Program to Feed Needy Finds Home but May Lose City Funds : West Hollywood: A task force proposal that would tie a food program for the homeless to social programs is rejected by the coalition that runs it.

The carefully crafted agreement governing a controversial program to feed the homeless in West Hollywood has begun to unravel.

Volunteers at the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition said last week that they intend to relocate the program and not enforce the eligibility requirements recommended by a City Council-directed task force. That decision may cause the program to lose financial support from the city.

Food coalition spokesman Ted Landreth said the group hopes to start the feeding program before March 6 at a defunct restaurant owned by hotelier Severyn Ashkenazy. March 6 is the date on that the city has ordered the coalition to stop its feeding program at city-owned Plummer Park.

Ashkenazy confirmed that he has offered to let the coalition use the London Club restaurant at Beverly Place and La Cienega Boulevard.

The feeding program in Plummer Park has been mired in controversy since last fall. The City Council voted to close down the city-funded program after angry residents complained that participants were creating crime and sanitation problems. But two weeks later, after Hollywood celebrities and homeless advocates protested, the council reinstated the program for four months and created a task force to revamp it.

The 17-member task force, composed of Plummer Park neighbors, homeless advocates and two members of the food coalition, was overseen by Mark Vandervelden, deputy to City Councilman Steve Schulte.

The group’s final report, representing a consensus among the task force members, recommended that the feeding program be replaced by a city-administered meal-voucher system. The vouchers would be redeemed at local restaurants participating in the program. At its Jan. 16 meeting, the City Council accepted and endorsed the findings of the report and directed the city staff and the task force to begin working on a meal voucher program.

The task force report, in attempting to address some of the causes of homelessness, recommended that eligibility for the vouchers be linked to participation in social service programs. To be eligible for a voucher, homeless people and others in need of food would be required to participate in existing social service programs, such as Jewish Family Services or Alcoholics Anonymous. In earlier negotiations with the city, coalition members had resisted such eligibility provisions, insisting on serving all non-disruptive clients.

But last week, coalition members said that the city was doing little to get the new program organized and that they planned to continue feeding all comers at the new location. “In principle, we are fully in favor of the voucher program,” Landreth said. “But it is abundantly clear that nobody is trying to get it going by March 6. Faced with a deadline and no alternative, as usual, we intend to be somewhere else.”

Landreth also said coalition members are concerned that many of the 100 to 150 nightly clients now being fed would be eliminated from the feeding program by the more stringent eligibility guidelines.

Vandervelden said the program was moving forward and criticized the coalition’s plan to relocate the program as a “slap in the city’s face.”

“I guess this shows they are unwilling to accept conditions. Their decision violates the spirit of the negotiations,” he said.

In choosing not to follow the task force recommendations, the food coalition has found a surprise ally in Ashkenazy. The hotelier has waged prolonged battles with the city since 1985 over the conversion of apartment buildings to hotels.

The owner of the Bel Age Hotel and other luxury hotels in West Hollywood also has dueled bitterly with rival hotelier Sheldon Gordon over liquor permits and parking requirements at Gordon’s Ma Maison Sofitel.

The Ma Maison Sofitel directly overlooks the parking lot where homeless people would be fed. However, Ashkenazy insists that the sole motive for his offer to the food coalition is his compassion for the homeless.

“I had offered help to them before, and I readily agreed to help last week. This is a more commercial area, and it should be less problematic with neighbors,” Ashkenazy said. “If we don’t help these people, what are they supposed to do, lie down in the street and die?”

Gordon was unavailable for comment. Gordon’s attorney, Ronald Silverman, said: “We are unaware of Mr. Ashkenazy’s offer.”

London Club neighbors and members of West Hollywood West, a community organization, are quickly marshaling opposition to the proposal. They cite complaints by Plummer Park area residents and say a feeding program in their neighborhood will inevitably be riddled with the same problems.

“Unequivocally, they would have to do it over our dead bodies. Not only would it be an absolute nuisance, it would have a detrimental effect on property values,” said Ethel Shapiro, vice president of West Hollywood West. Shapiro said she feels compassion for the homeless, but that relocation is not a feasible solution.

City officials are trying to determine what permits--if any--the coalition would need to begin feeding on the site.

A complicating factor is that the London Club property is split between the cities of Los Angeles and West Hollywood; the closed restaurant is in Los Angeles and its parking lot is in West Hollywood. Officials acknowledge confusion over zoning jurisdictions and whether such a use is allowed under West Hollywood ordinances.

“It is very complicated, and the zoning ordinance is not clear,” said Mark Winogrand, West Hollywood director of community development. “If they simply start operating without approval, we would send them a letter asking them to stop.”

Neither the coalition nor Ashkenazy has applied for permits to date, Winogrand said. However, he said that even if the city asked them to halt the program, the coalition could still apply for permits. In the meantime, the coalition could continue to run the program until a ruling was made on the permits.

“That might prevent a judge from issuing an injunction until they have exhausted administrative channels,” Winogrand said.

Rejecting the task force recommendation would probably mean an end to city support for the program, food coalition members admit. The city provided about $30,000 to the coalition this year--almost half of the program’s total budget.

“We are not too thrilled about not getting that city money,” said coalition President Mike Dean. “We have some pretty good assurances that we can replace the money if we have to, but it is not going to be pretty.”

Dean, who in signing the task force report last month essentially accepted an end to the feeding program, said in an interview that he is stepping down as president. “I think I probably agreed to some things on the task force that somebody else with new energy would have maybe fought. After three years, I am getting worn down,” Dean said.

Meanwhile, food coalition members say they are hoping to avoid confrontations with “neighbors on the warpath,” and “politically motivated City Council members.”

“We would like to do it in a way so it won’t offend neighbors and create a great brouhaha again,” Landreth said.

“We are not stabbing anybody in the back,” Dean said. “We are just trying to get people fed.”

Program Site 1. Old London Club (closed restaurant owned by Severyn Ashkenazy) 2. Parking lot owned by Ashkenazy (proposed feeding site for homeless) 3. Ma Maison Softel (owned by Sheldon Gordon)