“We Won!”

So, what's next? No clinic that's fine with me, but what will we have there and when? Municipal Dream err... Plan passed in 2002 and not that much has changed. The potential for the whole River Street waterfront is great - let's use it properly!

New Haven killed itself by letting I95 to effectively cut itself from waterfront. In a mini scale River Street could be the magnet area for the whole Fairhaven.

Well this is not a win for this town ... Now your city will still be filled with herion addicts with nowhere to go there for the treatment that they need and deserve. So all the corrupt and bad things you thought were gunna happen as a result of a HARMLESS methadone clinic which saves peoples LIVES! are now really going to happen. You will get what you deserve, streets filled with people stealing,robbing,widespread HIV infections from using unsterile needles, people living under the bridge because they had nowhere to turn for help. Abstinence based treatment for opiate addicts proves to be about 10% effective for people because of the fact that these opiate based drugs damage the addicts ability to produce endorphins normally ever again, methadone proves to effectively help addicts to function and lead a normal life, get a job, buy a house, have kids, get married, just like everyone else. And as for Angelo and everyone against this and the community saying that these addicts are going to steal and sell drugs and it shouldnt be close to anyone or anything else, I guarantee you couldnt pick out 95% of patients there and even tell that they are on methadone. This community should be ashamed and I cant wait to say told ya so!

"we won"?
How has this town won anything?

They've won active opiate addicts with no alternative for treatment! YEAH WHAT A PRIZE!

The town should be so pleased with themselves! They not only prevented many people from getting treatment, they've also broken zoning laws and violated the ADA!

The "little guy" in this situation is the addicts, not the town!

So celebrate away! But guess what? The addicts that this facility would have treated are still in your town, still need a fix and are still willing to break laws or get a disease to do it.

You've taken the chance to help people get better and keep your town safer away. The saddest thing of all is that you actually believe you are safer without the clinic!

WAY TO GO!

Imagine if you had taken all the time and energy that you spent on fighting this clinic and poured it into helping addicts get better or preventing kids from becoming addicts in the first place!

Shame on the owners of the clinic for backing down. They would have won this one.

Fair Haven was always a great place to score dope....and not letting the methadone clinic in just made it so it will continue to be!

Dope dealers only go where the business is....and if there is no treatment there will always be plenty of business

I think the title "We Won" is in poor taste. The River Street Municipal Development Plan won in that the parcel was saved from a non-profit status. Fair Haven residents are not foolish in thinking, LABRAT and NATHAN BAKER, that the APT on River Street was going to be some panacea for drug use in Fair Haven. The drug addicted that roam our streets using and in search of drugs to purchase will always be with us. Most of them come in from the suburbs anyway to buy drugs, not score methadone. APT wasn't going to change that. What they were going to change would be money into the city coffers. And because APT is not coming to Fair Haven, I suppose those clients going to APT will continue to go to the methadone clinics that they currently use and that APT sponsors. Get a clue. Neither of you must live in Fair Haven because you simply don't know the scope of the plan for River Street. Enlighten yourselves.

Labrat and Nathan Baker, I see both of your points. When I was reading this story initially, I was sad to hear that so many people were opposing a clinic that potentially could help many in the neighborhood. However, in the last article, they made an important distinction as to why they were opposing it: not because it was a methadone clinic, but because it was a "big box" clinic that would take small clinics out of other neighborhoods, and draw addicts here from the suburbs for treatment, rather than having them go to a smaller place closer to home. I think having a small clinic here would be fine for people in the neighborhood who don't have transportation, but a big one for the whole area would be potentially very harmful for the neighborhood (and for those recovering themselves, as it could be very easy for them to get drugs and slip out of treatment just because of the location!). I support APT's work and hope they'll find another good place.

As for what should go in next, I'm rooting for a gym. It would be great for helping people with no transportation have a safe place to exercise, and would help youth have something more to do.

Personally, I'm far less concerned about addicts receiving treatment in a new clinic than I am about protecting the interests of homeonwers living in Fair Haven. Methadone clinics already exist in the city and that may just have to be good enough for the time being.

From APT's website:

"The methadone clinics serve a wide geographical region, from Milford to Old Saybrook, the Lower Naugatuck Valley, and the towns north of New Haven to Wallingford."

I opposed the plan for the clinic, I thought it would better serve it's clinents if it were downtown or closer to downtown on the bus line.

However I also disagree with Mr. Reyes comments about clients possibly being child molesters etc....Thats an unfair attack on people who are trying to get thier lifes together Shame on you Mr. Reyes. You should apologies.

We won, not an understatement. Although I agree with many of your points, I also understand the residents of the neighborhood. Let's share the burden of Fair Haven and the Hill and construct the clinic in another town.

While I agree with the aims of APT and their clinics, I agree with the general sentiment that the River Street area was not the best place for a very large methadone clinic.
New Haven is packed with social service agencies, and those agencies are laudable in their service to to the community, but it's time that the surrounding towns shoulder the burden of social service.

The bar is set pretty low for a win. How about ridding stores in Fair Haven, especially along Grand Avenue, of the crack pipes, the glass tubes and wadding? How about shutting down the stores that sell booze after hours? Do something other than gin up mass hysteria with fact errors and misinformation. Do something that actually changes the neighborhood for the better. A few planters, a new school and a couple of rennovations doesn't make a vibrant Latin community. A block or two off the avenue, it's mayhem, murder, shootings and drugs.

