Newhallville Blasts Methadone Clinic Plan

Newhallville spoke out with a clear voice: It doesn’t want a new methadone clinic in the neighborhood. 

The scene of that community-wide outpouring was a four-hour Zoom meeting that attracted 160 people who logged on, nearly to a person, to protest the proposed relocation of the APT Foundation’s methadone clinic on Long Wharf to a former school building on Dixwell Avenue on the New Haven-Hamden border.

At issue in the meeting organized by Democratic Ward 20 Committee Co-Chair Barbara Vareen, Newhallville Alder Devin Avshalom-Smith, and Newhallville Community Management Team Chair Kim Harris was the late December sale by Achievement First of its former middle school building at 794 Dixwell near Elizabeth and Cherry Ann Streets.

The sale was to the APT Foundation, a healthcare nonprofit with a long history in New Haven, including managing an often troubled methadone clinic site on Congress Avenue in the Hill near the John C. Daniels School.

Newhallville didn’t learn about the sale until the Independent published an article about it on Jan. 7. Newhallville neighbors on the Zoom call along with elected officials -– in attendance were New Haven and Hamden mayors, council members, state legislators — professed astonishment that there were no community meetings or consultation in the run-up to the mid-December transaction.

Speakers spent hours at the Zoom meeting making clear community opposition to the clinic move runs deep.

The APT Foundation has facilities in West Haven, North Haven, and on Congress Avenue, where its facility has been plagued for years with complaints from the Hill community about unwanted exposure of addiction behaviors and paraphernalia to children in that dense neighborhood.

Click here for the Independent article on the $2.45 million sale and how APT is planning to move into the 40,000 square foot Dixwell building all its central administration, a primary health care unit so those recovering can receive all their care under one roof; and a small methadone-dispensing unit.

In all that’s about 390 patients to be relocated, with about 80 people expected to use the facility on a daily basis, said APT Foundation President and CEO Lynn Madden, who was on hand gamely to answer volley after volley of questions Wednesday night.

After working with city economic development staff at least for two years on finding a suitable building and location, Mayor Elicker said APT went out on its own with its own real estate broker and the deal, without any notice to the city, was closed on Dec. 15; the information became public only when the sale was formally registered the following day, said Madden.

The mayor told her to reach out to the Newhallville alder, but Madden phoned former Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn, on the number on the city site; when that mailbox was full, she reached out no further.

"Why Bring It Here?"

“You’ve been to Congress Avenue,” said neighbor Latoya Agnew. ​“If it’s not working on Congress, why bring it here?”

Madden said APT has worked with the city to make the Congress Avenue site safer through hired private security staff and extra duty city cops; and freer of trash and syringes, and unwanted encounters between kids and recovering addicts.

That didn’t mollify meeting participants, from homeowners and business owners to substance abuse counselors and moms worried about walking their kids down Elizabeth and Cherry Ann Streets and encountering aspects of the drug life.

“We have proof that APT on Congress is a cancer in the Hill,” said Newhallville resident Radu Radulescu. ​“Everything Ms. Lynn said she’ll put in place is there on Congress, and it doesn’t work. I’m pretty sure Ms. Madden would not buy a house across from this. So why us? What other properties did you look at?”

Critics conceded it is angels’ work to address a national opioid crisis. But they argued that such centers are nevertheless dropped into urban Black and brown communities, even though the drug crisis affects everyone and many of the APT clients are suburban and white.

“Trying to proceed without community input always has bad results,” said New Haven State Sen. and President Pro Tem Martin Looney. ​“This is a model how not to go about doing things. I only heard about this a couple of days ago. There seems to be a unanimity of opinion to work or oppose any issue that is opposed to the community’s voice.”

Mayor Justin Elicker did know about the sale. He claimed that he encouraged APT to go to the neighborhood early, but ​“unfortunately that did not happen.”

“People are questioning my integrity,” he said after listening to many of the charges, ​“accusing me of lying, of covering up, and that is totally unfounded and inaccurate. When they couldn’t find an appropriate spot with the city, APT went on their own with their own agents and reached out to us when they had a site. And we told Lynn, ​‘You need to engage with the community.”

