A Personal Case for Conservatorship Law
Stop Crime SF President Frank Noto and his brother.
Dear President Yee and Supervisors:
Please show your heart!
The board of directors of Stop Crime SF urges your support for the Housing Conservatorships Ordinance, which will establish conservatorships to help those suffering on the streets from the most severe forms of mental illness and addiction.
For me, this legislation is personal. My brother committed suicide at the age of 25 after suffering from mental illness and drug abuse and repeatedly refusing medications and treatment for several years.
Put yourself in the place of my family: Can you imagine how heartbreaking it would be for your family to try to cope with the terrible deterioration in health, mental torture and utter loss of human dignity a psychotic family member endures?
The conservatorship ordinance to be discussed by the Board has strong due process and civil liberties protections. It requires the person with mental illness to have been put in a "5150" psychiatric hold eight times in a calendar year. And a thorough clinical assessment is required for every case. That is a very high bar that is estimated to impact only four to eight people per year in San Francisco.
We are not trying to put people away. We are trying to give them the care they need. They cannot take care of themselves without treatment and are in danger of dying, being raped or assaulted, or harming others.
As President of the Board of Supervisors with responsibility for passing a budget, you don't need me to tell you that this ordinance will save taxpayer money spent on police, jails, emergency room visits and other costs. But the primary reason for this ordinance has nothing to do with money, but rather for San Francisco to deliver on its promise to be a truly humane city in the spirit of St. Francis, not a city blinded by ideology from helping its most vulnerable residents.
You also don't need me to tell you that mental illness is a topic of serious interest among your San Francisco constituents who are tired of watching people deteriorate before our eyes on city streets and sidewalks. We are also watching to see if the Board of Supervisors shares our concerns.
We hope you will vote to approve this ordinance.
Sincerely,
Frank Noto
President
Stop Crime SF
Contact Your Supervisor:
District 1 — Richmond
Sandra Lee Fewer
Sandra.Fewer@sfgov.org
District 2 — Marina
Catherine Stefani
Catherine.Stefani@sfgov.org
District 3 — North Beach, Chinatown
Aaron Peskin
Aaron.Peskin@sfgov.org
District 4 — Sunset
Gordon Mar
Gordon.Mar@sfgov.org
District 5 — Inner Sunset, Cole Valley, Lower Haight, Hayes Valley, Fillmore, Japantown
Vallie Brown
Vallie.Brown@sfgov.org
District 6 — SOMA, Tenderloin
Matt Haney
Matt.Haney@sfgov.org
District 7 — West of Twin Peaks, West Portal, Inner Sunset, Sunnyside, Lakeshore/Merced Manor, Westwood Park, Miraloma Park
Norman Yee
Norman.Yee@sfgov.org
District 8 — Castro, Glen Park
Rafael Mandelman
MandelmanStaff@sfgov.org
District 9 — Mission
Hillary Ronen
Hillary.Ronen@sfgov.org
District 10 — Bayview, Portrero Hill, Visitacion Valley
Shamann Walton
Shamann.Walton@sfgov.org
District 11 — Excelsior
Ahsha Safai
Ahsha.Safai@sfgov.org