Alan Levi woke up the day after a tense neighborhood association meeting, regretting his decision to not speak up.
The 30-year resident of Wadeview Park in SoDo attended the public meeting in March, where Commissioner Patty Sheehan and Director of Social Services Lisa Portelli answered questions on the proposal to convert the Kaley Street Work Release Center into a homeless shelter. The meeting saw the attendance of the Stop SoDo Shelter group, which ultimately helped to end proposals for the new shelter.
“This was the ugliest meeting I’ve ever been to in my life. There were very visceral attacks on the commissioner and Director Portelli,” Levi said. “I disappointed myself; I failed to speak up. The next day I regretted it, so I wrote a play.”
Levi’s play, titled “unhoused/homefree,” follows an unhoused woman sitting on a park bench reading a book. It shows the audience three different ways the neighbors could react — with uncertainty, fear or love…