TNC
03-09-2005, 04:39 PM
The city of Boise took preliminary steps Tuesday to set aside nearly $400,000 in federal grant money for a detoxification center — something a variety of charity, medical and law enforcement leaders have said is needed.
The $393,534 for a detox center is the only new building project in Boise's 2005 grant request to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The recommendations for detox and more than $1 million in other HUD grants came from a committee of residents and might be changed before grant applications go to Washington, D.C., by May 15.
"The committee felt very strongly and unanimously that the need is definitely there," committee chairwoman Marilyn Shuler said.
The city has tried on and off in the past several years to build a detox center. Former Mayor Brent Coles championed the issue, using $300,000 in federal money to buy 1.7 acres at 324 Allumbaugh St.
But when Coles resigned amid scandal in 2003, detox stopped being a high priority and negotiations between the city and Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, which had considered operating the center, dwindled. Detox advocates revived the effort last year, and the nonprofit Supportive Housing and Innovative Partnerships requested the city seek federal grants for SHIP to start a center.
The citizen committee rejected the SHIP proposal, but SHIP Executive Director Melanie Curtis said that's OK.
"It doesn't have to be us doing it," she said. "The important thing is that detox happens."
The citizen committee called for the city to coordinate a community-wide discussion of the need for detox and what kind of facility should be built. It also said the city shouldn't own the land or the detox building and shouldn't operate it.
If the center is built with HUD community development block grant money, it must meet federal requirements, including that most of its clients be low- or moderate-income.
That requirement has caused city officials to balk at the idea before.
"I've got grave concerns regarding that," Councilman Jerome Mapp said Tuesday night.
The $393,534 for a detox center is the only new building project in Boise's 2005 grant request to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The recommendations for detox and more than $1 million in other HUD grants came from a committee of residents and might be changed before grant applications go to Washington, D.C., by May 15.
"The committee felt very strongly and unanimously that the need is definitely there," committee chairwoman Marilyn Shuler said.
The city has tried on and off in the past several years to build a detox center. Former Mayor Brent Coles championed the issue, using $300,000 in federal money to buy 1.7 acres at 324 Allumbaugh St.
But when Coles resigned amid scandal in 2003, detox stopped being a high priority and negotiations between the city and Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, which had considered operating the center, dwindled. Detox advocates revived the effort last year, and the nonprofit Supportive Housing and Innovative Partnerships requested the city seek federal grants for SHIP to start a center.
The citizen committee rejected the SHIP proposal, but SHIP Executive Director Melanie Curtis said that's OK.
"It doesn't have to be us doing it," she said. "The important thing is that detox happens."
The citizen committee called for the city to coordinate a community-wide discussion of the need for detox and what kind of facility should be built. It also said the city shouldn't own the land or the detox building and shouldn't operate it.
If the center is built with HUD community development block grant money, it must meet federal requirements, including that most of its clients be low- or moderate-income.
That requirement has caused city officials to balk at the idea before.
"I've got grave concerns regarding that," Councilman Jerome Mapp said Tuesday night.