Pubdate: Wed, 07 Mar 2001
Source: The News-Gazette (IL)
Copyright: 2001 The News-Gazette
Contact:  15 Main Street, PO Box 677, Champaign, Illinois 61824-0677
Website: http://www.news-gazette.com/
Author: Jodi Heckl
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

NEIGHBORS ADD THEIR VOICES IN DRUG CLINIC CONTROVERSY

CHAMPAIGN   Since plans for a methadone clinic to treat heroin addicts 
became public, many downtown merchants and nearby residents have argued 
that the area is already saturated with social service organizations.

An official who leads a local mental health organization agrees, saying the 
location of a social service must take into consideration the character of 
an area.

"Whenever we have businesses and services and residents in one area, we 
have to strike a balance among them," said Sandy Lewis, chief executive 
officer of Provena Behavioral Health, which operates the Mental Health 
Center and the TIMES Center. "Whether it's a methadone clinic going in 
there or some other service organization ... I'd be concerned about the 
fragile balance of community and services."

The downtown area where Kendric Speagle, who operates Harm Reduction 
Resource, a nonprofit organization offering HIV education and prevention 
services, has proposed opening a clinic, at 12 W. Washington St., already 
is home to the TIMES emergency men's shelter, Prairie Center, which offers 
substance abuse counseling, and the Mental Health Center.

"Locating another social service in the area seems like saying, 'This is 
the destination for social services. ... The convenience of the minority of 
people is more important than the large amount of law-abiding citizens,'" 
said Amy Crump, who lives on State Street with her husband and three children.

Neighbors in the historic Sesquicentennial Neighborhood, just west of 
downtown, say the area has changed for the better in the past several years.

"When we first moved here 18 years ago, we could not get a pizza delivered 
because they wouldn't deliver in our area because the crime rate was so 
high," said Bobbie Culbertson. "That has slowly but surely changed, and we 
don't want to see it change back. We're finally getting to the point where 
we can feel safe walking at night, walking to the park, going downtown to 
shop, to the theater, to a restaurant."

Carolyn Petracca of Savoy has been renovating the house where her mother 
grew up in the 500 block of West Washington Street, an area filled with 
family history for Petracca.

"I want my grandkid to be able to run through the park, and if he wants to, 
go downtown and get an ice cream cone or windowshop or go to the train 
station," Petracca said. "All those things I used to walk to, I want to 
walk to freely and not feel pressured or that I have to worry about it."

Lewis said when Provena was planning to relocate a psychiatric respite 
center, it found what it thought to be the perfect location near Provena 
Covenant Medical Center.

"But when we started talking to the neighbors, they were concerned about 
the saturation of social services in the area," Lewis said, noting that the 
Center for Women in Transition was across the street and Empty Tomb, 
Matthew House and A Safe House were nearby.

"Their concern was, 'You're driving out housing for neighbors if you locate 
another social service there,'" she said. "So we stepped away from that 
location. I think you have the same situation here."

Lewis also said those receiving methadone treatment will have other needs 
that must be met, such as affordable housing, transportation, child care 
and job training.

"A program like this could begin serving the 40 people living within 
Champaign County, but that doesn't mean they will always serve just those 
people," Lewis said. "Has their organization considered the impact that 
their service will have on the continuum of care within the community?"

Speagle said the clinic would not serve a significant number of people from 
outside Champaign-Urbana, and it would offer comprehensive services to 
address vocational, educational, housing and other issues. How it would 
provide such services has not yet been established, but if the clinic did 
not provide them, he said it would work with other social service agencies.

Several neighbors say they wish Speagle had talked with them about his 
plans and sought their input, rather than learning about it after the 
process was already under way.

"While it is unfortunate that some community members feel they weren't 
heard at the right time, I would stress we're still in the planning stages 
and any suggestions or possible remedies for those concerns I will hear 
out," Speagle said.

He said he is planning an educational symposium and community forum for April 5.
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MAP posted-by: GD