Editor,
Tuesday’s community meeting was not a breakdown — it was a breakthrough. For the first time, hundreds of residents were able to clearly and publicly express their position: Treatment YES. This location NO.
Editor,
Tuesday’s community meeting was not a breakdown — it was a breakthrough. For the first time, hundreds of residents were able to clearly and publicly express their position: Treatment YES. This location NO.
We all support expanded addiction and mental health services. We recognize the urgency and the human need. But support for treatment does not require blind acceptance of a flawed site selection — especially the 69-bed facility at 101 N. El Camino Real, a high-traffic corridor bordering homes, schools and a busy pedestrian environment.
This meeting revealed something important: Our community is not divided over whether to help people. It is asking for a smarter, more effective way to do it.
Other good alternatives exist. For example, the County’s Youth Services Center campus offers a large, controlled and underutilized environment designed for supervised care. Or the former StarVista behavioral health property on Mahler Road in Burlingame, a location that shut down in 2025 and is currently available to purchase, could allow for fast initial implementation and expansion.
Both options will face far less opposition, reducing delays and political friction. A project that becomes mired in conflict is a project that takes longer to open, delaying care for those who need it most.
If the goal is to deliver treatment quickly, responsibly and successfully, then site selection is not a secondary detail. It is the determining factor.
San Mateo County must move forward, but it should do so wisely, by choosing a location that works for both patients and the broader community.
David Long
San Mateo
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(2) comments
Well said, David!
Agree, well said David. And it is great to see everyone working together as a community to address how best to deliver services for those in need.
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