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Fairmount neighbors meet to discuss new Tarrant mental health jail diversion center

Fort Worth Star-Telegram - 12/15/2021

Dec. 15—Those in charge of running Tarrant County's incoming mental health jail diversion center met with residents Tuesday evening to discuss the center and its effect on the Fairmount neighborhood.

The idea behind the center, planned for 812 W. Morphy St., is to keep low-level offenders, like those who commit criminal trespass, out of jail. Because of a lack of mental health care access, jails have become mental health institutions, experts said. The center has been hailed by officials as a way to help the cause, and Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks said Tarrant County could do better.

A crowd of more than 50 people attended the town hall at the planned site, a former senior living facility. The meeting, coordinated by Fort Worth City Council member Elizabeth Beck and the Fairmount Neighborhood Association, was intended to answer questions and ease concerns regarding the center.

No one would be taken to the center if they were deemed dangerous to society, and police have a list of qualifications that need to be met to bring someone there, police officials said. There will not be big signs indicating the facility is a mental health jail diversion center, and the county is working to build a garage at the back for police cars to bring people in discreetly. The building will not be locked.

People would not be released into the neighborhood, officials said, and there are plans for extra police patrols.

My Health My Resources of Tarrant County executive director Susan Garnett said people will not be at the center the long term, but they'll be connected to more permanent resources to get them back on their feet. Officials said issues already seen in the neighborhood by residents like homelessness and mental health crises could potentially be fixed.

Earlier in the day, county commissioners unanimously agreed to add a neighborhood representative to the center's advisory council charter.

The center is intended to serve all of Tarrant County, officials said, so people could be taken in from all the county's municipalities.

Answers to questions about the center's location from one audience member weren't immediately clear. The new center will be just a rock's toss away from the business district and down the road from De Zavala Elementary School. A consistent worry that arose was the center would compound issues already seen in the community.

Another resident asked the officials how much community outreach had been done because the process felt rushed. Brooks told them that every neighborhood would be able to point to reasons why their neighborhood wouldn't be a good location for such a center, but that NIMBY wasn't a good driver of public policy.

The crowd audibly responded to Brooks' comment with contention, with someone saying that wasn't what was meant. Garnett told the crowd officials wanted to know about the neighborhood's issues and encouraged residents to speak up when they had them.

Another community member stood up and tearfully told the crowd she wished people who needed help would stop being criminalized. She wished people would show up to city meetings with the same ferocity to advocate for those who needed these types of resources.

This story was originally published December 15, 20211:45 PM.

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