Plans for Sex Offender Rehab Site Cause Stir

Plans to move a rehabilitation center for sex offenders into San Francisco's Duboce Triangle neighborhood has prompted complaints from neighbors and a city supervisor that there hasn't been sufficient outreach.

Sharper Future, which for years has offered services to offenders at 1540 Market Street, had planned to move into the ground floor of the building Maitri hospice owns at 100 Church Street Thursday, January 28 and open within days. The neighborhood is popular with families with children, and the agency would be going into a space not far from parks and schools.

But it appears that one of the entities in the dark about what's planned for the site is the city's planning department.

In an email to the Bay Area Reporter Tuesday, department spokeswoman Gina Simi said, "We are actively working to obtain more information about their current plans for the site to determine the appropriate permitting process."

In late December, the agency had given a letter of determination to Sharper Future. The letter noted that the proposal was to use the space for "mental health and sex offender treatment."

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which operated a thrift store that used to occupy the space, had also run a pharmacy and medical clinic at the site.

In her email, Simi noted, "The letter stated that the specified use would either be a medical service or institutional use, both of which are permitted at the property in question. However, no permits have been filed or approved by our department for the subject use to date. It is possible that Sharper Future misunderstood the letter of determination as an approval to operate at this location, as they have signed a lease and are prepared to open February 1, 2016."

In a follow-up email, Simi said Sharper Future doesn't need to get a permit to move in to the 1,800 square foot medical space at the site "as is." However, she said, "They will need a permit for any kind of physical tenant improvements to that space." Also, she added, "They will need a permit for change of use" for the 4,000 square foot space "that is currently permitted/authorized for retail."
Maitri Executive Director Michael Smithwick. Photo: Jane Philomen Cleland

Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose District 8 includes the Church Street location, sent a letter to Maitri Executive Director Michael Smithwick Friday requesting "that Maitri cease moving forward with this lease until it engages in robust community outreach."

In an interview, Wiener, a gay man, said, "There is no doubt in my mind that [Sharper Future] is a responsible organization that does really good work for a population that needs to be rehabilitated."

However, he was clearly irritated with what's happened.

"I do want them to do outreach, and they didn't do that, and they just flung this on this neighborhood, and people are understandably upset," Wiener said.

Psychologist Mary-Perry Miller is one of the founders of Sharper Future. Miller insists her agency has done outreach and said pausing the move would be "really difficult to do. We cannot delay services to these clients."

Smithwick said, "They have contractual obligations" with state and federal government agencies, but Sharper Future has decided to move the opening date to Tuesday, February 9. That's the day after a Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association meeting about the project.

David Troup, DTNA's immediate past president, said his group is "neutral on the business itself," and Sharper Future's clients are "really, really unlikely to reoffend," but "we have issues with the process," and his group would this week appeal the letter of determination to the Board of Appeals.

"This is a subject that evokes strong emotions in people, and [Sharper Future's] lamebrain attempt to come in quietly is being interpreted as they're trying to sneak in under the radar with something we don't want," Troup, who's gay, said. "I don't think that was their intent, but that's very understandably how people view it."

He said the appeal should give people in the neighborhood a chance "to be heard, and really learn what they're doing," and "hopefully" reach a consensus.

Longtime neighborhood resident Devin Kordt-Thomas, who's gay, recently launched a change.org petition calling for a halt to Sharper Future's plans. As of Wednesday morning, the petition (https://www.change.org/p/scott-wiener-michael-smithwick-thomas-tobin-halt-the-opening-of-sex-offender-rehab-center-at-100-church-street-san-francisco) had 501 signatures.

"The bottom line is there is interest in the neighborhood of having a dialogue, and people are very surprised they weren't afforded that opportunity," Kordt-Thomas said.

Wiener said his office was first approached about the idea in October, when nothing had been decided.

"We were very clear with them" that they needed to do "robust community outreach before moving forward," he said. Andres Power, his chief of staff "informed them this would be very controversial, and they needed to do good outreach" first, Wiener said.

"Whatever one's view on the project, the idea that this kind of use would go into a residential neighborhood without having done outreach to the community first makes no sense to me," he said.

Wiener said he's a "huge fan and supporter of Maitri," and "I have no formal power here," but he said, "I want Maitri and Sharper Future to stop, to not move forward, and to go back and do real community outreach."

