PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER Maine) --
A series of public meetings on the City of Portland’s plan to move its homeless shelter is now underway.
On Saturday, hundreds of people attended a forum at the University of Southern Maine to build the new 200 bed shelter that has a $10 million price tag.
The city wants to centralize shelter operations in the Nason’s Corner area off exit 48 on I-95.
Many people who live in the area say putting a shelter that close to their children’s schools and homes is wrong and went to Saturday’s forum to tell that to city officials.
“The thing that concerns me the most is I don’t think they’re listening,” said Kelli Caiazzo who lives roughly a mile-and-a-half from the proposed homeless shelter.
“I sort of honestly thought it was a joke,” she said. "I didn’t think they’d ever actually go through with having a 200 bed shelter in the residential area next to schools."
Hundreds of other people also attended the forum, many not necessarily opposed to building a new shelter, just building a new shelter in the Nason's Corner location.
City manager Jon Jennings, along with the director of the Oxford Street shelter, Rob Parritt and assistant city manager, Michael Sauschuck, all explained the city had chosen the site after a years-long, careful process that considered other locations.
“We certainly understand there are people who are upset about our proposal, we did a thorough analysis,” said Jennings.
Jennings and the other officials explained the Oxford street shelter is simply inadequate with 150 or so people sleeping on thin mats.
However, Nason’s Corner residents like Cecilia Smith insist Portland officials aren’t convincing and their proposal is bad.
“It just seems like it’s an attempt by the city to clean the downtown of its homeless population,” said Smith. “If it’s the same things that are happening in Bayside just in another part of town then we know it’s going to wreak havoc.”
That’s why, even after attending a number of breakout sessions with city leaders, many people left the forum upset.
Dozens are considering hiring a lawyer to block the proposal from moving forward and put their names on a sign-up sheet to help form an ad-hoc neighborhood organization of Nason’s Corner residents to do that.
Future decisions on the shelter are in the hands of city councilors now.
Portland’s city Health and Human services committee will meet on Tuesday September 25th on the shelter issue though there will be no public comment.
The committee will decide then whether or not to send the plan to the full city council.
Councilors are expected to approve or vote down a shelter plan in November and reach a final decision by the end of December.