By J.Graber | YourValley
A crowd of several hundred mostly angry people showed up to voice their opinion during a special legislative hearing Sept. 13 about a Scottsdale hotel being used to house the homeless with approximately $940,000 of state money.
Rep. Matt Gress, R-Dist. 4, who organized the hearing, said he doesn’t feel it is either safe or a prudent use of money to house the homeless in a hotel used by families and business travelers and pledged to not vote for a state budget that allows that again.
“I will not allow the disastrous policies of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and even Phoenix seep it’s way into our community,” Gress said.
At the heart of the matter is a state grant the Scottsdale City Council voted to accept during its June 27 meeting that would pay for 10 rooms at the Independence 47 Hotel. Stipulations on the money initially called for the program to use three rooms to house people from the homeless encampment in downtown Phoenix known as “the zone” and legal immigrants.
