A long standing problem in San Diego may be one step closer to a solution. Volunteers of America , which runs the drug and alcohol Detox center downtown, has been looking for a new location since their lease ran out over a year ago. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.
The Detox Center hit the headlines last year when Pacific Beach residents blocked it from moving to their neighborhood. Since then “Volunteers of America” has found a temporary home for the longer term residential treatment centers at the Rescue Mission.
But VOA President Gerald McFadden couldn't find anywhere to house the so-called “drunk tank” where police take people who are drunk and disorderly to dry out.
McFadden : Students, business persons, husbands, wives as well as individuals who have had a bit too much to drink that have come here as tourists
McFadden says finally there's a proposal to put the Inebriate Reception Center in an unused building on 16th street, just six blocks from its current location.
The Center City Development Agency will vote today on whether to help fund the move.
CCDC spokesman Derek Danziger says that would allow the unused building to be developed into a new college for the Thomas Jefferson School of Law.
Danziger : So effectively we are supporting existing social services that are down here and also providing new educational elements that will be coming into the downtown area.
The cost of maintaining the new sobering center could be around $100,000 for the city.
But City Councilman Kevin Faulconer hopes relocating the drunk tank will make it easier to find a permanent home for the rest of the Detox facilities.
Alison St John, KPBS News.
