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Letter: Opposition to shelter

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Staff

Mr. Cianciolo, I’m not afraid. It’s just that I can count

In a Jan. 6 Carrboro Citizen article entitled “Planning Board approves new shelter proposal,” a planning board member was quoted as saying, “I think a lot of the opposition is based on fear of the unknown. I think the basis of the fear is unfounded, but I think the fear is real,” board member George Cianciolo said.

Supporters for the new men’s homeless shelter site at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Homestead Road have repeatedly used the word “fear” to describe residents who live near the newly proposed site, but I don’t think fear is right. Opposition for this site is based on facts and numbers.

• All three overnight at-risk facilities in Chapel Hill will be located within one-fifth of a square mile around Homestead Park. There will be zero overnight at-risk facilities anywhere else in Chapel Hill. Talking about “community responsibility,” is the Chapel Hill community only limited to this part of the town? The neighbors around Homestead Park have done more than their fair share. If this is not called over-concentration, I don’t know what is.

• There are already 123 emergency, transitional, halfway and detox overnight beds in the area around Homestead Park. The proposed shelter will add 52 emergency/transitional and 17 to 70 white-flag night beds totaling up to 242 beds in the area.

• The lease for the new site is 50 years with a 10-year option. Currently zero dollars are slated by Orange County for a new facility that will provide emergency shelter to homeless men. The opportunity over 50-plus years to expand to provide emergency shelter is a realistic option.

• The proposed shelter site is 115 feet from a residential property and is within the 1,000-foot radius of three child-care facilities.

• The Town of Chapel Hill will invest millions of dollars in a downtown-redevelopment initiative including $13 million already slated for 140 W. Franklin St. The $55-million project featuring luxury condos and retail is a few blocks from the current men’s homeless shelter.

• In 2008, a UNC real estate foundation spent $46 million for University Square, a 12-acre lot very close to the current men’s shelter.

As a resident of Parkside, a neighborhood near the proposed site, I have taken the time to learn about the men’s homeless shelter proposal and I have come to the conclusion there are countless reasons why the Town of Chapel Hill needs to find a better site for the new men’s homeless shelter.

Tiger Guan
Chapel Hill

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