Duane Howard and some other residents of Southeast Roanoke City are not happy with the Roanoke Rescue Mission for what they see is the latest attempt to expand the homeless shelter’s footprint in their part of the city.
Joy Sylvester-Johnson met with the Southeast Action Forum last week (Howard is a member) about possible plans to move the kitchen and cafeteria across the street from the 4th Street mission to the thrift store space, and to perhaps expand that building as well.
Sylvester-Johnson (and attorney Mary Ellen Goodlatte) were hoping to quell fears that the vacated space at the mission would be used install more beds for the homeless. More than 300 spent the night there on October 5 according to the mission website.
Howard said some members of the SEAF seemed to be placated by that announcement – but he and some other members of the neighborhood group are not. Howard said Sylvester-Johnson often has a “divide and conquer” strategy when it comes to meeting with neighborhood leaders.
They don’t want any further expansion that might put more homeless people in adjacent streets while they wait for meals to be served. Howard said a City Council vote that allowed a women’s shelter to be constructed adjacent to the Rescue Mission building came with a promise that no further expansion of that campus would be allowed.
The proposed move to the thrift store location and the building addition would require the Roanoke City Planning Commission and City Council to authorize it via rezoning, providing opponents some face time with city officials to make their point.
Howard said Sylvester-Johnson will meet with the Belmont neighborhood group at the Hardee’s restaurant on 9th Street on Monday October 13th at 6:30 and a return visit with the Southeast Action Forum is planned for early November. The Starview Heights neighborhood group may also meet later this month on the issue. The proposal could go to the planning commission and city council in December.
Plans to relocate the thrift store to another Mission property – the former Four Square Evangel Church on Jamison – have been shelved for now said Howard, who noted that the Mission already has a thrift store (2nd Helpings) on Williamson Road.
Howard sent a long letter to City Council outlining his concerns and said several council members have agreed to meet with him. Some members of the SEAF have bought the new plan “lock, stock and barrel …they’re just buying it,” said Howard, adding that the Southeast Action Forum appears to be “on life support” at this point. Howard also noted that Sylvester-Johnson lives in the Rescue Mission building – and suggested she move to one of her other properties if the kitchen in the current building needs to expand.
“There was to be no more expansion of services on her campus,” Howard recalled a 2002 City Council decision that authorized the Women’s Shelter. “But Joy always has a plan down the road.” The Rescue Mission’s acquisition of adjacent properties, including several houses, also has Howard, a long time civic activist and City Council watcher, casting a wary eye on Sylvester-Johnson’s future plans.
Some southeast city residents have long said that any additional services offered by the Rescue Mission need to be located in other parts of downtown Roanoke. “To move the kitchen across the street is going to allow [the Mission] to feed more,” said Howard, who also claims that some come for meals there but actually live in homes – spending money on drugs, alcohol and cigarettes because they can eat for free at the mission. “This is what people in Southeast do.”’ He calls local residents “war weary” from fighting expansion battles with the Mission.
“There’s not supposed to be more expansion …it will never stop,” said Howard – who also expects Sylvester-Johnson to seek another thrift store location in southeast. “You can rest assured [its coming],” added Howard, who hopes local residents that feel like he does will attend upcoming community meetings or be present when the issue makes it to the city government level. “The [main] issue that we have to worry about is stopping the rezoning.”
– Gene Marrano
