Protestors outside Downey City Hall before Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Photo by Alex Dominguez

DOWNEY – The controversial Hollydale housing project materialized at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, forcing city officials to once again fight back claims that they were dumping a homeless shelter onto a South Gate neighborhood.

The affordable apartments for veterans – called Homes for Heroes Hollydale – were not on the scheduled agenda at Downey’s meeting, however as protestors lined up outside of City Hall and filed into Council Chambers it became clear fairly quickly that council would come face to face with several ruffled Hollydale residents.

The project in question has already been the center of confusion and debate as the current residents of the property – the American Legion – prepared to vacate by Nov. 15.

The property falls within Downey city limits but is owned by Los Angeles County and borders South Gate.

While the project is ultimately led by the County, Downey has agreed to work in assisting with the development. However, it has been a challenge for both entities to get their stories straight with one another. That confusion meanwhile has stirred the pot for the project’s objectors.

Downey, specifically Mayor Pro Tem Rick Rodriguez, previously described the project as short-term transitional housing for veterans, where veterans – including those who may be currently homeless – could receive varying forms of aid to get back on their feet. Rodriguez was even quoted as saying that residents of the housing could only stay a maximum of one year, a claim he made on a televised news broadcast.

This has worried many of the property’s immediate South Gate neighbors. They say that the project would negatively affect their neighborhoods without affecting Downey.

South Gate residents have also been up-in-arms due to the close proximity of the project to a proposed homeless development within their city but that project is currently on hold and is not moving forward at this time due to litigation, county officials said. That project could resume when litigation finishes, although it could take years.

Through all of the debate, L.A. County has stood its ground, saying that the project is neither a homeless shelter nor transitional housing. Now, it seems that LA County and Downey are finally on the same page, however the project’s neighbors are still not satisfied.

The Hollydale conversation took place primarily during non-agenda public comment.

Before anyone from South Gate approached the council, LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s Field Deputy Ivan Sulic spoke.

“First and foremost this project is not a homeless shelter, period. There’s not going to be homeless individuals coming in and out at different odd hours of the night. This is not that type of project,” said Sulic.

“This is affordable apartments for veterans, for the men and women that served in our armed forces that [with the] rising rents and housing crisis that we have here in LA County, this will provide them an apartment to support themselves and if needed get the services they need…”

While most comments simply asked for the relocation of the project, the Mayor Pro Tem also found himself in the crosshairs.

“All these homeless organizations start off with saying these homeless facilities are all about veterans; that is their calling card so that communities can’t complain, including founding Mayor Pro Tem Rick Rodriguez and his wife Lupe’s nonprofit Living Tree and Courage Forward nonprofit that Mayor Pro Tem Rick Rodriguez and Councilmember Blanca Pacheco are on the board,” said one speaker, Virginia Johnson.

“I hope they are not in collusion with this deal, even if it might not be for money but for fame, maybe for next election.”

Living Tree is a nonprofit organization founded by Rick and Lupe Rodriguez that provides assistance to organizations which provide for the needs of current military personnel and veterans. Courage Forward is a nonprofit support network organization that helps veterans with various resources they may need after the end of their service.

Another speaker, Andrea Paulino, said Rodriguez needed to “work on his poker face” before moving on to her comments.

“I would just like some honesty from anybody on this council. We just want the truth of what’s going to happen in our neighborhood. So far nobody has been able to give us an answer,” said Paulino. “We’re not fighting against anything to do with homeless. We’re not fighting against anything to do with shelters. We are fighting against location.

“You have a huge city, twice as large as ours. You have more money than we do. There’s someplace else that this place can be built.”

When the dust settled, it was Councilmember Fernando Vasquez - not Rodriguez – who spoke up.

“I actually grew up in an affordable housing complex, so I know what it is to grow up in those units…I’m the case study of what actually comes out of these affordable housing units so I take that very personal when people demonize or talk negatively about affordable housing,” said Vasquez. “What we’re hearing today is no different than what we went through as a city council body about four to six years ago. The community was opposed to it, and we actually built it in the heart of Downtown Downey.”

Vasquez was alluding to the affordable housing apartments built on 2nd Street.

“You walk through there today, and our Police Department can attest to we get the least amount of police response calls in comparison to any other apartment complex in Downey…what I’m hearing everything now, it’s really about the nimbyism; ‘not in my back yard,’” said Vasquez. “The reality is there are very few finite land opportunities. I don’t blame you for feeling the way you do. When there’s an unknown factor is to have fear.”

City Manager Gilbert Livas also chimed in, including an almost uncharacteristic snap back when interrupted by a member of the audience. When a South Gate resident shouted out “put it in your city,” Livas replied with “It is in our city,” before adding “that’s the wonderful thing about having sovereign borders is that you can determine where it is.”

Livas’s argument was rooted in a need to serve those who have served their country.

“We stick a gun on an 18-year-old, we send him overseas, they come back, they protect us, and we say ‘Sorry, but not in my back yard,’” said Livas. “Downey is different, we have Character Counts. It’s called responsibility. It’s called trustworthiness, citizenship, caring and fairness. That’s what we think those veterans deserve.”

South Gate residents, Downey officials clash over housing for homeless vets