San Jose food pantry faces opposition from neighbors

When Lighthouse Food Rescue & Distribution first started handing out groceries in San Jose’s Northside neighborhood in 2020, Robert Wright welcomed it and its mission to feed disadvantaged residents.

He pitched a Lighthouse yard sign in front of his house near the food pantry, which sits at the corner of East Julian and North 17th streets in the middle of blocks of single-family homes. Soon after, he began fielding complaints about the operation — blocked driveways, discarded food, people urinating and defecating in the area and neighbors being unable to use the sidewalk because of the outdoor food distribution.

As a board member for the Julian-St. James Neighborhood Association, the 75-year-old Wright defended the food pantry as doing good, necessary work. But the complaints continued, and after a year his patience wore down. Wright is now part of a chorus of neighbors who say Lighthouse’s operations have gotten too big for the area to handle. The food pantry serves more than 1,000 people a day, five days a week from noon to 5 p.m.

“It’s pretty universal that people want them to go because they’ve clearly been a public nuisance,” Wright told San José Spotlight. “Because of their success of attracting more people in a place that’s not (big) enough to serve them, the impact of there being a nuisance has grown.”

On Sept. 25, San Jose cited Lighthouse for hosting its food distribution on the sidewalk and not following zoning rules, and threatened to fine the nonprofit up to $20,000 a day for having its distribution outside. The citation also said the food pantry must stop operations within 60 days, as a food distribution center isn’t permitted in that neighborhood.

Pastor Ralph Olmos, president and CEO of Lighthouse Food Rescue & Distribution, said the city has waived the fines for now, and is working to help him relocate. Staying in the neighborhood is essential for him.

“It’s great that we’re (being offered) all these things, but the first pending charges on this compliance order just seem to be swept under the rug with no understanding right now,” Olmos told San José Spotlight.

In September 2022, the City Council approved rezoning Northside, along with other neighborhoods, in response to new state requirements which mandated cities come up with a comprehensive plan for development. The change meant social service groups such as Lighthouse were no longer permissible uses in that neighborhood. Olmos said no one informed him of the change. Councilmembers waived permit fees just months earlier that would have cost him up to $15,500 in order to operate after community uproar over the possibility of the food pantry shuttering.

Councilmember Anthony Tordillos, whose District 3 includes the Northside neighborhood, said Lighthouse’s current site isn’t appropriate for this scale of operation due to the code violations and neighborhood complaints. But he wants the food pantry to stay in District 3, which is the epicenter of homelessness in the city.

“I’ve been clear from the start that the appropriate response is not to shut down the food distribution altogether, but to find a location that better meets the operational needs of Lighthouse and the residents it serves,” Tordillos told San José Spotlight.

Lifeline to the community

Olmos founded the food distribution center at the height of the pandemic in 2020. He saw people, freshly unemployed, desperate to feed their families. He said he sees the same level of need today.

The food pantry attracts people from surrounding areas due to its central location that is accessible with public transit.

One woman, who asked not to be named due to privacy concerns, takes the bus from Santa Clara to the food pantry twice a week. She recently started coming to Lighthouse after another distribution group ran out of food, and said it’s been a lifeline since she got laid off from a software company more than a year ago.

“I understand the concept of ‘not in my backyard,'” she told San José Spotlight. “I’ve been in situations where you have a noisy neighbor…but everybody has the right to have food and to not go to bed hungry or anxious. It’s a minor inconvenience to ask that they support Lighthouse in this way.”

There are about 60 neighbors who have complained about the food pantry, Wright said. His wife, who uses a wheelchair, can’t use the sidewalk in front of Lighthouse, along with other neighbors with disabilities who have complained.

“A line of strangers outside your place everyday, that would make me rather uncomfortable,” Wright said. “(Olmos) made the choice that for the greater good, he would rather inconvenience us and irritate us and rob us of our quiet enjoyment of our property than turn away people who were hungry.”

Not all neighbors want Lighthouse to leave. Onésimo, an 82-year-old resident who asked not to include his last name for privacy concerns, lives a few doors down from the food pantry. He said people in line for food are generally quiet, and when problems arise Olmos tries to address them. The sidewalk issue is under control after Olmos marked the ground where people are allowed to stand, leaving the other half of the sidewalk open, Onésimo said.

“Thank God someone is here at the corner and taking care of people,” he told San José Spotlight.

Olmos said he feels the weight of the constant stress of trying to make rent and now the zoning violations.

It costs $5,000 to $6,000 a month to operate Lighthouse. There are no employees on the payroll — Olmos said he can’t even afford to pay himself. Each month is consumed by how to pay next month’s bills, and it’s halted him from planning out the food pantry’s future.

He has dreams bigger than what his current space can hold. He wants to expand operations to have hubs in food deserts all over Santa Clara County to reach the most vulnerable families.

“I wish my hands were bigger,” Olmos said. “Our popularity … tells (us) that we’re outgrowing this place. It’s just difficult the way things are being approached here, especially the way it pushed me against the wall. That was never my exit plan to begin with.”

Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.