St. Paul ponders future of Dorothy Day Center for needy

[kickysnana]

http://www.minnpost.com/community-sketchbook/2013/05/st-paul-ponders-future-dorothy-day-center-needy?utm_source=MinnPost+e-mail+newsletters&utm_campaign=2e3d7660d1-5_2_2013_Daily_Newsletter5_2_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3631302e9c-2e3d7660d1-123634466

Many cities have familiar gateways: St. Louis, has its Arch; San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge; New York City, the Statute of Liberty.

St. Paul? A wrought-iron fenced courtyard and a modest building where the hungry and homeless gather in lines outside seeking food and shelter.

Run by Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Dorothy Day Center has long been an esteemed fixture in downtown St. Paul, where — situated on its western flank — it’s an ever-present reminder of need and the stalwarts who step up to help.

Still, the facility on Old Sixth Street provides a shocking contrast to the city’s successful entertainment and sports venue, Xcel Energy Center across the street, which attracts 1.5 million visitors a year. And nearby, prestigious Children’s Hospital cares for Minnesota’s children.

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St Paul has always been a big city of neighbors helping neighbors and what better place for these folks to gather than in clear view of entertainment centers and several hospitals. They are poor not criminals. Other cities drive their homeless out and dump them, St Paul has them right where we can keep an eye on them and on the people we trust to help them start over.

[progree]

1. Related news: Apollo Center closed (drop-in center for those with mental health issues in St. Paul)

http://www.citypages.com/2013-04-02/news/mental-health-resources-dwindle-as-the-apollo-resource-center-closes-its-doors

It drives me loony-tunes where all we heard for about a month after the Sandy Hook shooting was that we needed to provide more and better mental health services, and now this very cost - effective place for keeping people in the system and connected to each others has been closed. The article is well worth reading at least a little of to see just how important it was in many lives.

[azurnoir]

2. I live in St Paul and really Dorthy Day is not right across the street from Xcel

there is at the very least a HUGE open lot in-between the 2 - a lot where during the winter carnival the ice sculptures are built, if the cities 'boosters' want to hide the poor from the suburbanites and others coming to Xcel then develop that lot, easy enough