Re “Mayor’s budget cuts homeless services hub” (April 19): I was upset to read that Mayor Gloria proposes to cut $950,000 this coming year from the budget and specifically to the Neil Good Day Center. It’s part of more cuts to homeless services in the neighborhood of $3.7 million. Every day, about 300 people come to the center to rest, get their mail, wash, have some food or find out about shelter availability. The center serves nearly 7,000 people each year.
I applaud Jim Vargas, the president and CEO of Father Joe’s Villages, for saying that somehow he will come up with the money to keep the Neil Good Day Center open. Closing the center, he said, would not reduce homelessness, but would push people back onto surrounding streets. I urge the mayor to keep it open.
— Arlene Kosakoff, Del Mar