Pubdate: Wed, 05 May 2004 Source: New York Daily News (NY) Contact: 2004 Daily News, L.P. Website: http://www.nydailynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/295 Author: Lindsay Fortado, Daily News Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) METHADONE CLINICS PLAN DRAWS FIRE South Bronx residents and business owners gathered yesterday to protest the planned placement of three methadone clinics in their once drug-embattled neighborhood. Plans by Albert Einstein Medical College call for opening the clinics in a building on E. 138th St. south of the Bruckner Expressway in industrial Port Morris. But the location is only a crack vial's throw from Brook, St. Anns and Cypress Aves. in Mott Haven, whose streetcorners were once the epicenter for drug trafficking - and violence - in the neighborhood. About a dozen people, holding small placards, protested in front of 804 E. 138th St., near Willow Ave., the possible site for the Einstein methadone clinics now located in a highly trafficked area of 149th St. "For them to come in here and do this, it's going to sink our neighborhood," said Leslie Lyga, a local homeowner and member of Community Board 1. There was no community notification or request for input, Lyga said. She also expressed concern that clinic patients would loiter in the neighborhood, where residents are already troubled by a new homeless shelter. Several residents said people from the shelter defecate and have sex in front of their homes. "The quality of life is going to go down drastically," said local resident John Arena. But a spokeswoman for Einstein contended that the location for the clinics was ideal and said the institution had, in fact, sought community input. "We engaged in a collaborative effort with Community Board 1 to find the new site," said Dorrie Burke, director of community relations for Einstein's substance abuse division. "We worked really closely with the community. Everybody's been involved, and we're still asking for input." There was no immediate response from Community Board 1 officials. Einstein has been looking for a larger space for the clinics for 20 years, she said. The medical school applied for a zoning variance for the Port Morris building, now zoned for manufacturing, and could move into the space as soon as a year from now, she said. "There is so little pedestrian traffic over there," Burke said. "If there's a concern, we will be able to identify whether or not it has to do with our patients, and take care of it." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom