We are strongly against the Valley Cities mental health facility being built next to our public elementary school.

Their are hundreds of kids at Woodmont Elementary school, within 657 feet of this planned facility, and there would be people who are a danger to themselves and/or others and newly sober folks (24 hours sober) attending this facility every day.

It is planned to include an outpatient facility so they and drug addiction rehab patients would be walking in and out of their rehab center every day.

It’s a big facility being planned, so there would be hundreds of outpatients in and out every day.

And kids would walk home from school, right by this planned facility, also every day. Kids walking home would be likely encountering methodone patients, etc., walking by them on the same sidewalks. How does that make sense?

This facility that is planned to be placed by our elementary school is bad enough, but it is also next door to the Woodmont Library.

Next door means that patients may likely stop there on their way home.

Of course, they would not be supervised after leaving their facility.

Every afternoon, there are tons of kids at that library.

There are many poor families in our area who are still at work, and their kids hang out at our library. Plus tons of families, too, at story times, teen activities, etc.

Kids and mental health drug rehab patients, newly sober folks, psychiatric patients, etc., hanging out in front of the library, and in the library. Does this make any sense?

Do we have to wait until one of our neighborhood kids encounters a fragile, not-yet rehabilitated offender, and gets hurt, to get this plan shut down?

The Des Moines mayor has come out and stated that this project being approved was a mistake.

We hear that our state is disallowing city of Des Moines officials to change their mind on this unfortunate and unsafe plan.

How can our state place this rehab center next to Woodmont Elementary School and the library?

I have worked in mental health and I support more funding and services, but not at the expense of the safety of our children.

Please do not proceed with this plan.

How was this plan devised without any regard to our youngest citizens’ safety?

Betsy and Thomas Sproger, Des Moines