METHADONE CLINIC HEARING POSTPONED

A new methadone clinic in Braddock may be approved by the borough
council, but it won't be approved by the current borough council.

A public hearing on a clinic that is to be housed on the second floor
of UPMC Braddock was scheduled for Monday night.

However, due to an error by borough officials, the hearing has had to
be rescheduled for Feb. 14, and that's after new council members will
have taken their seats in January.

Outgoing council member Tracy Snyder said the hearing had to be
rescheduled due to a mistake in the way residents were notified of the
hearing.

For the hearing to be valid under Act 10, residents within 500 feet of
UPMC's property line had to be given 30 days notice that the hearing
was to occur.

Because borough officials measured 500 feet from the walls of the UPMC
facility, and not from the property line, some residents of nearby
Fourth and Fifth streets and Mill and Braddock avenues that might live
within the 500-foot boundary weren't notified.

PBA Inc. The Second Step, the North Side nonprofit organization that
would operate the clinic in UPMC, had an open house for the clinic on
Dec. 17.

Representatives of PBA say the clinic would treat as many as 100
heroin addicts a day.

Methadone is a synthetic drug that helps those addicted to heroin and
other opium-based drugs withdraw from addiction safely.

Borough residents have fought the installation of a methadone clinic
in Braddock, saying it will add to an already negative perception of
the borough.

In June, Carmella Mullen had to withdraw an appeal of a zoning hearing
board decision to approve the clinic after an Allegheny County judge
ordered her to post a $184,324 bond to cover costs should the hearing
occur.