Zoning Board OKs Methadone Clinic In Holmesburg, Residents Are Outraged
By Michelle Durham
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Residents in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood have been fighting the placement of a Methadone Clinic at the corner of Frankford Avenue and Decatur Street for years, but the Court of Common Pleas last week overruled the Zoning Board, clearing the way for the facility to open in their neighborhood.
Holmesburg Christian Academy, a school with pre-school through 8th grade students is right across the street from the proposed methadone clinic.
"Anger, frustration, feeling like there is a lack of consideration for our children," head of school Linda Lewis is steaming mad. "They don't care."
Across the street at 10 Buck Cuts, Barber Tammy Larson is furious because there is a methadone clinic a mile away. She says it's a family neighborhood, and the fight is not over yet.
"We have been fighting it for so long and when you didn't hear any information about it, you just almost had to assume you had won with everyone coming together but apparently not," Larson said.
Joe DeFelice is President of the Mayfair Civic Association, who has joined forces with the Holmesburg Neighbors. In the meantime, Linda Lewis' concern is the children.
"They have to cross Frankford Avenue, stand at that corner and wait for the bus," Lewis said. "It's very, very scary."
Numerous efforts to reach the owners of The Healing Way Clinic and their attorneys were unsuccessful.
