Letter to the Broad Ripple Gazette:

It's common sense, an alcoholic shouldn't rent an apartment upstairs from a bar. So WHY does Overdose Lifeline (ODL), Inc. want to put its first drug and alcohol recovery residential facility at 49th and Winthrop in the location of the former Indy Hostel? Right in the center of known drug trafficking and seven (7) BARS - all within easy walking distance - The Upland Brewery, The Sinking Ship, The Empty Bottle Liquor Store, Scarlet Lane Brewery, The Half Liter Beer Garden, The Red Key Tavern, and The Twenty-Tap Gastropub.

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the answer seems to come down to money. Obviously, if they wanted to help these recovering addicts, their first priority would be to set them up for success. In a secure facility. Far away from those cues that trigger their addictive behaviors. Someplace with ample parking for guests and visitors, with easy access to public transportation in case they don't have a car. And, such places DO in fact exist and lists were provided to the petitioner early in this process.

So, why have they selected this clearly suboptimal location?

The property is purportedly held by the Justus Group and Overdose Lifeline claims that the property will change hands next month when they begin to receive some of their 3-year grant funding. Meanwhile with each passing month, ODL is missing out on significant federal funding. They need a facility in which to house residents. We can wonder if this burning sense of urgency had anything to do with the fact that MKNA posted notice about the Land Use Committee meeting to every zone in Meridian-Kessler, EXCEPT for zone 6 - the very location of the proposed recovery house. Come on, really? Yes, really.

Though only 3 local neighbors were present at the Feb 8th, 2022 Land Use Meeting, the Committee rendered a vote in favor of the petition. Sorry 'bout ya, zone 6. You've been disenfranchised! And we have to agree, it definitely expedited matters to keep the locals out of the loop. So when the hearing was rescheduled, over 60 local residents and 5 local business totaling SIXTY (65) stood AGAINST the rezoning, while only 2 people from the local neighborhood were in favor. This is more than a 30 to 1 ratio of the local neighborhood being AGAINST this rezoning petition!

So, we get that there's a genuine need for recovery houses -- especially for women with their little children -- but the fact stands, you've chosen a TERRIBLE location for such a facility, people. AND to top it off, during that Land Use Meeting and every subsequent encounter the petitioner has been uncooperative and condescending to people who actually live around the proposed facility.

I'm still trying to understand why more people aren't concerned (or should I say, alarmed), about the scheduled II and schedule III drugs, methadone and suboxone, that will be housed in the facility... does that not concern ANYONE? I mean, these meds can be worth $80 a pill on the street. And, if you have a month's supply for 20 people... uh, you guys, that could be over $96,000 of drugs. How in the world can you keep a little wooden house built in the 1920s full of women and babies safe from four drug-seeking felons with guns?

We want to know.

We've been requesting a comprehensive safety plan from the petitioner... but honestly, even if you stick all those pills in a big iron-clad safe. . . it would be far be far easier to rob this little house than to rob a bank. According to the FBI, the average bank heist yields only $7500. Imagine what a target for criminal violence you are placing right in the middle of a densely populated residential neighborhood. As we see it, it will only be a matter of time before the local dealers get wind of what's being kept where in that little house. . . and shots will fly. And children and families living near 49th and Winthrop will bear the brunt of this violence.

A formal letter of petition has been submitted to the Marion County Health Department signed by ten physicians and clinicians who oppose this location for patients in early recovery. Physicians state, "Placing a patient in recovery in this type of cue-saturated environment would clearly and unequivocally endanger their efforts to maintain abstinence and expose them to a substantial risk of relapse." Our local community is once again appealing to the Zoning Commission to stand up for these women who deserve a fighting chance at recovery - please don't set these women up for failure by placing them in a high-risk environment surrounded by the triggers that are known to lead to relapse. We continue to appeal to our City Councilman, William "the Duke" Oliver, to help our local community which has been left without fair representation in this process.

We can only pray that when the full MDC board meets on Wednesday, May 4th, 2022, they will do the right thing. We hope they will examine all the facts and support these women in recovery by OPPOSING the re-zoning petition at 49th and Winthrop. We continue to recommend that the petitioner fulfill their duty of care to these women in early recovery by placing them in an environment free from high-risk drug an alcohol triggers known to lead to relapse.

- Ami Rice