Sober-living house members speak out

BURBANK — A week after a town hall meeting and a series of negative attacks from neighbors, members of a sober-living home on Clark Avenue are speaking up, saying they have been unfairly criticized even as surrounding residents continue to call for their removal.

“There are no drugs, no alcohol, nothing. That’s not what we’re doing,” said James Murphy, the longest-standing resident at the home. “Everybody that is currently at the house works. This is a transition house for you to get your [life] together and reinstated back into society.

The home, a brown, one-story dwelling on a quiet Burbank street, has been a lightning rod of controversy for neighbors who have continually objected to what they feel are dangerous elements that threaten the community.

According to Murphy, the negative attacks are misleading, saying that members of the house are peaceful and actively trying to get their life back on track.

“People are required to do a certain amount of meetings, like [Alcoholics Anonymous] or Al-Anon,” he said. “Those are the rules. You must be further along in your recovery in order to stay at the house. If you break those rules, it’s not tolerated. You can’t get away with relapsing here.”

The home is not state-sanctioned and is run as an ad-hoc facility by the residents, who dictate house rules, Murphy said.

The Clark home’s residents have kicked about four people out for violating imposed sanctions against substance abuse since the home was first set up as a group living facility for recovering addicts in 2005, said Murphy, who has been free of alcohol for two years and who works in construction.

Tim Kavanagh, a recovering addict who helped establish the house, said theneighbors’ complaints have been blown out of proportion.

“Three people were arrested; two for old traffic warrants and one for having a firecracker and some guitars that police suspected were stolen,” he said. “They found that not to be true. Do these types of violations justify a nighttime SWAT raid on a house? How much did that cost the taxpayers of Burbank?

“The police are constantly driving by the house and harassing the people that live there. People have been pulled over for leaving the house and have been told that their living situation is illegal. These are Gestapo tactics.”