San Anselmo: Save our Town

San Anselmo, a bucolic suburb of San Francisco with an old town main street, is under siege. For those who live in the beautiful Seminary District, our quality of life this summer is questionable.

 
REST plans to house 40 homeless men at the St. Anselm Elementary School gym this summer even though the area is zoned R1, and emergency shelters are not permitted in R1 residential zones. San Anselmo Municipal Code allows only 17 homeless in limited commercial, general commercial and public facilities zones within 1/4 miles of a transit stop, and requires on-site security. REST plans no security guards. Smoking is prohibited in schools and playgrounds, and REST plans to allow smoking.

No one who is involved in the REST program lives in our neighborhood.  Despite success in their winter rotating locations, REST has never housed 40 men at single site nightly for two months.

• Noise Levels: They apparently have not considered the noise that 40 men will create in the summer when neighbors will have their windows open. 
• Trash: I don't think they have a handle on the daily waste disposal requirements for forty dinners a night.  The smell from food and trash sitting in the heat will not be pleasant and rats are going to be a problem.
• Smoking: REST is trying to contravene state and local no smoking laws by requiring that the homeless use personal air filters.  Personal air filters are not mentioned in any laws or ordinances. Even if they actually work, it will be difficult to enforce a requirement  that the homeless use them.
• Security: REST is not going to hire security guards, but rather have two shifts of volunteers, two at a time during the night. There is no security for the neighborhood.  Two sets of fire egress doors onto Mariposa Avenue are not lit and the homeless cannot re-enter using these doors.
• Background Checks: REST does not do criminal background checks.  Unfortunately the condition of homelessness and crimes are inter-related.  Homelessness was 7.5 to 11.3 times more prevalent among jail inmates than the general population.
• Continuation of Program Every Summer: It is imperative that neighbors band together or this summer experiment will be an annual occurrence. According to the Town Attorney, the rules governing emergency shelters don't apply "[b]ecause it will be a temporary use, the regulations for a permanent Emergency Shelter are not triggered."  So none of the ordinances designed to protect shelter residents and neighbors will be enforced this summer. Where are our rights?