Carnegie Hill purchases site for possible methadone clinic
The possible future site of a methadone clinic at 2500 Williamsbridge Rd. in Allerton
Schneps Media Jason Cohen
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BRONX TIMES REPORTER,BTR MARCH 6-12, 2020 5
BY JASON COHEN
A proposed methadone clinic
that was stopped last year by Councilman
Mark Gjonaj and Assemblywoman
Nathalia Fernandez appears
to have used deception to circumvent
the community’s efforts to halt
the facility from establishing roots
in the Pelham Parkway North community
.
In November 2019, Gjonaj, Fernandez
and Community Board 11 held
a raucous town hall where nearly
1,000 people expressed displeasure
with a methadone clinic coming to
the community, specifi cally because
of its close proximity to P.S. 89.
I am still against this location being used as an
outpatient drug facility due to its proximity to
an elementary and middle school, as well as the
undoubted congestion issue it will cause. I continue
to stand with my community’s sentiment.
Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez
However, on Monday, February
17, Carnegie Hill Institute, posing
as CHI LLC, purchased the brick
one-story property for $925,000 from
Florence Klapper, a Manhattan resident,
$75,000 less than the original
asking price.
Tracy Collins director of the Offi
ce of Government Affairs and Federal
Policy of the Offi ce of Addiction
Services and Supports said no plans
have been fi led regarding this location.
Carnegie Hill offi cials could
not be reached for comment to defend
their alleged duplicity .
Elected offi cials and residents
feel like they are being stabbed in
the back by Carnegies’s unscrupulous
behavior. Gjonaj, Fernandez
and Jeremy Warneke, chairman of
CB 11 were caught off-guard by the
sale.
“I am still against this location
being used as an outpatient drug facility
due to its proximity to an elementary
and middle school, as well
as the undoubted congestion issue it
will cause,” Fernandez said. “I continue
to stand with my community’s
sentiment.”
While the elected offi cials are
strongly opposed to the facility coming
to the neighborhood, community
leaders Irene Estrada feels the residents
were betrayed. An emotional
Estrada asked the Bronx Times how
the elected offi cials could claim the
deal was dead and now the sale has
gone through.
“Any insinuations that I, or any
other elected offi cials, spearheaded
or brokered this sale is completely
false. I am making every attempt to
contact the buyer to get a clear understanding
of their intentions and,
if they wish to open an outpatient
facility, urge they look at other locations
,” Fernandez said emphatically.
According to Estrada, the community
is furious and on Saturday,
March 7, the Friends of Pelham
Parkway are holding a rally to protest
the clinic.
“There will be no methadone
clinic there because we will fi ght
it in every measure,” Estrada said.
“We the people of District 11 commit
to fi ght for any issue that comes
against us to disturb our peace of
mind. Enough is enough! I am working
with elected offi cials to make
sure we are all on the sane page.
We encourage the people of our
communities to be at peace because
we the people will not allow
any clinic to be anywhere near a
school, house of worship or residential
area. We are watching closely to
make sure it stays that way.”
In September, Carnegie Hill Institute
presented a proposal at Community
Board 11’s Health and Social
Services Committee regarding their
intention to open a drug treatment
center in the corner property on Williamsbridge
Road between Hone and
Mace avenues.
CB 11 already has nine active and
certifi ed chemical dependence treatment
centers within its boundaries,
with another located just outside.
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