Editor,
Recent coverage of the proposed sobering station and Horizon Services expansion is beginning to read less like balanced reporting and more like advocacy. Missing from much of the discussion is critical context that the public deserves to understand before major policy decisions are made.
The Palm Avenue detox facility at 2251 Palm Ave. in San Mateo, operated by Horizon Services, is currently functioning under a probationary license issued by the California Department of Health Care Services. This is not a minor administrative detail. The facility holds license #410003AN, which expired Feb. 28, and remains under heightened regulatory scrutiny following a history of serious compliance issues, including a license revocation in March 2021 due to safety concerns and a patient death. The facility has had approximately 33 police service calls in 2025 alone. These facts raise legitimate questions about safety, oversight and suitability, particularly in a residential setting.
Equally concerning is the apparent “switch strategy.” Public records indicate that Palm Avenue is intended as a temporary bridge, with plans to close the site and shift operations to a much larger facility at 101 N. El Camino Real. This is not a simple relocation. It represents a dramatic scale-up from roughly 22 beds to a 69-bed campus, including a sobering center serving acutely intoxicated individuals. Before moving forward, the public deserves transparent reporting and honest discussion of whether expanding a program already under probation into a significantly larger and more complex operation is truly in the community’s best interest.
Eric Isero
San Mateo
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(2) comments
At the event, I met several individuals who live by the Palm facility and have never seen a problem. I didn't even know it was there until this process started.
An "expansion" of services is not a bad thing, if they can fill the beds.
Eric - Thank you for your informative letter. It provides very important details that the County and Horizon continue to hide and/or try to minimize.
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