Neighbors Protest Plan for Phoenix House Facility
About 50 neighbors of the vacant Lake View Terrace Medical Center staged a protest Sunday against a proposal to turn the site into a drug rehabilitation center for about 150 adolescents.
Lake View Terrace neighbors used similar tactics to defeat a proposal three years ago by the nonprofit Phoenix House Foundation to operate a drug rehabilitation facility to be named after Nancy Reagan. But the plans were defeated when the former first lady withdrew her support amid protests by neighbors.
Phoenix House representatives announced last week that they had revived plans to purchase the bankrupt hospital, partly because the original sale price of $7.6 million for the facility has been reduced to $3.2 million.
The demonstrators--many of whom brought their children--chanted and waved signs in front of the Eldridge Avenue facility. One sign read: “Just Say No to Phoenix House.” Another read: “Not in My Back Yard.”
Some of the residents said they are worried that teen-agers from the proposed drug treatment center will stray off the grounds and steal to buy drugs.
Joycelyn Furgunson, who lives about 75 feet from the site, said she and other neighborhood representatives are scheduled to meet with Phoenix House representatives on Tuesday.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
