Generally when the locals are riled up I can’t resist grabbing my pitch fork and torch and rush out to help them storm the castle, but in this case I must pitch in with those advocating reason over high drama.
The KLEAN Treatment Center proposal to open a live-in drug and alcohol rehab on Hilldale has stirred up a hornet’s nest of opposition from the homeowner in the Norma Triangle.
The current controversy reflects a strange oddity about our urban culture. Even though we live in small town West Hollywood with it’s’ intimate neighborhoods, we still manage to live in our own self contained bubbles.
The most obvious manifestation of this is the shock that certain Norma Triangle residents have expressed about learning that they may have drug addicts living in their midst.
Even as a slightly out of touch middle age gay man, it was hard not to know that the San Vicente Inn is a notorious hot spot for recreational drug use and sales.
Indeed, the most ironic aspect of the neighborhood indignation is that for years the Norma Triangle lived in peace and tranquility with the tweaking patrons of the San Vicente Inn.
Yet these same neighbors are suddenly terrified their neighborhood will be over run with drug dealers and they’ll be killed in their sleep if a rehabilitation center opens on Hilldale in buildings that were formerly part of the San Vicente Inn.
It is hard to not be aware that recreational drug use is rampant in West Hollywood. We have more “medical” marijuana dispensaries per capita then any other place in Los Angeles County.
The City’s anti-meth campaigns have been hard to miss and I can’t imagine that anyone is not aware that at least several of their neighbors are in recovery for some sort of drug or alcohol addiction.
While it is not always obvious which of our friends or neighbors may have addiction issues, but just a few years back there was a bust of a major meth distributor on Keith, just around the corner from the San Vicente Inn.
There was no evidence of a wave of burglaries or assaults when meth was being sold in the Norma Triangle.
While some locals have raised the issue of the high recidivism rate for meth users, most of the clients of KLEAN will be there for alcohol and prescription drug abuse, with a few heroin users to leaven the mix.
From my unscientific polling, most people think a drug rehabilitation center is a safer bet for the Norma Triangle than the San Vicente Inn.
Indeed most of West Hollywood is either bemused or embarrassed by some of the over blown fear mongering (and character assassinations)by the more choleric residents of the Norma Triangle.
KLEAN Treatment Center’s executive director, Andrew Spanswick has credibility in the recovery community. He has been involved in high end rehabilitation centers, including Wonderland Treatment Center, which catered to high income and celebrity clients.
Indeed, given the monthly costs Spanswick has stated KLEAN’s clients will be paying, this place will not be catering to your run of the mill crack heads. These people are basically going to be folks a lot like us, just with some addiction issues.
If they can afford close to thirty thousand dollars a month for treatment, it is not likely these patrons will be stealing your recyclables to pay for a quick fix.
While it’s not like people in high end recover facilities don’t, on occasion, find ways of obtaining recreational drugs. But it is usually obtained from friends or even a corrupt staff member rather than your corner drug dealer.
We should also keep in mind that the City has helped fund Van Ness House which helps treat our local victims of meth abuse in Hollywood. It seems unfair that West Hollywood can export our addicts to neighboring Hollywood for treatment while pulling the welcome mat out from under KLEAN Treatment Center.
I agree with one neighbor’s suggestion that the City look into the problems Mr. Spanswick may have experienced when he was involved in running the Wonderland Treatment Center which operated in the Hollywood Hills.
Wonderland’s clientele included many famous, (and indeed infamous), celebrities. It managed to operate without generating any neighborhood controversy (that we know of).
On the other hand a comparison may not be fair given that Wonderland was physically isolated and buffered from paparazzi, being discretely tucked away behind security gates in the Hills and was not located abutting a night club district.
Furthermore, it’s fees were nearly twice that of what is being proposed for KLEAN in West Hollywood.
On the other hand, it is hard not to feel some sympathy for the residents who feel that they have been shut out of any meaningful input regarding the opening of this center.
State law essentially over rides local zoning when it comes to opening residential recovery treatment facilities. It is very similar to the law allowing the opening of child care centers in residential neighborhoods.
Residents are closed out of the process. I suppose because the Legislature, in its wisdom, felt that most neighborhoods would not be necessarily welcoming to such facilities.
I think we should at least approach this issue with an open mind and a sympathetic heart. After all, addiction issues are rampant in West Hollywood and the clients of KLEAN just want to get better.
While some of the spokes people for the Norma Triangle have come across as misdirected and alarmist, the neighbors’ legitimate concerns about commercial ventures changing the nature of their neighborhood deserves a fair and non-judgmental hearing.
