West Seattle jail-sites fight: Two updates


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First: The city has added more information to the “public outreach” page of the seattle.gov section focusing on the jail proposal. See it here; it includes this link to information gathered from 50 community leaders (including Pigeon Point’s Pete Spalding, who gave us the heads-up that this info is now online – thanks!) during the process that narrowed a list of potential sites down to four, including two in southeast West Seattle (see the map above). SECOND: King County Councilmember Dow Constantine‘s has provided more information on the county ordinance officially proposed today, as first mentioned by Constantine during Monday night’s Highland Park meeting (WSB coverage here), to extend the contract the county has with cities for handling misdemeanor inmates, till a “regional solution” can be found rather than a patchwork of city jails like a prospective new one for Seattle. Councilmember Larry Gossett is the main sponsor, with all others joining as co-sponsors. It now moves to the Committee of the Whole, which Constantine chairs, where a committee hearing on the proposal is scheduled for 9:30 am June 16th. Read the first version of the ordinance here. After that hearing, the next meetings scheduled on the jail-sites issue are Highland Park’s meeting on June 23 (get the latest at the Highland Park Action Committee site) and the city-organized meetings – June 26 in South Park, July 26 at SSCC (full details here).

2 Replies to "West Seattle jail-sites fight: Two updates"

  • Adam June 6, 2008 (9:29 am)

    Doesn’t it seem like poor planning to build a jail next to a giant undeveloped wooded area? Could you ask for a better place to escape into?

  • Kat June 6, 2008 (7:06 pm)

    I looked at the list of concerns from community leaders and it confirms what we in Highland Park have been saying… The sites chosen, all of them, do not meet the criteria set forth by the community. They are all too close to residences, schools, and playgrounds. Use of this criteria would not have led them to the 4 they chose. There are plenty of other sites listed that are further away from homes and closer to downtown and needed social services.

    There is another agenda here… Unfortunately, the health and prosperity of our neighborhoods does not appear to be part of it.

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