LOS ANGELES — Bill Taormina had 17 minutes to convince the crowd in the auditorium of Boyle Heights Resurrection School to back his plan to turn their shuttered neighborhood Sears into a giant homeless services hub.
The "Los Angeles Life Rebuilding Center" that Taormina wants to build would house up to 10,000 homeless people and provide medical and mental health services, job training, immigration help and drug abuse diversion programs.
The project would be dedicated to "saving lives," Taormina told his audience, vowing not to build "anything like a prison" on the landmark lot.
