Mrs. Coulter-James’ recent editorial (“More than shelter,†6/16/10) failed to properly describe IFC’s project and also made invalid comparisons. The IFC-proposed shelter near Homestead Park is beside two large preschools, and McCreesh Place in Charlotte is not. IFC’s single men’s facility will take drunk and high men on 200 nights per year and discharge them at 7 a.m. each morning, and McCreesh Place does not. Charlotte’s facilities appear to be able to serve all homeless clients, including sex offenders, and IFC’s facility cannot serve sex offenders, who comprise 20 percent of the homeless population in some cities, due to school proximity.
IFC’s facility over-concentrates ALL overnight at-risk facilities in Orange County in one-fifth of a square mile around Homestead Park. Charlotte spreads its similar facilities out in accordance with its ordinance, which plainly states, “The public has an interest in assuring that a concentration of homeless shelters be minimized.â€
Mrs. Coulter-James also failed to point out that both Charlotte and Chapel Hill are implementing “business improvement districts†like many other communities documented by the Department of Justice, where the very first step is to move homeless shelters out of downtown and away from where the jobs, shopping and eating are.
Let’s make honest comparisons and let facts guide our decision on IFC’s special-use permit.
MARK PETERS
Chapel Hill