BELLOWS FALLS — To: My Rockingham Select-persons, my village trustees, my municipal manager, my village police chief, and local friends:
A very central issue on the Shelter proposed for Canal Street [story, page 1] is how the village was not consulted by the town regarding the location. This action on the part of town officials defies all reasonable standards of decorum or protocol. Explanations of this administrative discourtesy are encouraged.
It is the village police department that stands first and foremost to be burdened by the operation of this facility, and the village residents who stand to have new neighbors moving in - into a village where few jobs are available.
I feel that siting such a facility in the village of Bellows Falls has been ill considered. Those homeless persons fit for work won't find employment here. If I'm wrong on this, someone can tell me where they'll work. In supporting this project, the town has effectively charged each retail business in the village a surcharge of thousands of dollars - the impact that the presence of an increased homeless population will have on the retail bottom line of our already-struggling merchants.
So far, I haven't heard anyone mention mental health, or “the S-word” (schizophrenic). Mental-health issues are an integral part of reality for some portion of homeless populations. Dare we not speak those words?
I have my doubts as to Bellows Falls being able to take on the additional burden of persons (from all over), some of whom will suffer from mental health or substance-abuse issues. I've dealt long term with a schizophrenic adult, and know from those many years of experience how very high maintenance these persons are. If you don't believe any homeless population will include individuals with mental health issues, including schizophrenia, then you've been misinformed.
The safety of homeless persons here in our village should also be of serious concern. (Sadly, there are creeps here who will, over time, prey upon the homeless). And then, not least, there is the safety of your own residents to consider.
If this shelter project is implemented within the village, I can only hope it is one of the least-utilized shelters in the region, not generating its own population from far and wide. I hope those staffing it get some solid training beforehand and take a lesson from other such facilities on how to run a safe and effective facility.
I'm trying to think positive here, but I see this shelter concept as filling a need that is (as I understand) already systematically addressed by our town special services officer. (Or is the correct title “town social services officer”?) We are not a community without a heart, but I understand this town official has been called upon only a few times annually for assistance to persons in urgent need of shelter.
I understand our town is currently reimbursed by the state for shelter and meals it provides when such services are rendered. Our Place already provides hot meals, and Mary Haas's famous free dinners are available to anyone hungry at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church every Monday evening.
Our village and town - but especially our village - already perform no less than a yeoman's service in hosting the disproportionate amount of Section 8 housing for residents from all over Vermont and the region. That's also where a disproportionate requirement for Village police services is generated (granted, no fault of the many law-abiding Section 8 residents).
This history should be highly instructive and point to a need for more balance, not an addition to the imbalance.
A homeless overnight shelter here is simply not appropriate. If this position sounds heartless or xenophobic to you, then you don't know me very well.
Opening a homeless shelter in the village of Bellows Falls amounts to kicking our village while it's down, everywhere: head, gut, and gonads. Please don't continue with this plan.
Thanks for your consideration or reconsideration of this matter.