St Pete Times article part 2


Continuation of part 1
]
But the city has no role in this matter, said Pam Cichon, assistant city attorney.

''The North Shore residents should take their complaint to the state,'' Cichon said. She said Florida statutes defining community residential homes ''are unusually clear.''

In recent years, governments have been working toward moving mentally retarded or mentally ill people out of institutions into smaller homes where they can live more normal lives.

The Goodwill home would be about a block off Beach Drive in the heart of a section where owners often pay in the middle to high six figures for their homes. The home at issue is assessed at $169,400, but would doubtless sell for more. Goodwill officials say they will pay owner Steve Gruskin about $2,500 a month in rent.

Gruskin, who lives in San Francisco, could not be reached.

Men and women in their 30s would live in the home. Some would move from a larger Goodwill group home, and all are in Goodwill day programs from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

''All of them have been with us for a long number of years,'' said Jean-Marie Moore, Goodwill's human services operations director.

The home would be supervised in shifts, but no supervisor would live on the premises.

Martin said his clients are not a ''not-in-my-back yard'' group -- a term generally shortened to ''nimby,'' referring to people who say they support the idea of governments and agencies helping people but don't want facilities near them.

Still, there is concern that the Goodwill home could set a precedent, Martin said.

eternal vigilance

Regarding this North/South thing, let's just all try to get involved on all issues regardless of location in our 'hood; cancers are equally dangerous regardless of their locations.

There are already many existing group homes in our neighborhood. Some of them house sexual predators and offenders. Because of the medications prescribed to their residents, some illegal drug sales occur; some legal drugs have a black market street value. They represent a unique situation, in that evidently they can be placed anywhere regardless of local zoning.

Has the association ever considered a subcommittee to monitor these group homes. They still have to comply with fire codes, state health codes, permitting, licensing requirements, codes regarding upkeep of homes and yards, criminal laws, etc. Perhaps it would be helpful to at least document their locations thoughout the neighborhood, to make sure they are sufficiently apart and operating within the law. Could a list or map be prepared?

By John Philpot Curran, alias

GREAT IDEA

Excellent idea ! And our neighborhood has more than it's share of these types of homes.

Volunteers...

Perhaps a few of you who are interested in this issue would like to organize a small committee to address this? I'd be happy to provide information that Jim Martin, myself and others have gathered about Assisted Living Facilities and Group Homes in the neighborhood, who regulates them, a copy of the statute about them, etc. This is a very tough issue, because statute mandates their existence in any neighborhood regardless of zoning, and the only limit is that they be no closer than 1000 feet to an existing one. Some in the neighborhood seem to co-exist without problems, while others have codes problems that are reported. Some of the ''community residences'' are foster homes. The majority are ALFs for the persistently mentally ill, the majority of whom are harmless and are in community treatment programs. I have no information regarding any group homes in our neighborhood that house sexual offenders, offenders of any kind, or drug/alcohol group homes---does someone have clear information to pass on to me about those?