 |
| A different kind of money pit. |
Anyway, a new tenant has moved into the home located at 22 W. Carter. Called the Dedicato Treatment Center, it is a drug abuse rehabilitation outfit for extremely well-heeled addicts and recovering junkies. Dedicato TC rents this wickiup from its owners for $5,000 a month, with its clients rumored to be paying upwards of $30,000 a month to abide at this idyllic Sierra Madre locale and take the cure.
By all appearances a seriously profitable business, and a platinum detox for sure. You couldn't purge in finer surroundings. But is West Carter really an appropriate setting for this kind of an enterprise? Is John Keyes and his DTs really the sort of thing you'd pay a million or two dollars to have as your neighbor? Would you ever feel comfortable asking them to lend you the GreyPoupon?
The Dedicato Treatment Center has a website, of course. They've done this to let potential clients know what it is they have to offer. That is pretty much how the folks who filled me in about this found out about the place. Here is a link, and this is what they have to say for themselves.
An estimable substance abuse treatment facility I am sure, but at those prices I don't suspect they will be passing out their business cards at The Buccaneer. But fear not, you can get a free insurance verification.
The founder is some dude who calls himself Dr. Keith. Doctors who call themselves by their first names have always been worrisome for me, but then again I came of age sometime in the 1970s, a decade often celebrated for its firm dedication to substance abuse. Maybe things have changed.
Here's a short video where Dr. Keith promotes the benefits of fighting your next battles with drug addiction on West Carter.
 |
| To view this video click here. |
The Chicago School degree hanging on Dr. Keith's wall should not be confused with the University of Chicago where Professor Peter Dreier learned his trade. Rather it is a kind of University of Phoenix for those interested in the exciting field of psychology. Which is a little like psychiatry, but you don't get to prescribe the kinds of drugs that could cause you to require the services of the Dedicato Treatment Center.
If you are interested you can read all about The Chicago School by clicking here. Operators are standing by to take your calls. Please have your credit card ready.
As is often the case, someone commenting on this site yesterday had some invaluable insight into what could be going down at the DTC. Here is that reader comment.
22 W Carter Ave, new McMansion. Kind of a junky pile, website says they're just starting up. These "group homes" are allowed into communities "by right" via LA County regulations (no CUP or Variance required for 6 occupants or less). The deal is good cash flow to the actual owner of the residential property, it's a business model. Take the right insurance plans, and you're in business, good as gold. Owner/investor makes out like a bandit, too. This relieves the County from having to provide facilities or services, it's all the Public/Private Partnership (PPP). Altadena (LA Co census place, not a city) got overrun with these things and that community went up in arms over it. Now they're proliferating in many communities, San Marino has several of them.
Another commenter added this:
Looking at the photos of the residential treatment center at 22 W. Carter, they show beds that would house several more than 6 people, SO a conditional use permit will be required. And a city business license?
So did the Dedicato Treatment Center apply for a business license at City Hall? Or have they had any meaningful contact at all with Sierra Madre's hard working public servants?
If so, shouldn't the city have at the very least let the people living on West Carter know what is coming to their neighborhood?
sierramadretattler.blogspot.com