With three nights to go till the first of two city-organized public forums on the two potential city-jail sites that are in southeast West Seattle, the Highland Park Action Committee got together again tonight to strategize in advance. Part of their plan is to research and counter some of the documents the city is citing as reasons why a jail wouldn’t be detrimental to this community (or either of the other two with potential sites). In particular, they are poking holes in this study posted on the city’s jail-info website, taking issue in particular with whether that federal study has any relevance to effects a jail might have here:

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That’s HPAC’s Kathleen Voss, saying that trying to apply the findings of that study to the situation here is a real case of apples-and-oranges. HPAC chair Dorsol Plants also noted that even where there might be economic activity tied to a jail, the money from jail workers buying lunch in Highland Park, as he put it, would not outweigh the money lost by families that wouldn’t buy homes in HP because of a jail nearby. HPAC continues its activism on a variety of fronts, including an online petition that’s linked from its jail-info page, but the next big focus is Thursday night’s city forum, 6-9 pm at 9125 15th Place S. in South Park (map). HPAC will hold its next monthly meeting July 21 (7 pm, HP Improvement Club), so members will have a chance to confer before the city’s second public forum (July 26, 9 am, South Seattle Community College). But as Plants warned tonight’s 50 or so attendees, “It’s going to be a long fight.” To catch up with all WSB coverage on the jail-sites fight, check out the newest-to-oldest archive page here.