“APT is working very hard to help people who are some of the most vulnerable in our community,” Elicker remarked. ​“We all agree work needs to be done on Congress Avenue. I’ve been clear to APT and Lynn how they need to do more. I’m straightforward and stand behind what I’ve said. There’s no conspiracy here.”

The plan for the methadone clinic must go through what Madden estimated to be a two-year process with public hearings before City Plan and zoning commissioners.

She did not flinch from answering charges against APT and her personally and offered assurances: The facility is relatively small and devoted mostly to administrative space, she said. The number of those who will receive methadone there is small. The patients are among the most stable. APT will will hire security and schedule patient visits to avoid as much as possible contact with school dismissal times.

Attendees remained unconvinced and unmollified. Not a single person spoke in favor of the move.

Opponents argued the move will hurt property values; harm recovering and burgeoning business district on Dixwell; and expose children to loitering, violence, and drug use.

“This doesn’t need to be in an area surrounded by our children,” said Raphael Quinones, a native Newhallville resident.

He said violence and drug use in the area had been a factor in his own making wrong choices, from which he has recovered: ​“This will cause more violence to happen. Give the kids something to do, not people to sell them drugs.” Several speakers suggested the building become a community center instead.

"We Need To Flood The Media"

The last third of the meeting, after the heated Q and A, was devoted to what Kim Harris called ​“next steps.”

She called for neighbors to attend commission hearings. She also called for community meetings to update neighbors who can’t attend those hearings.

“We need to flood the media. We’ll talk about press conferences, rallies. They need to know that we are serious about not bringing this to our community,” Harris said.

She and Alder Avshalom-Smith emphasized the need for the community to speak in a single voice.

This was motivated in part by the knowledge, as explained by Economic Development Administrator Mike Piscitelli in his preview of the zoning landscape, that the regulations for placing hospitals and health facilities in neighborhoods are generally ​“permissive.” That implied that the project will likely move favorably ahead from the point of view of compliance with the letter of the zoning ordinance.

That’s why getting people en masse to meetings was important, the organizers urged their listeners, who remained more than 100 strong on the Zoom call even after three and a half hours.

State Reps. Porter and Walker pressed Madden on state approvals:

Walker: ​“Once you go through City Plan and BZA, don’t you need a new license from the state?”

Madden: ​“No, we are relocating services that already exist.”

Walker: ​“So the license is transportable?”

Madden: ​“One has to apply to do that.”

Walker: ​“The [state] Department of Health says you have to have the good standing with the neighborhood you go into, and they have to be receptive to it. Did you know that?”

Madden: ​“Yes, I did.”

Walker: ​“I talked to the commissioner and told them that is not the case. I’m going to listen. I am surprised Amistad sold that property to you. Your agency has a value, but not in a bedroom community. I don’t understand why you could not find a property in a more commercial zone. I will listen, but if the community is not receiving this, we elected officials will have to report this to the state.”

Among other New Haven and Hamden officials also on record Wednesday night vigorously opposing the project were State Sen. Gary Winfield; City Plan Commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe (speaking as a private citizen and homeowner who lives in the Hill); Hamden Legislative Council Chairwoman Dominique Baez (speaking as a resident and mother); and Hamden Council member Justin Farmer.

During a follow-up phone interview Thursday afternoon, Avshalom-Smith praised Newhallville neighbors for turning out, making their voices heard, and ​“participating in the democratic process.”

“They showed up and they voiced their opinions,” he said. ​“That is always healthy. It’s cathartic, especially in my community.”

As for next steps, he said, he’s still trying to ​“find out the details, the facts. I want to know everything. I was completely unaware” of APT’s planned move. 

“I encourage the community to continue to express their voice and to act and to organize in whichever way seems feasible, within reason,” he said. ​“I tell them to follow their hearts and lead with reason.” As for where he personally falls on the matter, he said he’s still trying to gather all the facts.

Tom Breen contributed reporting.