I don't know the people involved, nor do I know enough about the issue to have any real opinion about it, but I pass this along just in case anyone is interested. It was posted on the email listserv:

Emergency Sansom Street Coalition Meeting: 10am on July 16th
(tentative)

Hello everybody,

As some of you have already heard, Councilwoman Blackwell has
introduced a bill to turn the 70000 sq. ft. complex at 4508 Chestnut
(across from the high school) into a homeless shelter. Since it's
obviously something that could have a big impact on the community here,
Tulia and I wanted to get everybody together to share information and
to figure out what action, if any, the Sansom Street Community
Coalition should take about this. We wanted to meet as soon as possible
to allow for enough lead time to generate a response; this is why we're
proposing that the meeting take place in just over a week from today.

I've asked Sadiqah if the mosque will be available for a meeting to be
held there at 10AM on SATURDAY, JULY 16. Please let me know if you
would like to attend but can't make that time. Tulia will not be able
to attend the meeting, so I will be acting as chair in her place. My
preference is to dedicate the entire meeting to this one issue, but we
can discuss other issues if there is time and interest after the main
business is done.

Again, here are the tentative meeting details:

LOCATION: AICP MOSQUE, NE CORNER OF 45TH AND WALNUT
ENTER OFF 45TH, ROOM AT TOP OF STAIRS
DATE/TIME: SATURDAY, JULY 16TH AT 10AM

Best regards,
Richard Moore, Tulia Falleti
Sansom Street Community Coalition

So that would be directly accross West Philly Catholic High in the lot next to the big Paul Robeson mural, I guess. This is the first I had heard of this. I imagine all the folks inveting those newly rehabbed houses on the 4400 and 4500 blocks of Sansome might have soething to say about this. I'm glad to hear the mosque is involved in neighborhood politics, I have alway been curious to see the inside of that building. I believe it was orginally a synagoge and it is an interesting piece of late victorian architecture.

One of the messages on the listserv suggested that the bill gives them clearance to have something like 500 beds. On the one hand, I can understand that a shelter--to be effective--needs a lot of capacity. A small shelter that gets full up really quickly doesn't do as much good. On the other hand, if it's true, it's a lot of people to squeeze in.

If I lived in 3 block radius of that place (or sent my kid to West Philly Catholic) I would at least want to get some assurances from the operators of that shelter that they will be responsive to the neighborhood about any potential issues with drugs in an area that is kind ofjust regaining its footing now.

Don't think of it as the possibility of having lots of problems with crime, drug use, and public urination and defecation in the area ... think of it as an opportunity for everybody to have really clean windshields.

One thing that would be good for folks going to the meeting to find out would be the impact of other large shelter programs (like Ridge Ave) on the local community.

This was posted on the listserv today:

Hello everybody,

The time and place for this Saturday's meeting of the Sansom Street
Community Coalition regarding the proposed emergency shelter facility at
4508 Chestnut Street have been confirmed:

DATE/TIME: SATURDAY, JULY 16 AT 10AM
PLACE: AICP MOSQUE, NE CORNER OF 45TH AND WALNUT

In anticipation of a high turnout, the meeting will be held in a large
room in the lower level of the mosque. Please enter off 45th Street and
look for the signs directing you to the meeting location.

Beatrice Vieira from Lutheran Services has generously agreed to come to
the meeting to provide more details on the proposed facility. Also,
Bill Magill has assembled information, including the bill and the
transcript from the June 15th City Council meeting where it was last
discussed, at the following website:

http://www.mcgillsociety.org/4508/

I hope to see you this Saturday. Please forward this message to any
interested parties.

Richard

I hope there is a good turn out for this meeting. I'm not sure how helpful this is but heres the Lutheran Settlement House website->
http://www.lutheransettlement.org/

At the very lest they seem to have a lot experience providing social services - they ar enot new to the game as it were.

Unfortunately things were way to busy tonight to talk to my friend who works at the Ridge Avenue Shelter to see what they have in place as far as managing the impact on the neighborhood, etc. I know they run a fairly tight ship, and will boot folks out of the program who violate rules, including seeing the psychiatrist and staying on their meds.

Is this the one on Ridge just below Fairmount/Broad? If so - is there really a neighborhood there to speak of? A block or so to the east, yes, but I don't recall seeing much occupied residential stuff in that stretch of Ridge.

For those who are interested, some folks are putting together a master list of "group homes' and social services in the greater University City area to show that the neighborhood already does its fair share per capita in terms of social services residential institutions. If you are concerned and know of a "group home" in your immediate area to add to the list, please respond to the email I repeat below.