in gated communities far, far away from Logan Place.
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