Careless spending, no transparency on El Camino Real treatment center

Neighbors were given no notice or opportunity for input. Elected officials did not inform us. Now we are told the process must move quickly. That is not transparency. That is a fait accompli. Residents are not opposed to behavioral health services, and would welcome the chance to help shape process and policy. We object to being cut out and rushed past.

Before the county spends Proposition 1 bond money — reportedly above asking, in an expensive area — residents are owed an explanation of why other locations were never considered. Sites near County Hospital, Tower Road, the Burlingame-Millbrae frontage road, and California Drive are less dense, more appropriate, less expensive and closer to existing health and law enforcement infrastructure. The county has offered no accounting of why premium property in a high-cost residential corridor was chosen instead. Needing something does not justify wasting money. That is a failure of fiduciary duty.

Supervisor Noelia Corzo’s claim that there are “few viable locations” has never been substantiated. The county is geographically large. That assertion insults the intelligence of the taxpayers funding it.

One final point: El Cerrito Avenue is the gateway to downtown San Mateo, East San Mateo and Hillsborough — already high-traffic, accident-prone intersection with poor visibility and pedestrian safety concerns. 

County residents deserve better.

Alicia Isero

San Mateo