Hundreds attend Lincoln protest of homeless medical respite center

Hundreds of community members showed up Saturday to protest the proposed homeless medical respite center at 1660 3rd street in Lincoln. The Gathering Inn (TGI), a nonprofit that provides shelter and accommodations for those experiencing homelessness in Placer County and Elk Grove, purchased land in Lincoln using grant funding from the Community Care Expansion (CCE) program from the California Department of Social Services. TGI plans to open the medical respite center in October. The city of Lincoln was never notified of the nonprofit coming into town until the close of escrow, according to a Lincoln News Messenger report on Aug. 23 ("The Gathering Inn surprises Lincoln with purchase of property for medical respite center"). Since news of the purchase went public, community members have communicated worries about what this will mean for the town. Jason Price, president of the Western Placer Unified School District school board, began the protest with opening remarks on the sidewalk while hired security from TGI blocked the building. "We want to show solidarity. We want to show this project and the state as well that community voices matter. OK, these kinds of projects shouldn't be done in a silo but rather as a part of a collaboration. That's the point of today's exercise," Price said. Diane Whitlock, who organized the protest, came to the stage to tell the crowd she's a concerned mother. She has children who attend schools near the facility. She said she sees young students feel secure hanging out around the schools every day. "I drive down 3rd Street every day. I see children riding their bikes. They feel safe and secure," she said. "Well, that security is going to be taken away from them once one of the largest respite centers in California opens its doors. Us as parents will never feel safe having them walk home because we will be fearful that they will find drugs, maybe left behind on the sidewalk or be approached by somebody mentally unstable." She feels TGI never reached out to parents in the community. "They never asked us what we thought, they never gave our community a chance," Whitlock said. "So now, as a mom and a Lincolnite, I hope that we can bring attention to this through state legislators, and they look at Lincoln and hear us roar and that they give us a chance to fight, and they don't let them open their doors." Vice Mayor Holly Andreatta took the stage alongside City Councilmember Ben Brown. Andreatta explained the city was never notified about TGI before the close of the property sale. Keith Diederich, president and chief executive officer of TGI, told the Lincoln News Messenger that the city was never messaged prior to the sale because of the property owner. "We engaged with the property owner on the sale of this property here in Lincoln, and they wished that this transaction remained confidential and we honored that at The Gathering Inn, but once we closed sale, our first call was to the city of Lincoln to say we would like to meet with you talk about this program, and let's work together to see how we can get this needed service," Diederich said. The property owner is the Care West Insurance Company, according the Placer County County Clerk-Recorder Online Services. The Lincoln News Messenger reached out to the property owners but did not receive a reply. Andreatta said the city council and school board plan to take legal action. On Sept. 3, WPUSD voted unanimously to move forward with legal action against TGI. "The Board has significant concerns regarding the potential health and safety impacts on students related to the location of these facilities and the lack of community engagement related to this Project," WPUSD said in a statement. "The school board voted they're moving forward with litigation, and we're going to be voting on Tuesday night," Andreatta said. "It was just a matter of the timing of our meetings. But I want you to know that I love this town. I was raised here. This place means a great deal to me and that's why I serve. I will not have a breath left in my body before I stop fighting. I will not, we will not let them come here." A crowd member yelled out that someone must have known about this situation. Another replied that Placer County Supervisor Shanti Landon knew. Landon confirmed with the Lincoln News Messenger she knew about TGI coming to Lincoln. In an interview with the News Messenger, Landon said she regretted not reaching out or following up with the nonprofit about its community outreach. "It is a failure that I am really deeply regretful for because it is something that I should have and could have done," Landon said. "I didn't because I was too trusting, and that was a failure on my part. "I was thankful for the opportunity to attend the rally at the potential medical respite facility (Saturday) morning. I went so I could listen and hear the concerns of the community and support the residents in their quest to find a resolution," she shared. Diederich said only TGI's