Residents at Ventura Garden Manor

Re “8 Evacuated at Group Home for the Mentally Ill,” March 11.

Give me a break! The problems at the Ventura Garden Manor have been severe, chronic and ongoing for many years. Did I mention documented?

This was not, as your article maintains, begun with good intentions. It was the facility managers’ attempt to spend as little as possible on the facility and the mentally ill residents because they knew the state, city, county and mental illness advocates needed them. Well, that thinking has allowed these abuses to be prolific.

My recommendation is for independent review because the agencies and individuals have not acted in good faith on behalf of the severely mentally ill. Can an unheated and overcrowded dining hall meet the licensing requirements? The residents of this facility, among the most ill still within our county and without oversight, are being [taken advantage of] further by those who are supposed to act in their behalf. Not only were their lives being jeopardized but they were working illegally.

I want to commend the contractor who brought this to the attention of the Fire Department and the city, which finally stepped in.

All beds within the county need to be in compliance prior to any expansion and that should include programs. Isolating the mentally ill in their own community on Lewis Road is distasteful and archaic. Let us move into the 21st century and try to meet the needs of the seriously mentally ill based on scientific research, not try to invent treatment. The county did that the last decade, and look at the expense.

LOUISE OSEGUERA

Ojai