Update: 9 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 15
The Escondido City Council voted 4-1 on Wednesday night to uphold the city Planning Commission’s decision to reject a migrant youth shelter.
Councilwoman Olga Diaz, who is running for mayor against incumbent Sam Abed, cast the lone vote to allow the shelter in a residential neighborhood.
Close to 100 people spoke at the meeting, both in favor and opposed to the shelter.
Escondido resident Meghan Quade lives near the former nursing home where the shelter was to be located.
“It’s not even a matter of politics at this point,” Quade said at the meeting. “It’s the fact that you want to house 96 kids in a very small area with no place to go outside, no place to play.”
Escondido resident Luis Romero urged City Council to think about the tax income and jobs the shelter could bring to the city.
“This is about business,” Romero said. “So let’s not throw away $8 million, a hundred jobs, because we might need it.”
Original post Tuesday, Oct. 14
The Escondido City Council is scheduled to reopen public debate Wednesday afternoon over a proposed shelter for migrant youth.
The council will hear an appeal of the Escondido Planning Commission’s earlier decision to deny a permit to open the shelter. It was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Southwest Key, a government contractor that runs temporary shelters for young immigrants caught crossing the border illegally.
Southwest Key seeks to open a 96-bed shelter in a former nursing home in one of Escondido’s residential neighborhoods.
The shelter proposal has reignited tensions over immigration issues in this city with a growing Latino population.
Hundreds of people attended two Planning Commission meetings in the summer to show opposition or support for the shelter plan. At the time, Central American children were arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border by the thousands — adding fuel to the debate.
The Planning Commission voted 7-0 to reject the shelter proposal.
The appeal of that decision to the City Council was originally scheduled for September but was postponed at the request of the ACLU. Meanwhile, the flow of children arriving at the border has since slowed significantly.
The council meeting where the appeal will be discussed starts at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall, 201 N. Broadway.
