American Notes CALIFORNIA

When the Irvine, Calif., city council voted 3 to 2 last week to approve construction of a shelter for the homeless, the proposal encountered more than the usual yelps of protest. The council chose a plan that is unusual and, to many, offensive: the conversion of an unused dog kennel to a 50-bed shelter.

The facility, due to open next July, will be only 50 yards from a city pound. Irvine will spend $327,000 tearing out the dog stalls and providing beds and better ventilation, but the setting has upset some citizens. Declared Resident Elinor Kniffin: "It is unconscionable to take people who are down on their luck and cohabitate them with animals."