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REHAB - At the end of the I-110 freeway is San Pedro, an old, historic and quaint fishing town, now home to one of the largest and busiest ports in the USA. For generations people have lived here for its vintage vibe and rich cultural history, Families stretch back multi generations, which is kind of unusual in a rather transient culture like most of Los Angeles.
San Pedro is also the home of 3 large rehabilitation centers, 36 Fred Brown Recovery Services homes and over 100” six-pack” homes, serving alcoholics and drug addicted people. San Pedro is approximately 3 miles by 5 miles- not large by any means, but housing a growing population of addicts, brought in by outside agencies, not only from other parts of the city, but out of state as well. Providence Hospital in San Pedro also manages a large recovery program. Did I mention the number of Bridge housing facilities and new housing created for homeless people- at a cost of $700k per unit- that have been built here, with more coming? This small town is saturated with more recovering addicts, early release inmates and homeless per capita than other Los Angeles communities.
On March 11, 2026 Fred Brown Recovery Services, with no notice, conversation, or communication with the San Pedro community, was awarded a provisional $73.4 million grant to develop an addiction facility on 6+ acres of prime, ocean-view property. This grant, just a portion of the $135 million applied for, would provide 106 adult residential substance abuse beds at the site of the former Little Sisters of the Poor site, as well as 900 outpatient treatment slots for people coming from all over Southern California for treatment PLUS 88 “office-based opioid treatment” slots, PLUS 24 outpatient “partial hospitalization” treatment slots, PLUS an additional 16 residential “peer respite” beds -overall, more than 1,000 addicted persons would be using this facility on a regular basis. . The campus would primarily serve “justice involved individuals” (all male)- word salad verbiage for “early release inmates” with addictions. These patients are not required to work or attend classes or group sessions to deal with their addictions. They are not required to take their meds. They have free rein to wander the neighborhood all day.
With lax security in most recovery facilities, these patients frequently slip out at night and burgle cars, garages and have even done some home invasions. Their booty is then sold for drugs, and a whole cycle of crime and drug sales and abuse starts over. This particular facility is less than 500 feet from a preschool, and a church and even closer to senior living condos. There is an elementary school a couple of blocks away- an easy walk from the facility.
Fred Brown has applied to the State for a $135 million grant. They claim they will not be making any changes to the facility. What is the $135 million for? They claim the nuns can remain there til they die. They are already gone. As are all the poor elderly who had been living there. When breaking the rules and finally being booted from these facilities, the addicts don’t return to where they originally came from. They stay and wander the streets, drugged out, burglarizing cars, garages, and homes, and are sometimes violent. Because the grant was applied for through the State of California, neither the City nor the County has any power to stop the process. Councilman McOsker is opposed to this facility; Supervisor Hahn is for it. State Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi is not responsive, but since he is not running for reelection, and seems to have some control of the bucket of grant money, opinion of the community doesn’t seem to be of interest to him. State Senator Laura Richardson, who lives in the community at risk, is open to hearing from her constituents. The community cries for help but it is a small voice at the very tip of Los Angeles, on the harbor, very much “out of sight, out of mind” for the rest of L.A. And San Pedro gets saturated with drug addicts and inmates yet again, the step-child of the City AND County. Another shady quasi-rehab facility gets away with lots of taxpayer money with little oversight or accountability, while the quaint little town drowns in addicts from all over the country, not just southern California. The community is looking for answers as to how this was done secretly, without community knowledge, input or discussion and what the solutions could be.
(Gayle Fleury is Co-Chair of the Wilmington Neighborhood Council. She is also the Founder and CEO of Angel Gowns of South Bay, a nonprofit dedicated to creating meaningful keepsakes for families in need.)