Miller and Smithwick said there has been outreach, including sharing the letter of determination, which Wiener indicated is insufficient, and media interviews. (The story was first reported by the Hoodline news site.)

Smithwick, who said the meeting with Power was in early November, said, "The question was, 'With a letter of determination, is community outreach required?' and the answer was, 'Transparency is always a good thing with the community.'"

He said he didn't take informing the community about the plans to be the same as "reaching out for approval." He also said since the rehab agency wouldn't be a change in use at the site, that outreach wasn't required.

"Sharper Future hosted a really good neighborhood meeting" Tuesday morning with "about a dozen people," including Troup, Smithwick said.

"The question was asked, 'How much more time do you think is reasonable?" for outreach, he said, "and the answer was, 'Maybe a couple months.' So I'd be interested to know what Supervisor Wiener thinks is a reasonable period of time" to inform the neighborhood.

Miller said her agency "could not start outreach" until it had the determination letter and the signed lease. The latter happened January 12.

Asked whether he'd hidden the plans from neighbors, Smithwick said it wouldn't have been "reasonable" for them "to do community outreach in advance of knowing whether or not they would even be allowed in the space." He added that his agency "would not have been interested in signing the lease" without the determination letter.

Wiener said he understands the agencies wanting to make sure they would be allowed to use the space before doing outreach, but he said now they do have that chance, and he indicated that they're rushing things.

"They appear to have just moved forward and signed the lease" and begun work on the site "with an eye toward moving in before they do any outreach," Wiener said.

"Once they had that letter of determination, there was no requirement for them to immediately move forward with the project."

Education

Miller said the 1540 site would remain open until the move. That building is set to be demolished to make way for a high-rise, according to Miller and media reports.

Asked about what they'd be doing to ensure public safety at the Church Street site, Miller said there would be several upgrades, including brighter outside lights and more surveillance cameras.

Smithwick said Maitri already has an outside camera at its entrance at 401 Duboce Avenue, which is "monitored pretty much all the time."

Miller said, "The vast majority of our sex offenders are using ankle monitors" and are closely tracked by parole agents and probation officers.

"Their whereabouts are known on a 24-hour basis, and they know that," she said.

Sharper Future would be open three days a week from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Miller said. The agency is appointment-only. Drop-ins aren't permitted. Clients "can't arrive more than 15 minutes before their appointment and they can't hang out for more than 15 minutes after their appointment," Miller said.

One cause of the controversy has been people's misconceptions about sex offenders, according to Miller and others associated with the project.

"When we say sex offender, everybody cringes," she said. However, she said, "sex offenders have one of the lowest recidivism rates in the entire criminal justice system, and the majority of offenders are known by their victims." They're "not necessarily lurking behind a bush" or "at the bus stop," Miller said.

Psychologist Thomas Tobin, another Sharper Future founder, said the clients' victims include children, adolescents, and other adults. The common idea that "sex offenders all reoffend" is "simply not what reality tells us."

The agency would "generally see" 15 to 18 clients a day, Miller said. They come from all ages, ethnicities, and income levels.

Miller, a lesbian, said there are LGBT clients, but she didn't know how many.

Additionally, she said, there are clients who are already in the neighborhood. Miller said she shops at the Safeway across the street from the site and she "frequently" sees clients there.

Some neighborhood residents have suggested that Sharper Future move to an industrial part of the city, rather than Duboce Triangle.

Miller said Sharper Future would not consider going to another site.

"It's not possible to find another space," she said. "I've tried for six months. No such place exists in this city."

She said, "I used a very talented commercial real estate agent" but in the city's super-heated market, she'd been unsuccessful in her search for another space that could be used as a medical clinic and meet other needs.

Miller said how much her agency plans to pay for the space in the Maitri building is "confidential."

Almost three years ago, Maitri had provided AHF with an estimate that the fair market value of the space was $24,820 to $25,550 a month.

Smithwick wouldn't say this week whether the hospice will be charging Sharper Future more than that. The lease is for four years.

The February 8 DTNA meeting will be from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at California Pacific Medical Center, Davies Campus, in the plaza level of the gazebo room, which is between the north and south towers at Castro Street and Duboce Avenue.