Residents Seek Relocation of Lunch Program in Park

ORANGE —  Residents of the city’s south side have asked the City Council to relocate a lunch program that has fed the homeless in Hart Park for nearly five years.

Neighbors of the park complained that the program, which feeds 150 to 200 needy persons daily, has drawn an “undesirable element” from all over the county and has subsequently caused an increase in crime.

William O. Hart Memorial Park is located north of the Garden Grove Freeway between Glassell and Shaffer streets. Reports of hypodermic needles found in the playground’s sandbox and transients in back yards are examples of incidents that have put the neighborhood on edge, resident Lorna Deshane, 59, told the council at its meeting last week.

Deshane said that her father was mugged by a vagrant who had been drawn to the neighborhood by the lunch program and that she could no longer take her granddaughter to the park. She presented a petition signed by 500 neighbors asking the city for help.

Orange Police Capt. Gene Hernandez confirmed that calls for police help have increased 110% in the area since 1984 but added that not all problems could be tied to the lunch program. However, he also noted that “even the ladies who serve lunch are afraid.”

One program volunteer called to request additional police presence after a man pulled a knife while waiting in the lunch line, Hernandez said.

Mary McAnena, 88, the program’s founder, was out of the country during the hearing. But Helen Anderson, 68, a longtime volunteer, said later in an interview that she has never had trouble.

“They might turn on each other, but not on others,” Anderson said.

Homeless advocate Steve Rolph suggested that the program be moved to a non-residential area.

“You show me a feeding program in a residential area, and I’ll show you an unhappy neighborhood,” said Rolph, who lives near Hart Park and has worked with the Los Angeles and Santa Ana rescue missions.