Safe Parking for Pasadena’s Homeless

Safe Parking for Homeless (Photos – Sharon Hawley)

If you are homeless and living in your car, then you want a safe place to park and sleep in your car at night. The City of Pasadena has agreed to help. It passed a zoning ordinance that allows religious places to offer free and safe parking.

By Sharon Hawley

All Saints Church in Pasadena has taken up the City on its offer.  The church proposes to offer its north parking lot at Euclid and Walnut Streets for safe nighttime parking. A final vote by the City Council on Monday, February 26, is expected to make it possible, and night parking should be available in June.

There are some rules, and people will have to register. Daniel Cole, Program Coordinator for the City, assured Colorado Boulevard that the process will not be cumbersome, and that it will not be connected with the police department, in case there is concern with random tag inspections or checking of ID’s, parole status, or other police inquiries.

Pasadena and All Saints Church are joining 21 other Safe Parking sites in Los Angeles County. Management of the project will be done by The Shower of Hope, an organization that currently provides several lockers and tent sites for homeless people at All Saints Church and offers showers on certain days. Its services are paid for by the City of Pasadena through a grant from the State. Everyone involved in this project expresses the sentiment that homelessness in Pasadena is not something to perpetuate. Measures like Safe Parking are intended as steps toward housing for everyone. A security guard will be present every night when Safe Parking is in use.

Sharon Howley is a Pasadena resident. She’s am adventurer to places where most folks don’t go.