(THE CITY) Ese Olumhense, November 17, 2019

Bronx Councilmember Mark Gjonaj stood before hundreds gathered at a town hall meeting on a proposed drug treatment clinic in Allerton and told them what they wanted to hear: “The deal is dead.”

The Democrat was among the East Bronx elected officials united in opposing the outpatient center proposed by Carnegie Hill Institute — even as all said they’re still seeking solutions for an opioid epidemic that’s wracked the borough.

“The opposing to a clinic coming into this neighborhood is not because we don’t know there’s an epidemic, but it’s not the right place,” Gjnoaj said at the Nov. 7 meeting, adding: “This part of the Bronx is truly inundated with clinics.”

Operators of the Carnegie Hill Institute, which operates a well-reviewedtreatment facility on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, near elite private schools, declined to comment.

Pelham-Throgs Neck, which includes Allerton, is among the areas of the city hardest hit by drug overdoses, with the tenth-highest fatality rate out of 42 city districts, according to the city Department of Health.

Gjonaj and other local officials say they know drug addiction is a problem — but have mobilized to derail multiple treatment clinic proposals in the past year, saying the facilities belong elsewhere.

Source: https://thecity.nyc/2019/11/east-bronx-pols-join-opposition-to-drug-treatment-clinics.html?utm_campaign=mailchimp&utm_source=daily&utm_medium=newsletter&mc_cid=2512f42763&mc_eid=db77ae1a16