Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/301152
shelter would have on a section of the city business owners have worked to make safer and cleaner. "We already have homeless people occa- sionally coming to this area off the railroad, defecating on concrete areas and going through trash," Lanning said. "I am afraid if there is a homeless shelter in that area, there will be more of it." Cathy Antunes, vice president of the Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations, pleaded with the commis- sioners to pursue more research about the potential impacts of a shelter on a neighbor- hood. Antunes also raised questions about how much funding the city will have to con- tribute to operating the facility. Other residents advocated for the shelter. It belongs in the city, said Sarasota resident Steve McAllister. "When you have a wound on your arm, you don't put a bandage on your leg," McAllister pointed out, responding to comments by Shaw and Chapman that a shel- ter should not be constructed in the city's District One. Neighborhood activist Diana Hamilton said that homeless people are constantly on the move between locations where they can get help. "Every place I go, I see homeless peo- ple every day, all day long, in our downtown," Hamilton added. "We must do something. We have to move forward." New College student Joey Whitesman told the commissions, "I really hope and believe this shelter will help." In a comment near the end of the meeting, Commissioner Carolyn Mason had a mes- sage for the community: Residents must join forces on this project. "Quite frankly, doing nothing is not an issue," Mason said. "So let's just take that off the table and focus on work- ing together so we can get there." In another remark just before the meet- ing's adjournment, Barbetta said he thought Hamilton and McAllister were "right on point." "Both said it well. Our streets right now are where the homeless are right now," Barbetta pointed out. "Our homeless shelter is down- town Sarasota right now. It is the street, it is the parks, it is the backyards of people, and if we don't do something, that is the status quo and it will only get worse." Barbetta added that he would like to see the shelter project expedited, if at all possible. City Commissioner Chapman countered that. "What we've painfully learned is government mistakes are the biggest mistakes," Chapman said. "I think we are about to make a big gov- ernment mistake. I think this is a flawed site selection process." Specifically, Chapman said the Osprey Avenue parcel should remain a utility site. In a previous interview with The Sarasota News Leader, Chapman noted she favors a means of providing regular housing for the homeless as the first approach to the issue. In addition, if a shelter were built, she would prefer a mid-county location. % Sarasota News Leader April 25, 2014 Page 33