VA will extend contract

Hill said the Board is currently in the process of negotiating an agreement with the VA. The VA's willingness to continue to provide Methadone treatment, until yesterday's announcement, has been nebulous at best.

"This agreement with the Veterans Administration will give us greater flexibility in providing services to those clients undergoing methadone treatment," Hill said. Adding that the county has been working toward this agreement the entire time.

"Everyone's been saying it's a done deal. The County's lying to us and that [County Board of Supervisors] were planning to use the San Mateo County General Hospital site all along. Hopefully, this will prove that was never the case," Hill said in reference to a few of the complaints that have been levied against him and the Board of Supervisors.

The complaints include the perception that the County's handling of the situation has been secretive. Several have, in fact, accused the County outright of "trying to get one over on the community." Others have complained that the County has never actually been attempting to find alternate locations to treat methadone clients. Some have referenced the County's plans as being a sweetheart deal that would help to bolster the financially unstable hospital's budget.

In the eyes of some community members all those complaints are still valid. "They are beginning to feel the heat," said Thaine Anderson, a concerned community member. "Consequently, they are going to back down a little bit. Then they'll just try to sneak it back in again, in a year or so."

Similar sentiments were echoed by Jill Wright, another community member. "The contracts are only guaranteed on a year-to-year basis," Wright said.

She expressed that the VA still operating may give the County more time to find another location other than San Mateo County General, and that she would be happy with that decision. "But this doesn't change anything. It still doesn't change the impact on the neighborhood. They're still going to be here." Wright said.

Wright and Anderson both want there to be no treatment of heroin at County General.

According to Hill, the County plans to operate a satellite methadone facility inside County General. The satellite facility will serve approximately 60 -100 clients, down significantly from the estimated 266 that the site would serve had the VA decided not to continue providing treatment.

Despite the numbers, the community is still concerned. Some of the cause for this alarm is directly related to a rumor that the County General last July applied for a license with the state to operate a Methadone Clinic, but was turned away by officials in Sacramento because the facility was not up to code.

"That tells us they already tried this once. Thank God Sacramento shot them down — It bought us some extra time so we could fight this," Anderson said.

Margaret Taylor, director of Health Services at San Mateo County General expressed that her agency as well as the County has been forthcoming with the community. "This is really what we have said to the neighbors all along. But they only hear what they want to hear," Taylor said.

She also expressed some ownership of the neighborhood as well, stating that the hospital has been operating far longer than the community has been living there.

San Mateo County General will have an Open House for the new Health Services on Saturday at 10 a.m. Some community members involved in the campaign against the hospital have expressed their intent to attend.