This is 413 Ocean Avenue.
Palisades resident and Santa Monica commercial business owner, John Alle wrote to CTN about the mental health facility that is slated to open in Santa Monica at 413 and 425 Ocean Avenue and has ocean views.
“Forty-seven units are planned for residents struggling with severe mental illness and drug addiction, directly across from Palisades Park and Pacific Ocean,” Alle wrote. The developer is Leonid “Leo” Pustiknikov.
“Why was park and beachfront property selected?” Alle asked, and noted that Santa Monica Police are called to Palisades, Reed and Tongva Parks an average of eight times a day.
Alle, who co-founded the Santa Monica Coalition, has documented free needle distribution in parks under L.A. County’s harm reduction program and has long asked the County to stop giving out free needles.
The businessman asks about the wisdom of allowing St. Joseph’s Center to run the mental health clinic. St. Joseph’s is a nonprofit “that cannot account for missing funds that it receives from both City and County,” Alle said. [St. Joseph’s Center also received $100,000 from Fire Aid.]
Windows from 413 and 425 Ocean Avenue look out to Palisades Park and the ocean.
Westside Current Editor Jamie Paige reported in her story click here. that the property had long served as a senior-living home and residents assumed it would remain one.
“We had no idea this was happening,” said a woman who lives near the site and asked not to be identified. “There are already daily incidents in this park. We see people in crisis, people yelling, police cars here all the time. No one came to explain what was happening or how this will be managed.”
According to the Westside Current, the facility will serve people with serious mental illness through a partnership between St. Joseph Center and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH). It is funded through the state’s Behavioral Health Bridge Housing program.
City and county leaders confirmed that neither the City of Santa Monica nor Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath’s office were initially informed. “The Department of Mental Health did not inform my office about this project until after funding had already been secured — and that’s unacceptable,” Horvath said.
The facility will remain unlocked, and patients will be able to roam freely. But, St. Joseph’s, which ran The Manor, on Pico Boulevard, said it will operate this facility located in a residential area differently, Horvath said.
St. Joseph’s told the Westside Current “The facility will also have 24-hour professional security. Two security guards will be stationed at a single controlled entry and exit point to monitor access and the surrounding area.
“A curfew from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. will be enforced for all residents, and every participant must sign and follow a Good Neighbor Policy. Each resident will receive four daily wellness checks to ensure their stability and well-being.”