BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Neighbors in Buffalo's University Heights Neighborhood are voicing their concerns about a planned methadone clinic in their community.
Residents like Marilynn Martin say they are outraged after learning about plans to bring a methadone center to Cleve Hill Plaza on Kensington Avenue in Buffalo.
"We've heard so many horror stories about things that have gone on in neighborhoods that have a treatment center," Martin said.
Martin says the community had no say in the decision and that "some information that was given is that they were mainly providing services to persons from Seneca Nation, and we were concerned that there was no area in the Seneca Nation facility they could have accommodated their residents."
Shekinah Powers of the University District Coalition says, "300 to 600 people a day they claim to be approved to service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and this is something that we just don't see any kind of compromise in the future." Powers says they first found out about the methadone clinic in May, and they've been fighting it ever since. She says, "The main worry is depreciation of home value, the children who get off the bus constantly every day, and also the congestion that's already there."
University District Councilmember, Rasheed Wyatt says he has ordered a traffic study and is trying to put a stop to the clinic.
Wyatt spoke with 7 News Lia Lando and said, "We didn't get a lot of information other than the folks from Hopewell coming and meeting with us saying they had approval."
Wyatt says many residents have been calling him concerned about the facility, "Especially in light of the shooting a couple of days ago. what do they have to look forward to? Is this what they're going to be experiencing? People trying to rob other folks because they're addicted or they're in this neighborhood."
