BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It has been nearly a year since a methadone clinic was approved in a residential Buffalo neighborhood and much of the response from neighbors is negative.
"There were two people from the clinic arrested in this parking lot right here about four weeks ago, and they had needles," said John Shepard.
"In the last three-and-a-half months, we've had four deaths, in and around the neighborhood, in the streets, of overdose. Now, people can overdose anywhere, but until the clinic was here, we had never seen an overdose on the street," said Tom Gleed.
The Alba de Vida Clinic is operated by Hispanics United of Buffalo and the Acacia Network. It provides methadone dispensing services for 200 people daily. The center also provides counseling services. At a quarterly meeting Saturday, clinic leaders said they are hoping to expand.
Time Warner Cable News reached out to the clinic to see what that expansion would entail, but in a statement, they said no determination has been made.
Gleed has lived in the neighborhood for 26 years. He said recently it has been transformed following decades of drug and gang activity, and doesn't want to see the progress stop.
"We've cleaned up the streets. We've gotten people to invest in the neighborhood, young professionals with the medical corridor and the college and university are buying houses, they're living here, they're raising families here," Gleed said.
Carlos Velazquez is another long-time resident, and a recovering heroin addict. He said the clinic has helped him immensely, and has done nothing to hurt the neighborhood.
"This has been a drug-infested area for years. The clinic is not the problem. The clinic is helping not just the community but heroin addicts. They need help," Velazquez said.
Many residents say a methadone clinic would be just as effective, if not more so, in a medical corridor or in a commercial district.
Time Warner Cable News reached out to the Fillmore Councilmember David Franczyk's Office. Staffers said he is wary of an expansion unless it was in an area like the medical corridor.
"Just as we need to continue to work in partnership to address our growing opiate epidemic, we also need to ensure our neighborhoods and our families are being kept safe. We're committed to working with Alba de Vida and our local neighborhood associations to foster a productive dialogue, and see to it that all concerns and feedback are being shared," said Senator Tim Kennedy.