Safe parking at All Saints

An All Saints parishioner and former UC Regents chair urged approval, citing the efficacy of safe parking programs.

Argued the parking lot is one continuous religious site and that safe parking is politically, ethically, and morally safe.

A District 5-area resident urged prompt approval, citing Trinity Lutheran's successful program.

An All Saints parishioner and Eaton Fire survivor urged a unanimous vote, calling the program 'doing the Lord's work.'

A Euclid Avenue resident described assaults, drug use, and harassment near her building and called the program 'utterly irresponsible' given inadequate mitigation.

Spoke for Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace in support of safe parking.

A Caltech PhD student said safe parking is an effective homelessness tool and noted Trinity's program helped 18 people into housing.

The priest in charge at All Saints said safe parking is a religious activity rooted in the baptismal covenant.

A bishop who works at Trinity Lutheran said he feels safe around the safe parkers and urged approval.

Said most safe parkers find permanent housing and problems come from non-participants, not the program.

An All Saints parishioner urged a unanimous vote so the council could 'speak with one voice.'

A formerly homeless Navy veteran asked the council for compassion, saying car dwellers aren't the same population as street homeless.

An All Saints parishioner urged the council not to let the city's work on the program go to waste.

A former housing navigator said the interdenominational ministerial alliance and clergy coalition support the program and that safe parking participants pose the fewest problems.

A Trinity Lutheran member said safety concerns in the neighborhood are arguments for safe parking, not against it.

The Trinity Lutheran pastor argued that under tax codes any use of church property is its 'primary use,' rebutting the commercial-parking argument.

A former safe parker at Trinity for two and a half years described the dignity and security the program gave her.

A current safe parker at Trinity urged the council to honor the spirit of the law and centuries of sanctuary tradition.

A 14-year Maryland resident who walks at 5 a.m. said one security guard isn't enough and suggested the Rose Bowl lot instead.

A Central District resident urged approval, citing the homeless count finding that people fear sleeping at night.

A Maryland resident expecting a baby supported addressing homelessness but suggested exploring city-owned lots away from the civic corridor.

Said everything is ready — funding, operator, site — and only council approval is missing.

Described her own experience of middle-class homelessness while in college and urged understanding that homelessness affects more than the very poor.

A District 6 resident and environmental-sector worker said opposition is anti-homeless sentiment and offered to help with an emissions offset plan.

A Shower of Hope volunteer who has delivered meals to safe parking sites for five years said no one wants the sites safe more than the participants.

A third-generation Pasadenan quoted scripture and urged the council to support safe parking against the status quo.

A Temple City woman who was homeless at 19 living in her car credited a security guard with her recovery and asked the council to give others the same chance.

Argued safe parkers themselves know they feel safe, and that separating car dwellers from other homeless populations is a real solution.

A District 7 resident and parishioner urged support, framing the church's role in addressing homelessness as an institutional good.

Of Affordable Housing Services, said about 40% of her tenants previously lived in their cars and called for safe parking citywide.

A Pasadena resident and medical provider described how housing insecurity harms health, especially children's.

An All Saints member and shelter volunteer said a car means a homeless person is 'halfway home' and called the program a win-win.

A Fuller Seminary worker and former nearby student-housing resident urged approval, noting the most vulnerable bear the greatest risk.

Thanked the council and recapped the program's safeguards — permits, background checks, licensed security.

A Navy veteran, pastor, and former car dweller urged approval now, noting delays could cost another two years.

Executive director of the San Gabriel Valley Consortium on Homelessness said safe parking participants are working poor and seniors and urged a full housing continuum.

Argued the opposition's fear should give way to nuance — participants are fighting to escape the very conditions neighbors fear.

A Pasadena Weekly columnist and fire survivor called the opposition NIMBYism and urged an open heart and a yes vote.

Trinity Lutheran's congregational president said Trinity's no-city-funding program has housed 18 people with no police interventions involving participants.

A District 1 resident and faith-based housing advocate said using church parking lots for safe parking is consistent with the church's mission.

A social worker and unhoused-community organizer urged approval, saying unhoused residents are neighbors and opposition reflects anti-homeless sentiment.

A PhD student cited a San Diego study showing 40% of safe parking participants exit to permanent housing — three times other emergency programs.

Warned that ignoring the most vulnerable diminishes the city's soul and urged the council not to give in to fear-mongering.

A mother who was homeless at 24 with two children urged a safe place for women and children, including Altadena fire survivors now living in cars.