Comments provided by Abbie Dewitt to the Davis City Council 6/4/2019 published with permission.
Good evening. My name is Abbie, and I live on Evergreen Court, the first residential coul-de-sac closest to the Pacifico property, the entrance being about 700 feet away, to give you an idea. I have lived on this street my whole entire life, and I've seen how the community and neighborhood has changed over the past 20 years.
Growing up, I rode my bike to school with my best childhood friend who lived on the same street as me, via the bike path behind our house – the same one the residents of Pacifico use to access their living units. I remember the first day our mothers let us go alone in the 3rd grade, and how independent and mature I felt. Now, almost a decade later, a 3rd grade girl lives in that same house my best friend used to live in. I've babysat her since she was 5, and I know how much she would love to ride her bike to school, but her mother refuses to let her because of how dangerous that same bike path is now. Contaminated needles on the ground, garbage, and people screaming and cursing, to name a few concerns.
That area was always somewhat foreign to me, being a child, but as I got older, I learned more and more about what goes on over there. I would like to tell you about an event that will forever be ingrained in my memories, and one of the reasons I still today associate that property as a scary place I don't want to live 700 feet away from.
When I was 12, on my mother's birthday, as I was having my after school snack, a naked woman ran into our backyard through our garage and started jumping on my beloved trampoline. An ambulance ended up taking her away because she was on acid and had no idea where she was, or where her clothes were. All she could manage to say was her name, and that she came from "over there", and pointed in the direction of Pacifico.
That event will forever stand out, but there have been others, like when I take my dogs for walks, there are men sitting on the benches on the bike path outside of Pacifico staring at me as I walk by, another drugged up naked man getting chased and eventually tackled by the police on our neighbors lawn, the same lawn where those little girls I babysit live, and countless things stolen right from our garage over the years, adding up to more than $10,000.
If these are the events that are happening in the neighborhood of YOUR community right now, think about how putting a mental illness facility will affect it. First, putting the mentally ill in an environment like that could only feasibly do them worse, and it could turn a vibrant, biking to school, tight knit community to one that is scared and untrusting.
I am all for helping people in need, and I strongly believe we need to find a solution to the homelessness problem we are experiencing as a community and as a society, but the Pacifico property is simply not the best place.
The decision makers on this issue need to strongly take into consideration how the people the City of Davis are forcing this facility upon will be affected, not just how the homeless and mentally ill will be affected. Not only will it move mentally ill people from one bad living situation to a possibly more toxic one, but it will disrupt the community and safety Davis prides itself on.
Davisite 
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