Some Long Beach community members are pushing back against the Los Angeles County Metro Board’s plan to create a hub for homeless services at one of its local Metro subway stations along the line that runs from downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who represents Long Beach and is a member of the Metro board, in February authored the motion—which was sponsored by three other board members including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass—to create the hub.
During a Metro board meeting that month, officials requested that staff explore the city’s Wardlow and Willow stations, both located in Long Beach’s Wrigley neighborhood, for such a hub. The stations in question are four and five stops, respectively, from the A Line’s 1st Street station, where riders, according to Metro policy, must disembark daily at 1 a.m. to allow Metro workers to clean and prepare compartments for operations that resume at 4 a.m.
As a result, about 40 to 60 homeless individuals exit into downtown Long Beach nightly, according to officials.
The Metro board’s consideration of such a homeless hub comes after the city of Long Beach last October questioned the Metro board on the policy and how it may be affecting its downtown area after several residents and business owners expressed frustration about homeless people exiting the train in the middle of the night.
A hub could potentially provide showers, phone charging stations, and would have representatives from the county’s leading homeless agency—the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA)—offering housing services, according to county officials.
Hahn emphasized that the success of such an endeavor would require collaboration between various agencies, including LAHSA, the city, and the county. While Metro can provide the necessary space, it’s not the agency’s core mission to take on the responsibilities of the other governmental bodies involved, she said.
“Metro can own the property and turn it over for a use like that. But the rest of the agencies have to provide everything else,” Hahn said during a Feb. 23 Metro board meeting. “Metro has stepped up to the plate, but let’s face it, it’s not their core mission to do this work that the rest of our different governmental bodies are responsible for.”
But the Wrigley Association, a nonprofit group that represents Wrigley neighborhood residents and local business owners, said such a homeless hub would further burden an already underserved community.
“Bringing in a number of people nightly that require aid is just going to decimate the minimal resources this area already has,” the association’s spokesperson, Alejandra Gutiérrez, told The Epoch Times.
Gutiérrez said the association is not concerned with “NIMBY-ism,” an acronym for “not in my backyard,” but instead, the group is urging the City of Long Beach, Metro, and county officials to find another solution to help the homeless who seek refuge on the Metro.
“This is just a moment of looking to an already under-resourced area of Long Beach to do more than it can bear the brunt of helping an issue that plagues not only the City of Long Beach, but California in general,” she said.
The association held a community meeting in March that drew roughly 150 Long Beach residents to question county, Long Beach city officials, and Metro representatives about the proposal. People also voiced concerns about public safety and how a hub could affect businesses nearby and deter new businesses.
The issue will return before the Metro board for consideration in April.
