The city has made it clear that a new homeless shelter will be built only when every resident in the city is happy with its location. This poses a problem, because I constantly see people (and businesses like the Maine College of Art) feeling compelled to write carefully worded letters to the newspaper – feigning concern while also blocking any attempts to build a shelter. This seems like it must be a lot of work.

It would be helpful if the Press Herald published a template for anyone to use that would streamline the process. Instead of tediously looking up the right coded phrases that obscure bigotry as civic concern, anyone could fill out this form and quickly stop the city’s plans to provide services to the unhoused.

Here’s a rough draft:

My name is __________ and I fully support building a shelter, but I’m asking the City Council to:

[ ] Slow things down.
[ ] Reconsider.
[ ] Take a step back.

I’m very [circle one] (concerned / surprised / deeply troubled) about:

[ ] The city plowing forward without seeking input.
[ ] One neighborhood “bearing the burden.”
[ ] The children.

I think that:

[ ] This process was very rushed.
[ ] More time is needed for community input.
[ ] Perhaps the city should take another look at the smaller-shelter model.

I’m sure the city just made a mistake and as soon as they review this again they’ll see this location is totally unsuitable and they will find a spot in a different part of the city to build this very important shelter.

Richard Lations
Portland

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