Here’s an interesting dilemma. A mentally ill person who killed his sister 23 years ago has been ordered by a court to be released to a neighborhood I represent and its right between two parks and a school. Understandably, the public is upset. Especially those with kids in the school and those in the immediate area. They demand answers to questions, that legally I can’t provide. What do you do?
I guess I’m going to try to hold the most frustrating neighborhood meeting ever. And the logistics of this is are a little nightmarish. I’m not sure I have enough money left in my budget to properly notice everyone affected, so it’d be great if the state or school or Mayor’s Office would send the notices. Even if we get people there, I’m not sure what we can tell them. Since some of us were briefed, but signed confidentiality statements, we have information, but we can’t release it without risking civil laws suits and criminal prosecution with penalties of up to $25,000 and 9 months in jail, or both.
So, I’m trying to figure out what usefulness we can have in such a meeting. So far, I think we could have the state generally describe their program. We can have the police generally describe what types of plans they put in place when they are notified by the court someone is going to be released in the area that is of concern. We can have the school describe what plans they have in place. Some in the neighborhood feel that we have an unfair share of group homes and we can bring maps that show that information. Beyond that, I’m not sure what else we can do. And I’m quite certain that many people will walk away from the meeting extremely frustrated because they do not get the answers to many of their questions. But, we can have a meeting. And be frustrated. I hope the public can understand the position we are in due to the state laws and the courts and understand that we are doing our best to get them the information that we can.
