By Margie M. Palmer | SDUN Reporter 
Tensions ran high during the April 2 Uptown Planners meeting, where representatives from the Old Town Academy (OTA) and Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System of San Diego presented arguments regarding a possible rehabilitation and treatment facility.
More than 100 parents and community members attended the standing room only meeting, oftentimes lending applause and, in some cases, objection to the various speakers discussing the Domiciliary Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment Program (DRRTP).
OTA co-founder and Executive Director Tom Donahue said if the VA is successful in its bid for a conditional use permit for a property at 2121 San Diego Ave., the school might be forced to close its doors.
The proposed location is across the street from the Academy. OTA cofounder and chair of the board of directors Chris Celentino said if the center opens, “196 of 217 students enrolled at OTA will leave.”
Citing concern over the close proximity to the school, Celentino said, “The parents of these children have signed petitions against [the DRRTP] saying they will leave our school because they don’t believe its proximity to OTA is safe.”
Celentino then said, “If [the students leave] the cost to cover expenses for the school will skyrocket. In addition to losing the per-student funding provided by the state, our insurance will increase two to five times over its current amount. That’s a potential six-figure increase in our insurance alone if this center opens.”
Donahue said while the staff has tried to keep an open mind, he thinks the decision to open a DRRTP 22 feet from an elementary school was poorly constructed.
“If even 20 students are lost, the school will be in peril,” Donahue said. “We never would have sought to open OTA at this location had the VA facility been there first.”
In a September 2011 application prepared for the City of San Diego Development Services Department, the VA requested permission to utilize the property as a DRRTP facility.
VA San Diego DRRTP Chief Debbie Dominick attended the Uptown Planners meeting and said the facility would focus on the rehabilitation of veterans impacted by mild to moderate brain injuries, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and possible substance abuse issues.
“The DRRTP would have a total of 40 beds and [more than 26] full-time employees,” the application states. “Services offered would include neuropsychological and mental health assessments, cognitive rehabilitation, evidence-based psychotherapy for PTSD, medication management, occupational therapy, seizure stabilization maintenance and vocational and occupational assessment, among others.”
In a Feb. 29 letter sent to the City of San Diego Development Services Department, OTA’s attorney, Cynthia Morgan, voiced opposition to the project. Morgan said the facility poses a detriment to public health, safety and welfare.
“Statistics show that veterans who suffer from PTSD exhibit on average 13.3 violent acts per year, as opposed to 3.5 to 4 violent acts per year for non-PTSD sufferers,” Morgan said at the meeting. “We feel the location of this facility is unsafe and it is not appropriate at this location.”
Dominick, however, said the VA’s goal is to be a good neighbor and does not believe the DRRTP and OTA are incompatible in any way.
“There have not been any issues in communities in which these clinics already operate,” she said. “We keep hearing from many of you that you believe this would be a great program, as long as it is in someone else’s backyard.”
While a vote was scheduled for the April 2 meeting, the Uptown Planners decided to postpone the vote on whether they will endorse the VA’s request to May 1.
I am deeply hurt on how Chis Celentino is really streching the truth about the data that he presented to uptown Planners regarding the Voilent acts. That was a report that was done in 1980′s. Those reports he recieved from the Domiciliary’s I am sure if there was anything that a veteran hurt someone he would have brought it to the boards attention. Is the crime in old town? I am a proud woman vet of 22 years and I am prying hard over this because I know what the right thing is, that the Aspire Center should be able to be placed anywhere!!! I have three children and my spouse is still active duty I could never take them to these planing meetings, they would be so hurt about how some people act. I know God knows what is right and in the end, it is truly in God’s hands!!!
Reporting the 13.3 violent acts per year “statistic” in this article is insidious and adds inflammatory untruths to this already heated debate. During the meeting, Ms. Morgan commented vaguely that they found this “statistic” on the VA’s website. Perhaps Ms. Morgan and Mr. Celentino’s team needs a refresher on what constitutes an accurate “citation”, but as a reminder, it includes the name of the researcher, year the research was conducted, and a description of the research study. Citing “the internet” is hardly the source of rigorous scientific data.
I certainly hope that the OT academy children never need to go to the VA or suffer from from PTSD or TBIs when they become adults and join the arm forces to serve their country. But if they do decide to lay it on the line and put the uniform on and experience the fall out of war and defending out country, I hope they have a place to go to, I hope they can go home to OT and get the help they could possibly need.
The article fails to mention that the VA Medical Director, Dr. Smith, clearly stated that when the VA was considering the San Diego Avenue site, the landlord failed to tell them that he had also signed a lease for the new Charter Elementary School in his adjoining building. Had the landlord been honest with the VA about the new Charter School, VA employees have said they might have chosen one of the other proposed locations.
The real villain in this situation is a greedy landlord who wasn’t honest in his dealings with the VA. As a result, the delivery of services to veterans will be delayed, and ordinary citizens have been provoked to fear veterans and the Federal Government.
Try and set aside emotions for a moment, and listen to what was actually happening at the Uptown Planners meeting.
The landlord has applied for a waiver of the zoning rules to permit the VA’s rental use of one of the buildings. In its application, the landlord may have made material misrepresentations (lies?) regarding his future tenants’ (VA) use of the building, and citations of Municipal Code.
In response to apparently legitimate claims of Errors & Omissions in the landlord’s application, Uptown Planners appropriately asked the City Attorney for guidance. This is the reason the vote was delayed to May.
In American history we have a term for contractors, food suppliers, landlords, and alike that supply substandard products or lie in their dealings with the military and the Federal government. We call them “War Profiteers”, and they are scorned, and sometimes imprisoned.
I am a Navy veteran, and live across the street from the proposed VA facility.
As American’s, we owe these individuals a debt of gratitude and we must not repeat the mistakes of treating Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans in the same unfortunate manner that Vietnam Veterans were treated upon their return home in the 1960′s and 1970′s. All of these Veterans have protected us and now we need to take care of them and support them. A Veteran who has served our country with honor and voluntarily enters a program to improve their well being needs to be supported.
I think the comments from the OTA officials are delusive.
I strongly encourage you to support the VA Healthcare System’s Aspire Center in Old Town. We want these young men and women to be welcomed in every community of our city and accepted as productive members of society as they come home.