We the undersigned community members and small business owners call upon our elected officials to take concrete, quantifiable, measures to improve the quality of patient care at Lakeside Manor.

For years the neighborhood has witnessed public intoxication, open drug, public consumption of alcohol, public urination, criminal trespass, littering, and aggressive panhandling at local businesses.

Mentally ill chemical abusers and registered sex offenders residing in Lakeside Manor wander our streets without supervision. These individuals aggressively and persistently demand money from customers who patronize the local shops. Some of these patients are clearly very intoxicated by 8 a.m., staggering down the middle of the street, mingling with oncoming traffic. They leave their beer cans and bottles in the yards of community residents and are often confrontational when asked to leave private property. A Level Three Sex Offender, listed in the NYS database, resides at Lakeside and wanders the neighborhood unattended: he lives across the street from a Day Care and 500 feet from an intermediate school.

While the majority of patients at Lakeside Manor cause no one any harm, the substance abusers and the sex offender clearly require a level of care they are not receiving as public intoxication, panhandling, urination, tresspassing, littering, and confrontational behavior degrade the quality of life for all residents -- including those who live at Lakeside -- and adversely affect local businesses.

We the undersigned demand that our elected officials take measurable steps to ensure qualitative change at this facility – for the community, for the local businesses, and for the patients themselves.