COTS Mary Isaak Center

Daniel Gordon

Unhappy that this place allows residents and those it provides meals to, to litter the area, dump trash, set up illegal tents and to harass and intimidate locals in the neighborhood. They seem to provide no common area for residents and guests to socialise so they do so on the streets in front of the building often walking in front of cars driving on the street and acting erratically. They should take more responsibility to manage those it provides services to, especially keeping the street clean. We should all be respecting our local neighborhood and taking civic pride in our community but many there don’t do that. Now trees are getting vandalised and there is no communication between the city supervisors and the downtown Petaluma streets team who are tasked with cleaning this. The city says it gets cleaned twice a week, the actual people doing the cleaning says it is lucky to be done once a week at most so there is a significant breakdown of communication there. meanwhile, the residents are very worried that they are going to hit and kill someone walking or riding on those every narrow streets but no one listens. Until it happens and then I will say I TOLD YOU SO! And help launch an unlawful death suit against the city for ignoring the multitude warning signs that were sent to them. This is dangerous! Shame on Petaluma City for neglecting this part of town just because it is not where any of them live and not where the tourists like to go. Shame shame shame!

Sandy Hannah

That's the least of your worries! Cots does not follow state or country or city law regulations, hypocrites make up last minute company policies that risk our lives but won't even follow company policy selves, further more should they not like you, they'll have you put in jail, on the other hand police will not protect you from them, you have to count on safe team to get your side of the story!

Una Dahlia

There are many good and many bad things about this shelter. Good thing are obviously that it provides beds, meals, laundry services (at designated times), second-hand clothing (when available), employment and housing resources, plus several other services for people in need. Bad things are that the waiting list is extremely long, and that some of the staff (especially one female social worker) are extremely unhelpful, callous, vengeful and overall tend to treat people like garbage. Some of the other staff make up for this with the kindness and humanity. Another bad thing about this place is the extreme strictness in certain aspects. Although that's somewhat understandable, some staff members take it way too far. Some of them are not at all understanding of people's mental illnesses nor the consequences which this terrible behavior exhibited by some of the staff can have on people with mental issues! They are very inflexible and seem to treat everyone the same, no matter what the individual is going through! So if you have nowhere to go, then go to Mary Isaak Center... but if you have ANY other alternative at all - try not to end up in this place! You can still visit it (during designated hours) and use some of the resources this shelter provides, even without living there. Best of luck to everyone reading this and needing such services as Mary Isaak Center provides. It is not easy to be in that position, and the staff should be more compassionate - not treat people as if they wanted to end up being homeless and jobless!

Adam Greene

Wonderful place. They put me up for the night, fed me like a king for three meals, and the residents chipped in enough for me to take Mendocino Public Transit to Bodega Bay. They were also extremely kind, caring, respectful, and welcoming to both my service dog and I. The night desk supervisor was rather strict, but I suppose a no nonsense approach is what you should have with overflow stays. He was still respectful and polite.