We here in the 37th district all know Adam Kline. He has been our senator for 14 years, backed by everybody who is anybody, and somebody who has a darn nice smile. Here is something that you might not know about Adam Kline’s district. There is a Ghetto being created in the heart of it. That right ladies an getleman. Already in ownership of the land is a contractor who plans on putting up two low income high rises next to the children’s play ground at Dr. Lavazzo Park. This will be in addition to the three low income complexes that already surround Dr. Lavazzo Park. The area was proposed as a parking lot for better access to the park, but things changed. This isn’t a bad thing right we need low income housing, but these high rise low income housing will be stacked on top of each other just like the Trenton Projects. I don’t think the songs about Square Park Projects will be worth the violence that will ensue. I wonder if Adam Kline had thought about what happens when a park gets closed in by low income housing. Maybe you should call him and let him know the Jackson Street Low income housing project can go somewhere and that he won’t have your vote unless he stops the creation of the ghetto in the heart of his district. Adam Kline’s District Office 206.625.0800
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The complex going into the area just east of Hidmo is a LIHI project for homeless elderly. I,for one, would rather have our homeless seniors in a safe facility than give more land over to cars. This is an area well served by public transit.
It seems to me there was an earlier CD blog chat about allowing this Low Income Senior Housing into our neighborhood, and I can still not think of a single serious reason why we should not welcome these folks. As with any group of people, you are sure to have a few with a less than stellar history, and who knows, maybe a few will even have some future problem, but over-all, I think having these senior as neighbors is a good thing. Being a bit older often means you have seen and experienced the good and bad of life, and are now looking for a bit of quiet, and a place that is calm and safe. So, again, lets not judge these folks by their financial health, but by their hearts, and from the benefit we will gain in having them as neighbors?
I live basically across the street from the proposed project, and I have trouble imagining it bringing more problems to our neighborhood. Will there be issues there? No doubt. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be built, just that we need to make sure the building’s management is on top of potential problems. (I imagine the source of trouble won’t be the residents themselves, but their kids/grandchildren – this was a recurrent issue with the low-income senior housing near our house in Minneapolis.)
Also, take a walk around Baltimore or Philadelphia before you start worrying about Seattle having a “ghetto.”
I can remember going to music shows in Dr Lavazzo park, and not seeing many people there. I could see how a parking lot would open up access and create some vibrancy for it. It is one of the only parks in Seattle that has an amphitheater that I know of. San Diego has a similar park that host plays, music, and civic events at it and is a real gold mine for the community charging for some of the events that go on. I find it hard to imagine how smoothing the park with housing will keep it a viable option as a venue for entertainment. Seems like a waste of a park potential to me.
Amazing. About 2 years the NIMBY’s went crazy because the Casa Latina project was going to bury the neighborhood in illegal aliens. Well, where are they?
LIHI properties are some of the best managed in the city.
This poor park has lost way too much land, and really functions more as a Seattle Park Services maintained private yard for the housing that was built on it’s fringes in the 1990s. By adding the low income Senior housing near by, we add beneficial low income housing, and keep or add a group a citizen that normally are considered to be welcome and of benefit within most neighborhoods. I for one look forward to these new neighbors.
Freddie– Casa Latina definitely does a good job keeping their illegals corralled and making sure they dont’ get sold off to too low a bidder each day. Quite an operation. Brilliant, actually. But I’m still mystified as to why INS hasn’t shut it down. It’s illegal, plain and simple. The people there are not here through proper means. I’ll happily welcome them when they arrive through appropriate channels.
As for old people, who cares about their income, their race, or past, so long as they are citize3ns. They deserve a place to rest and relax. Welcome!
Regarding this comment by mkb: “take a walk around Baltimore or Philadelphia before you start worrying about Seattle having a “ghetto.””
mkb, I used to live in Beirut. Take a walk around Beirut before you worry that there are ghettos in Baltimore or Philadelphia.
Do you see the flaw in that logic? Those of us who have spent a lifetime in the CD (5 decades here) have a completely legitimate right to fear certain areas becoming even more ghetto-ish than they have previously been, whether they fall in to your definition of ghetto or not. Anything I leave out is stolen. My house has been repeatedly robbed. People are shot on the street at night. Doors are kicked in while folks are home. My husband fired a gun at an intruder in our basement. Our dog was stolen. Our cars have been stolen (two of them, one having been stolen twice). Our children have been threatened. Our neighbors’ children come home from prison every few years and terrorize our block. Our elderly neighbors cannot evict their crack-addicted grandchildren who come and go like a plague of thieving zombies. At our 1st house in the CD a man was stabbed in the face with our rake when we left it in the yard. Our children’s friends’ parents would not let their kids come to our house, and were afraid to park their cars on our block. Friends and family were strong armed for money and cursed and spat at when they wouldn’t give it up, coming to our house for thanksgiving. Children going to school are beaten for their phones. A police officer was assassinated up the street. The assassin of 4 other police officers hid just down the street. So, none of this fits your definition of ghetto? Oh, right, that’s because it’s not Beirut yet?
Residents have the right to express concern that a park hemmed in by low income housing pushes away regular neighbors and encourages drug traffic loitering, thus ghetto-making. They also have the right to express concern that yet another (in addition to the 2 I can think of in the surrounding blocks) home for elderly low income just MIGHT become a draw to less than stellar relatives whom the old people cannot get to stay away. Those are legitimate concerns, as is the use of the term ghetto for what some of our blocks have become.
I wrote this after attending a meeting in which this was brought up the Senior housing is only the first phase second phase it another LI building. The Worry is certainly about deteriorated Property Value and while ghetto is a word that was used to get your attention, the point is that The park has so much potential that will be lost with the building of these TWO Low Income Building, Yes one for seniors and one for regular folk. All I am saying is why stack them all on top of each other. This Project will put the fourth and fifth LI housing up on a park that need renovation, not denigration.