Newhallville rallies against methadone clinic
NEW HAVEN — Residents who say establishing a methadone clinic in Newhallville will set back a neighborhood that is finally on the rise rallied around their cause Saturday.
The APT Foundation, which treats opioid use disorder, purchased the building at 794 Dixwell Ave. with plans to relocate its Long Wharf services there, a proposal that has sparked backlash from community members and officials.
“It’s really about an American dream for a neighborhood that is on a resurgence and coming back from a lot of trials and tribulations,” said Kim Harris, a lifelong Newhallville resident who is organizing a campaign called Stop the APT Foundation. “We are not anti-treatment. That’s not what Newhallville is saying. We’re saying ... that (this) is not the vision that we want our kids to see.”
While residents stressed they were not anti-treatment, they feared the clinic could expose their children to traumatic sights, such as active drug use, and drive away business in a historically disadvantaged neighborhood.
Lynn Madden, the APT Foundation’s president and CEO, said most of Long Wharf’s services are administrative.
“On any given day we serve between 80 and 100 unique individuals at 1 Long Wharf,” she said, adding that not all those patients receive methadone treatment, as the facility also includes a primary care program.
Madden is open to continuing conversations with the city about other appropriate sites, she said. But in choosing the Dixwell location, the organization focused on finding a building large enough for the its purposes and where its services would be within zoning regulations, she said.
“These are well-researched, licensed, appropriate clinical services … that save people’s lives. And I think it’s difficult to locate them because there’s a lot of misconceptions and misinformation,” said Madden. “Those misconceptions and misinformation really serve to continue to stigmatize not only the treatment itself, but the persons who need treatment.
“It can really have a chilling effect on, you know, treatment entry.”
The rally
“We’re not compromising. We’re not changing our views,” Jeanette Sykes, chairwoman of Stop the APT Foundation’s steering committee, told a crowd of about 50 people gathered midday Saturday at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Elizabeth Street.
Sykes was one of numerous people to take the microphone during the rally at the proposed APT Foundation site.
“Why can’t this neighborhood have the same as any other neighborhood can have?” Sykes said. “Businesses are thriving on Fulbert (Street). We want them to continue to thrive.”
“Say no to APT,” the crowd chanted.
Most speakers stood in firm opposition to the clinic location.
“You don’t set up trauma sites in communities that are traumatized,” said Saladin Hasan, resident imam for Abdul-Majid Karim Hasan Islamic Center.
Other speakers included state and local officials from both New Haven and Hamden, as the clinic sits on the town-city line.
State Sen. Gary Winfield, D-10, state Rep. Toni Walker, D-93, Newhallville Alder Devin Avshalom-Smith, D-20, Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett and Legislative Council President Dominique Baez were among those who gave remarks.
“Disproportionately, economically-impacted community of color have often been on the sideline and have not been given a voice in very important decisions that involve their community,” Garrett told the crowd. “Your community deserves to be clean, your community deserves to have thriving businesses and your community deserves to be heard.”
“We want to be clear that the Legislative Council is committed to finding equitable solutions to recovery,” said Baez. “But not here. Not APT.”
City’s role
While New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker told rally attendees the city would work to find another solution, he cautioned that he could not promise to put a stop to the project. He did not have the legal power to do so, he said, emphasizing that the site was not on city property.
His remarks were not well met, as some rally attendees interrupted him and demanded he “shut (the project) down.”
“I understand that people in Newhallville and in the Hill feel like, ‘Why does it always have to be in our neighborhoods?’” Elicker said. But “I’m not gonna stand up here and give promises I can’t deliver on. The city can’t just decide to put it somewhere else.”
Still, Madden, the APT Foundation CEO, was open to alternatives, according to Elicker.
“Lynn (Madden) has not submitted her paperwork to the city because she has told me … that she wants to see what she can do here,” he said.
“What I can promise is that we will do everything we can as a city to work with the steering committee, with the community and with APT to see if we can find a better solution.”
In an interview following the rally, Elicker detailed the city’s role in the matter.
“The city doesn’t own the property. The city wasn’t involved in the purchase of the property,” he said. “Other than as a potential convener, the only kind of technical and legal role the city plays is in the approval process.
“That is a very legal, not a political, process. So the city can’t deny an application just because we don’t want something somewhere. ... We can only deny an application if it is against the city zoning laws.”
Yet the mayor recognized Newhallville’s frustration.
“It’s really important to acknowledge the frustration with an entity that is providing services going into a neighborhood that is really struggling, and the frustration that is expressed by a lot of community leaders who are working very hard to improve their neighborhood and their community,” he said.
Impact on neighborhoods
Many community members’ concerns pertain to issues reported at the APT Foundation facility at Congress Avenue.
Howard Boyd, chairman of the Hill North Community Management Team, told Saturday’s crowd litter was an issue in the area of the clinic. He once picked up syringes during a neighborhood clean-up, he recalled, and said people can sometimes be found actively using drugs in the nearby bus shelter.
“Our kids have enough stuff on their mind, enough trauma,” Boyd said.
Madden, the APT Foundation’s president, said she believes issues near the Congress Avenue facility have been alleviated.
“We have been in conversations, and really in collaboration, with the city for some time now really trying to address the concerns of neighbors,” she said, adding that the organization adjusted operating hours and reduced its patient population.
Other densely populated areas of the city lacking methadone clinics suffer from similar issues, Madden said.
“That’s a very dense part of the city with a lot going on there,” she said.
The Congress Avenue location gives methadone treatment to more than twice as many patients as the Long Wharf facility, according to Madden
But Hamden Councilman Justin Farmer, D-5, had more on his mind than immediate quality of life issues.
“The APT Foundation moving here could be a catalyst to gentrify the area,” said Farmer, who opposes the move.
If the facility is not a good neighbor, he said, residents may worry about property values and sell their homes at below market rates. Speculators from the community could swoop in, he said, eventually leading to “a situation where we won’t have our community anymore.”
meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
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