direct advisors knew about the project. "We considered Shanti an advisor to us," Diederich explained. "She is the supervisor of the district and she was part of a couple of meetings with us, not all of the meetings, but part of the meetings. In those meetings, from The Gathering Inn's perspective, it was very clear that this needed to remain confidential until the close of sale." Andreatta encouraged the audience to speak to Landon. City Councilmember Brown told the crowd he has lived in Lincoln for 20 years, and his wife grew up in Lincoln. As he spoke, rumblings began from the crowd showing distrust for people they consider to be transplants from bigger cities. Brown began a louder message of love, saying, "We love you and we love the community, and we're not going to let somebody come in and take that away from us, the transparency, the honesty and the integrity that we need to have for for everybody. And when we say that we didn't know, we really didn't. We're gonna fight to the end, because this is what we need for our community. My daughter came to me, she says, 'Dad, I'm afraid to walk to school. I'm afraid to walk over to the church.' And to me, that scares the crap out of me." The protesters walked down 3rd Street to Lincoln Boulevard with signs expressing distrust for TGI. Many messages expressed wanting safety for the children and elderly in the community. "LINCOLN IS NOT DUMPING GROUND FOR THE MENTALLY ILL & DRUG ADDICTED," one sign read. Mary Ybarra lives at the senior citizen apartment complex across from where TGI will be. She said she fears for her safety. "We're wide open, yeah, no fences, no lights, no on-site management," she said. "It would be terrible. Yeah, it's scary, because when they get released, where the hell are they going?" TGI's Diederich said the medical respite is a closed campus where visitors cannot walk in and out. "We don't have any spaces in the front of the building for people to go and be at," he explained. "I mean, the courtyard in the back is sufficient for us. There's lots of good living space." He also said the company currently has an 83-percent success rate for patients who leave with a residential address; another 5 percent return to the hospital which referred them to TGI. "If you do the math, you've got 12 percent that returned back to the streets," Diederich said. "Couple points to remember, they came from the streets. Only 12 percent are going back. Number one, number two, people experiencing homelessness are no different than you and I. OK, if they're experiencing homelessness and they end up in the hospital, and they were from Roseville, almost all the time they want to go back to Roseville. "If somebody wants to return to the streets, we help them get to the place where they were at prior to coming into the hospital." Nigel Nelson, a community member, felt safety wasn't the reason people were protesting. "There won't be any ambulatory activity whatsoever," Nelson said. "People who are in here (are) coming out of the hospital. I don't know if you're in the hospital ever. When I'm ready to come out, I don't have energy to walk around the neighborhood even if I wanted to. "I think the main problem is that they feel they were blindsided and have no opinion and no opportunity to express or protest," he continued. "I also understand the challenge we have as a state in trying to figure out how to deal with the real problems that we have. We have to deal with the issues of people who don't have money. Are they citizens? Yes. Do they have human rights? In my opinion, they have a right to be protected in their person and their property." Chants of "Protect our kids," "Save Lincoln" and "We will stop you" filled the streets of downtown Lincoln. Another sign included "OUR TAX $$$'S SHOULD PROTECT OUR STUDENTS NOT STATE FUNDED SHELTERS." Diederich said TGI is using state funding to support the medical respite center. "We've been able to bring down at The Gathering Inn state funding," Diederich said. "I think it's important for the public to know not one dime of Placer County money is going to be needed. Not one dime of city of Lincoln or any other municipality. This is all Medi-Cal dollars that The Gathering Inn is being able to bring down to serve our population." Diederich said TGI already helps the homeless population in Lincoln. "Last year, at the Auburn program, 10 individuals that were served there had a prior Lincoln address at some point in time in their history," Diederich said. "And every single one of them, every one of those 10, got into a positive housing destination." He thinks TGI will be a great program for Lincoln. "I think this is a great program for the city of Lincoln to have in their community and to help the entire region and the entire community reduce the effects of homelessness on our larger community." He said TGI wants to work with the city. "We're willing to work with the city of Lincoln, and I am hoping that we're going to be able to do that and not go down a road that is not going to be beneficial for anybody," he said.