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Residents surprised by rehab home testimony
City planners decide to postpone decision on issue for 30 days
By Moryt Milo
At a Nov. 14 San Jose Planning Director's hearing, Willow Glen residents opposed to an increase in tenant occupancy at a Rainbow Recovery rehabilitation home on Kilo Avenue were taken by surprise when a former program participant gave negative testimony about the program to city planners.
Bruce Mancuso, who also did handiwork at several San Jose Rainbow Recovery homes after successfully completing the program, said program staff misrepresents itself to San Jose and Santa Clara County officials. He also accused Executive Director Nancy Wilson of poor management and insensitivity toward program participants.
"Wilson is not honest," Mancuso said. "She owned seven houses and enclosed the garages [converting them into living quarters] without permits and had to take them down."
Kilo Avenue neighbors have joined forces with Meridian Avenue neighbors just outside District 9, who also have a rehabilitation home in their neighborhood.
Rainbow Recovery wants to increase the occupancy at the Kilo Avenue home from six to 16, and it wants to increase the occupancy at the Meridian Avenue home from six to 18.
City planners said at a previous Oct. 17 hearing that they would make a recommendation on the application at the Nov. 14 director's hearing. After hearing additional testimony, however, planning staff decided to delay their decision for 30 days.
Mancuso said he has been clean and sober for 15 months but credited his turnaround to a caring program administrator, not to the program's management.
As a handyman in the homes, he said, "These houses can't accommodate 13 to 18 people."
He also said the city needs to look into why Rainbow Recovery's business certification was suspended for 30 days.
Mancuso told the planning department staff that there are good recovery programs in the county but that Rainbow Recovery is not one of them.
"This is what the public and city council needs to know," he said. "I spoke with Pat Dando [District 10 San Jose City Councilwoman] and Jim Cogan [Dando's aide], and I think you need to look into Rainbow Recovery and see what's going on."
Mancuso lives in District 10, where the Meridian Avenue recovery home is also located.
Bruce Burger, a neighbor on Kilo Avenue, said the residents opposing Rainbow Recovery's request had no idea Mancuso was going to be at the hearing.
"My jaw dropped as he started to speak," Brunger said.
Present at the hearing was Rainbow Recovery's attorney, Jeffrey Janoff. This was the first public meeting on this issue at which Rainbow Recovery was represented by counsel.
Janoff gave an overview of the program's history and reiterated that the homes were established to provide caring and safe sober living environments for women. He also said the program meets building code safety standards, provides 24-hour supervision and tries to be a good neighbor.
After listening to neighborhood opposition, Janoff said nothing in the neighbors' testimony addressed issues of nuisance, traffic or noise concerns.
"I heard attacks on the program but no real talk about issues we can define," Janoff said.
San Jose Principal Planner Darryl Boyd agreed with Janoff and said the issue before the planning department only pertains to an increase in the homes' occupancy. He said no testimony was represented by Kilo Avenue residents about the impact an increase in occupancy at the nearby Rainbow Recovery home would have in the neighborhood. This was the main determining factor in deciding if Rainbow Recovery's request should be granted, he said.
"The legal framework of the reasonable accommodation request is not at issue here," Boyd said, "nor is the nature of the particular program. What's at issue is whether or not a reasonable accommodation request should be granted based on what's submitted."
Since 1997 the city has received 60 applications for increases in occupancy in transitional living homes. Fifty-two percent of these applications have been approved, and at a community meeting Oct.18, at the Almaden Community Center, 6455 Camden Ave., Boyd told neighbors, "It is very difficult to deny one of these requests."
But neighbors on Kilo and Meridian avenues are determined to continue fighting residential rehabilitation programs.
"If these programs were moved into commercial neighborhoods, it would solve the problem for everyone," Brunger said.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
