Council Allows Psychiatric Hospital

Sacramento City Council members last night voted to allow construction of the 120-bed facility.

The vote came despite objections from nearby neighbors like Jane McCully.

"To appease neighbors, the hospital company has offered to pay for additional guards around its structure and armed guards to patrol our neighborhood. Common sense dictates that this land should not be used to build this kind of locked down structure in the direct path of a neighborhood of single family homes."      

But Gregory Thatch with the group building the hospital, Signature Health, said the facility will not be dangerous.

"This is a behavioral health hospital. It has managed care patients, MediCare patients, MediCal patients. A typical patient is probably suffering from depression, they're often suicidal not homicidal."

Now that the city council has approved the project, a neighborhood association is expected to file a lawsuit to block construction.