SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Pizzeria asks for relief from Seattle methadone clinic patients

Oct 12, 2016, 7:30 AM | Updated: 1:44 pm

Seattle methadone clinic...

A local pizzeria want to city to do something about the Seattle methadone clinic nearby. (AP)

(AP)

The restaurant business is widely regarded as one of the most difficult business models to make work. You need to have great food, customer service and, as they say in real estate, location, location, location.

At the corner of Madison Street and Boren Avenue, Italian Family Pizza has secured stellar reviews for their food and service, but their restaurant’s location could be the most insurmountable (and dangerous) obstacle to survival. As the Seattle Times first reported, owners claim a Seattle methadone clinic it to blame.

Families remove syringes from play field as homeless campers set up tents

“The spot where we were on First and Seneca is being redeveloped, so we took this spot in January,” said Steve Calozzi, who owns and runs the restaurant with his wife, Jen. “The one thing we weren’t aware of was there was a methadone clinic about two or three blocks away. We are in the path of all the methadone and heroin junkies and the drippies that come through here to get on the bus.”

Pizza fight with Seattle methadone clinic

According to Calozzi, not only is the open usage and sale of drugs a common sight, encounters between his family and the clinic’s patients have increased in frequency and violence. Knives and needles have been brandished at him, his wife spit on, and his son robbed.

“Recently, my son was held up at gunpoint in the First Baptist parking lot right next to the methadone clinic,” Calozzi said. “My kid cut through the parking lot, a guy pulls a gun and steals his chain.”

Going before the Seattle City Council, Jen Calozzi recounted her family’s ordeal thus far and pleaded for assistance in their plight regarding the Seattle methadone clinic. After her allotted minute to speak had ended, the mic was cut and she was dismissed. Steve Calozzi wasn’t sure where to turn next.

“I’m a mom and pop shop. I have a little pizzeria. I paid $17,000 last month in taxes. Some of that tax money definitely went to supplying methadone,” Calozzi said. “We don’t mind helping the people that need the help, but to be attacked on top of it as our reward, we’ve had enough. As a concerned citizen, what can I do to get help?”

When asked if he had a message for the Seattle City Council and Mayor Ed Murray, Calozzi had an idea for some perspective.

“To the city council and the mayor, maybe we should open a methadone clinic in their apartment building or near their kids’ school or near their homes. Maybe we should put one there?” Calozzi suggested.

“Maybe it’s time to say ‘Mayor Murray, you didn’t do us right, here.’ Maybe it’s time for a fresh start and for them to attack the crime areas.”

This interview can be heard in its entirety below.

train kills person puyallup...

Bill Kaczaraba

Train hits, kills person in Puyallup Wednesday morning

A person was hit and killed on the train tracks in Puyallup Wednesday morning, according to a report from authorities.

2 years ago

Associated Press

Crews rush to recover commuter plane found crashed on Alaska sea ice before expected snow and wind

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Just hours after finding 10 people dead in western Alaska from one of the deadliest plane crashes in the state in 25 years, authorities raced to recover their remains and the wreckage of the small commuter plane from unstable sea ice before expected high winds and snow. “The conditions out there […]

8 minutes ago

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Baltimore Field Officer director Matt Elliston listens dur...

Associated Press

Trump is signing up local law officers to help with immigration enforcement

For years, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office in suburban Indianapolis has wanted to partner with federal immigration authorities to identify and detain immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally and facing charges. President Joe Biden’s administration never returned its calls, the sheriff’s office said. But as President Donald Trump cracks down on illegal immigration, Hamilton […]

35 minutes ago

Camden Lee, 16, poses for a portrait at his family's apartment, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, in the Broo...

Associated Press

A 15-year-old went to a Brooklyn parade. The NYPD wrongly accused him of a mass shooting

NEW YORK (AP) — Camden Lee was leaving high school football practice in September when he saw the photograph, splashed across the New York Police Department’s social media accounts, that would soon upend his life. In a crisp surveillance image, the 15-year-old stands alone in a hoodie and shorts, eyes cast down on a Brooklyn […]

41 minutes ago

Mellow, a transgender woman, poses for a portrait, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, outside of the Norfolk Cir...

Associated Press

Passport applications got more complicated for transgender Americans under new Trump policy

The day after President Donald Trump returned to office, Lisa Suhay took her 21-year-old daughter, Mellow, to a passport office in Norfolk, Virginia, where they live. Getting a passport for Mellow, who is transgender, was urgent. In an executive order Trump signed the night before, the president used a narrow definition of the sexes instead […]

43 minutes ago

Leslie Knox stands outside her home Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Hamtramck, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul San...

Associated Press

Generations later, a remedy to destroying Black neighborhoods is fulfilled in Michigan

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (AP) — Leslie Knox was a young girl in the 1960s when her Detroit-area city was accused of destroying neighborhoods to get rid of Black residents. Decades later, the retired nurse has returned to Hamtramck, settling into a new two-story home on Gallagher Street and watching TV from a fold-up chair while she […]

50 minutes ago

Patrick Mannion, owner of Osprey Whitewater, looks over the Nolichuky River, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024,...

Associated Press

A hidden gem of whitewater rafting faces an uncertain future after Hurricane Helene

ERWIN, Tenn. (AP) — After 24 years of guiding whitewater trips on the Nolichucky River Gorge for other companies, Patrick Mannion finally received a permit last year to operate his own outfitter business. But following the devastation of Hurricane Helene, he doesn’t know if Osprey Whitewater will be around for a second year. Flooding driven […]

51 minutes ago

Pizzeria asks for relief from Seattle methadone clinic patients