L.A. Presses to Keep Mental Clinics Open
The Los Angeles City Council on Friday urged the county Board of Supervisors to keep open 11 mental-health clinics, including four in the San Fernando Valley threatened with closure because of a budget shortfall.
“At a time when society’s need for mental-health services is growing, we must urge the county supervisors to do all they can to retain existing service levels,” said a motion sponsored by Valley councilmen Ernani Bernardi and Joel Wachs and approved by the council on a 13-0 vote.
“Countless numbers of the mentally ill in Los Angeles County, many of whom are among the homeless, depend on county services as their only alternative to total helplessness and despair,” the motion says.
The East Valley clinic in North Hollywood, the West Valley clinic in Canoga Park and Hillview Mental Health Center in Pacoima would be closed, and psychiatric services at Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar would be curtailed under the proposed county budget.
The cuts would be made late this summer if the county or state does not erase an $11-million shortfall in mental-health funding.
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