A single mom who works full time as a research biologist for a biotechnology company in Palo Alto, she survived a round of layoffs a few years back and sees irony in her son's present situation. On one side of the fight are the 585 residents who are mentally retarded and medically fragile, along with their families. On the other side, the state of California, Pete Wilson and captains of industry. Across California, officials are closing developmental centers and sending patients to cheaper, privately operated community homes. Cisco Systems and Sun Microsystems are eager to buy the property where Agnews rests.
Developmental centers are the refuge of the state's most vulnerable citizens.
The people who live in California's five such institutional settings are wholly unable to care for themselves. Agnews and similar institutions provide these people with the means to survive. Centers like Agnews, however, are expensive to operate. Nurses and doctors must be on the premises 24 hours a day. Therapists, psychiatric technicians, groundskeepers and the building maintenance crew all add up to a considerable sum.