I'd like to see a year round waterfront indoor market in the building. A place to buy local goods and groceries with an indoor cafe for laptop'n and lunch'n.

I'm going to agree with Reyes here. They won.

Did the early commentators read the story, or jump on the hate bandwagon?

This is a big box clinic which churns patients out from all over the county. No thanks. New Haven currently provides the vast majority of these services already, in our region, and do you know what happens when patients fail to overcome their addiction? When they show up high to the clinics in other parts of the state?

The counselors drive them here & drop them off on the street. I'm not kidding, I wish I was, I really, really wish I was. I'm talking about clinics in Willimantic.

It blows my mind, but this is the mentality outside of the city.

With the huge demand for these facilities in suburban areas, I don't see why we would move away from this particular non-profits current model of offices in suburbs, on bus lines, and shift to a "wal-mart" big box outlet of addiction services. That's wack.

APT has several small locations in New Haven already; this was an application for a location to CONSOLIDATE all of them in one spot and close the others. That stuff LABRAT wrote about is fact-ignorant crap. No one has a problem with ABT serving small numbers of clients around town. Also, let Madison, North Haven, Westport, Putnam, Stonington and all the rest have a small clinic-last time I checked New Haven was not designated the "City For All Treatment" in Connecticut, but maybe I missed the press release by the Governor.

As the Director of the Grand Avenue Village Association, a Fair Haven resident, and long time organizer. I am very glad that APT decided not go forward with this.
Number one, non to little new jobs would be created. Their plan was to relocate and consolidate facilities.
Two,my understanding is that their plan was to serve 30 surrounding towns. That's roughly 25% of state.
Three, it was simply bad policy. In an effort to save some administrative costs they were willing to jeopardize their clients ability to get well. Addiction clients need a smaller more comfortable setting, closer to their home, so that they can try to re-normalize their lives.
Four, there are other treatments for opiate addictions that are just as effective, if not more so. Not to mention the fact that there are already a number of these smaller facilities in the area.
Five, we cannot support more non tax paying property owners in this neighborhood. We are very lucky to have a beautiful waterfront and wonderful architecture - we need to capitalize on these and other assets to bring the neighborhood up. I wish them well with their efforts, it just wasn't the right fit for us.

And to respond to a previous post. I agree that a few planters and cleaner streets doesn't "fix" all of Fair Haven's problems. However, as GAVA or immediate mission is Grand Ave. Since GAVA's existence over the past nine years there has been a steady increase in safety and maintenance along the commercial corridor. We still have a long way to go and we certainly don't do it alone.There are a lot of different groups partnering with us. You should know that there are examples of groups in the neighborhood reclaiming their space all over Fair Haven. There are many block watches and block parties, and pot lucks taking place to help build a safer community... along with numerous family oriented events....but perhaps you have to live here to really understand it.
I love Fair Haven, and I feel so lucky to live in a friendly neighborhood, where my kids always get a smile back when we go for walks together. There's great ppl here, and there are great things happening...and it's getting better everyday

No Methadone clinic in Fairhaven is GREAT news! As a resident of Fairhaven I am pleased that our already struggeling and ostracized village. However it is a great plan to have a comprehensive clinic in New Haven, offering not just methadone treatment, but also counseling, job training and an HIV/AIDS/HEP-C clinic. I love the idea of putting it in the (soon to be) former Gateway site on Long Wharf, since we already made that waterfront area unusable with I-95. That being said, I want to know why the city continues to avoid making our Fairhaven riverfront area as stupendous as it is capable of rather than leaving it in TOTAL neglect? Why does Destefano have such little regard for this historic neighborhood? Shiavone had some major plan for East Grand and he has let it go to waste...thank goodness the sun FINALLY faded the big orange X's on the buildings!!!!! It's time this city put some energy...real energy, not just lip service, into this neighborhood. Fairhaven is always just teetering on the brink and It's not fair for city hall to barely hang onto us any longer!!!!

Angelo would it be helpful to evict drug dealers from your properties after police raid them numerous times? Maybe as a pillar of the community you could see to it that they at least remove the barricades, maybe it's at the very least a fire hazard. ...

Labrat and Nathan Baker--
Really? Addicts will be left with no treatment options? Interesting, I didn't know that this would have been the first and only treatment center of its kind.
Regardless, the idea of a huge warehouse is not appropriate, in the middle of a neighborhood that has worked tirelessly to stabilize is definitely not appropriate, and taking prime waterfront property for a NP that won't be paying taxes is also inappropriate.

justcurious your curiosity just killed the cat you didnt do your homework if you had you would see a no standing no loitering complaint filled with the new haven police department,and the summary prosses of eviction waiting to be served by the sherrif. anyone can tell you eviction is not overnight thing its a three month process. there is not a day that goes by that i dont want to kick down the door and drag them out,that was the old me,now i practice composer,composer.

Angelo could kick some serious ass back in the day. He's taken over Fair Haven once AGAIN and this time LEGALLY!!! Back off haters!!! He's one of our community's shining stars and he will not let Fair Haven fall to the wayside anymore. Do your thing papi cuz you know we got your back!!!