Morano asks Gibson about biggest problems at Borden

And so, Mr.

Gibson, just to be clear and for everybody, you're currently a resident at Gordon?

How long have you been there?

I've been there since February of 2025 with a break in between to bury my dad and came back.

What is, if you had to pick, the single biggest problem with conditions at Borden right now?

Wow.

Or if you want to pick two, pick two.

See, that's wild.

Because now you're saying pick one thing.

Well, pick two.

You know.

Well, it would be great to have the GPD come back because that allowed extra time for me to be able to reach out with my family.

Because I have two grandchildren currently in the ACS system.

And with the GPD rule, they was able to see me longer.

Because now they can know that they have a family member that will see them every so often and they're not alone.

Once the GPD rule got cut.

What's been your experience in terms of how helpful the ICL staff has been in terms of getting you to transition into more permanent housing?

Well, with the staff, they've been very understanding of me as a person.

Because what you got to understand is that all the residents there at boarding got an issue going on.

Now, whether or not they're going to, you know, look at it or they're able to talk about it, not talk about it.

See, that's another issue.

Because what I feel the staff has done with me, they tried to understand me first as an individual.

So when I first got.

I wasn't able to really talk and express myself like I do now.

And they allowed me the room to sort of come to them.

And once they heard everything that I have going on, they were like, oh, wow.

You know, so.

They do their best, I feel, not to breathe down your neck, but at the same time, meet with them.

So the thing that if you go there and bring up my name, watch how the staff reacts.

Because even when I was silent, when that notice came under the door, I made sure they saw me so that their work can be done.

Because you got to remember, they get audited.

My last question, and then I'll defer to colleagues, is we heard a lot from people and in the press that maybe the picture that I got when I visited Warden Avenue wasn't an accurate one.

Maybe they tried to get everything cleaned up and give residents warnings, hey, clean up your urine containers, so on and so forth.

Based on your experience, is that accurate?

Do they try to put their best foot forward when there are visitors?

Or did I get an accurate picture of what happened when I visited?

Well, I can speak to that very well.

So with that being said, the maintenance staff there cleans the place very regularly.

Okay.

All the time, irrespective of who's coming.

All the time.

I will say it's been more cleaner of late because we've had, from my understanding, that the amount of people that's been there were very low at one point.

But now within the past couple of weeks, new face, new face, new face.

Within the past couple of weeks.

So with that being said, when it comes to urine containers, I would like to say that

Get on the residents to keep their rooms clean.

Because you have a personal space where other people and other residents, other shelters don't have a personal space.

Keep it clean.

And when it comes to the urine containers, dump them, wash them.

Contain them so when the staff needs to come in your room and do a room check, they don't have to be exposed to that.

And you should be, and let's also be clear here that, okay, look, there's a lot of guys in there that got disabilities.

If it wasn't for those urine containers, we would be moonwalking on urine every day.

From their rooms to the bathrooms.

And there's two sets of bathrooms.

There's one in the cafeteria.

And there's the main bathroom.

So those gerund containers are a help to those guys.

Understood.

Just keep them clean.

Thank you.

Anybody else have questions for Mr.

Gibson?

Chair Hudson and then...

There's nuance to everything.

There absolutely is, and I appreciate your testimony.

I just wanted to verify, and maybe I'll have to get this from somebody else, but the GPD rule, do you know if that was related to the federal funding?

From my understanding, I was told that, you know, that now...

The facility now is ran totally by DHS.

Okay.

And with the GPD rule being gone, the extra time I was allowed to be out, I can't do that no more.

Okay.

And extra time you're allowed to be out, meaning out of the shelter?

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilman Wong.

Just one question.

Thank you, Jeff.

One question.

Do you have access to the library's computers and books right now?

Yes, just not overnight.

Do you have internet?

Yeah, there's internet, dude.

There's internet that you can visit websites, right?

Yes, and we can also sign in on our phones, but there's a 24-hour lockout rule.

So meaning that, you know, I'm a techie.

So, you know, when you're logging into the site,

and onto the, to get access, it shuts you down after 24 hours and you have to re-log in again.

That's not a bad thing.

So that way, whoever's running, you know, the site administrator, they can do their cleanup and you have to log back in again.

So that's the only, that's the only rule with that.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

Thank you, Jeff.

Appreciate it very much.