Hollywood Covenant House site visit
On a recent visit to Los Angeles, Jack London District resident Darius Mojahed took time to tour the Hollywood facility run by Covenant House. Darius also spoke to Sr. Lead Officer, Joe Bunch in Hollywood. His photos from the trip are available online.

According to Officer Bunch, the L.A. facility has not had any specific issues and that the "facilitators" on site at Covenant House do an okay job at ensuring there are no incidents. They've had only a few calls where they had to come to assist the facilitators keep the situation in control. However, it was his opinion that a facility like this is better suited in a commercial area, not a residential one.

Darius described the Hollywood site as well kept with minimal loitering outside and seems to be taken care of by the residents and staff. The area it is located in is more commercial/business district with only a few neighboring apartment complexes.

During his on-site visit Executive Director of Covenant, George R. Lozano, offered up much of the same information as at the Jack London District community meeting about 2 weeks ago. In his conversation with Lozano, Darius said:

"I reiterated many of the points raised at the meeting by many concerned residents, including a recommendation made by Gary Knecht. The recommendation was that Covenant House should offer not to ever open an intake center like the one it operates up on 28th street here in Oakland. This was a suggestion made as a conditional offerings Covenant House should make to our community as a sign of good faith and to help make us feel more comfortable. At the meeting and even when I met with George he did not seem to be able to say whether that would happen."

Darius asked one question not raised that the Jack London District community meeting - do they confirm if the kids have a criminal background by doing a police check? George said no, and that this was something they expect would come out of the lengthy interview admission process for their program.

Summarizing his opinion after visiting the Hollywood site Darius said:

"While this seems to be a valuable service offered to young adults (18-23) in crisis, the concern is what will this facility bring in terms of potential unwanted traffic as it relates to it's residents, potential crime and how it may affect our property values. As echoed by the many attendees at the [community] meeting, these are viable concerns for our residential community."

The Covenant House application for a conditional use permit to operate 200 Harrison St as an emergency shelter will be heard at an Oakland Planning Commission meeting on June 1st (postponed from May 18th). The City staff report on the application is available for download. The Jack London District Association is hoping to organize a further community meeting together with Covenant House to give them and the community a further opportunity to discuss the plans before the City meeting.
Posted 5/17/2005