Those are some of the 100-plus people who packed the Highland Park Improvement Club on Monday night to find out why two of the four potential city-jail sites are in their backyard (previous WSB coverage here), and to decide what to do about it. One revelation in a city rep’s presentation particularly galled them — hear about it, and see the map we made afterward, straight ahead:
This was scheduled to be a regular, albeit early – because of Memorial Day next Monday – meeting of the Highland Park Action Committee, which doesn’t even have a chair at the moment, though previous chair Blair Johnson stepped up to lead the group for this well-attended meeting. The sudden city revelation of two nearby potential jail sites for misdemeanor offenders – which include some cases of domestic violence, prostitution, even DUI – has galvanized neighbors in the past week or so.
The city sent a two-person delegation to the meeting — Doug Carey is a manager on the jail project, Cynthia Scheiderer is a communications consultant. Carey did all the talking — and question-answering — while Scheiderer took copious notes, promising they’d be written into the official record.
One point Carey made repeatedly — it’s not that the city WANTS to build a jail, but some bureaucratic twists and turns (explained here) involving the county may force them into it, though even the man at the top isn’t thrilled about the prospect:
That didn’t really win Carey any sympathy. Particularly as he tried to answer questions about how the city’s original list of sites was trimmed to four — these two, plus one in Haller Lake, and one in Interbay. Unpopular answers included: No public process involved in trimming the list down to the “final four” (the previous lists of 35 and 11 are linked from this page); no immediate availability of information on the reasons the semifinalist sites were taken out of contention; and no already-existing process in which the proximity of schools had been examined in relation to the jail sites (which one attendee described as “insane”). So we did a rough version of that sort of examination after the meeting, with the help of online mapping, and here’s what we came up with:
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The blue markers are the possible jail sites; the push-pin markers are area elementary schools. According to the “get directions” feature on Google, none is any closer than a mile – by driving route – to either site (click each school marker to see what we found out).
But that’s not the only factor that concerned the Highland Park crowd. Many others came up, including the fact that if this possible jail is supposed to open by 2013 – isn’t it unwise to build it on this side of the bay, when that’s shortly after the Alaskan Way Viaduct is scheduled to come down? In response to the various concerns, Carey offered a challenge – got a better site? The city, he says, is all ears:
Once the city reps were done, an energetic round of “community discussion” ensued, and the energy all went into gearing up for a fight. Many loud voices of opposition rang out, including one man who had told the city reps directly, “We will STOP this.” An oft-heard concern: Neighbors have worked hard to revitalize their neighborhood, and are worried about how its improving image could be damaged, as well as about the safety issues.
Still wondering why Seattle might need this jail? Here again is the city’s explanation. There also seems to be some tension with the county as a result; though Carey said “I’m not here to incite you against King County government,” he also suggested inquiring with King County representatives. (The county councilmember that represents West Seattle, Dow Constantine, plans to write a letter of opposition to Seattle city government, as first reported Monday afternoon here on WSB.)
WHAT’S NEXT: Highland Park neighbors are organizing to oppose the potential jail sites, and vowed to work on door-to-door campaigning, flyer distribution, and web updates, among other things. They will meet again at the HPIC on June 2nd. Meantime, the city promises public meetings will begin soon, possibly by late June; you can have your say via their website, till then. (Find it here.) They promise other public hearings in later stages, too, involving environmental reviews of the project, and the City Council process that would result in a vote. You can also watch the Highland Park Action Committee website for updated information, and of course we’ll pursue more followups here.
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