The following comment letter has been sent to the City Council of the City of Larkspur.
Respected Larkspur City Council and Residents,
My name is Patrick Torres. I was raised in San Anselmo and have attended doctor appointments at 1350 South Eliseo Drive and I was a Twin Cities Police officer from 1986 to 2009. I know the area intimately and regard the crime rate and calls for service to be extremely low in this area. I am categorically against a proposal for homeless housing in this area. I am astounded that local and county representatives have not vehemently opposed this proposal in the name of public safety.
The building at 1251 S. Eliseo Drive is somewhat on the edge of a small medical community of buildings at the west end of South Eliseo Drive. 1251 South Eliseo Drive is bordered to the east by a public park and then over 1/2 mile of quiet multi-family residential units.
I would say there was a slight uptick in calls for service when the building at 1251 South Eliseo Drive became a shelter for women that were victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes. The shelter was designed to be secret location to protect the victims from their aggressors. There were some calls for disturbances between the residents and some calls relating to undesirable people that discovered the location of their residents.
If drug use is prohibited on-site, where will the residents go to use their drugs? Hamilton Park is right next door and there is a largely un-patrolled bike path and open area between Bon Air Rd and College of Marin where drug use and dangerous behavior would be possible. One of the many business or residential parking lots in the immediate area would certainly be candidates for illicit drug use. Aside from the discarded needles containing toxic material and other discarded drug paraphernalia, part of this discussion should be the behavior of drug intoxicated people. The safety to the public will certainly be compromised.
These are but a very few of the issues that will be presented to the Larkspur, Greenbrae, and Kentfield communities. I am puzzled that this project is driven by folks that are not elected representatives of the community, but bureaucrats from local, and not so local, agencies.
This project will result in increased calls for service, a decrease in public safety, an adverse effect on safety and staffing of local first responders. Especially law enforcement.
In closing, I wonder at the wisdom of a San Francisco non-profit operating in Marin County. The definition of a homeless person “from the community” is very loose, inviting an influx of potential residents at 1251 South Eliseo Drive to be recently from San Francisco.
While I am unable to attend this meeting to personally read this letter, I ask that my letter be read in public at the meeting on February 8, 2022. If a representative from the City of Larkspur is unable or unwilling, I would ask that my letter be read by Dr. Jeff Geissberger.
Thank you for your time, and I pray God guides your direction and decisions in this possible dangerous course.
Very truly yours, Patrick R Torres jr