Seattle bureaucrats are in the process of determining where those jailed for misdemeanors will be serving time. Currently the city's inmates are in the county jail under a city - county contract. The county's felon population is growing so it is running out of room to house prisoners from other jurisdictions. Seattle and other cities within King County boundaries received notice that they will have to make other arrangements by at least 2012, although there could be an extension.
The options were a 440-bed low-rise facility on about seven acres or a high-rise jail downtown.
The city's consultants, Carter Goble Lee, estimate that the high rise would cost about $900,000 more per year to operate and $17 million more to construct than the low-rise option. Seattle, unlike its approach for transportation projects, seems to be moving toward the low-cost option. The list of four potential sites for the low-rise option includes one in the Interbay area, not far from the Animal Shelter on 15th Avenue West.
Another option is a regional facility, serving Seattle and a number of the Eastside communities. It would require about 200 beds more than one serving only Seattle. It could be built in Seattle or in one of the other cities.
Seattle's online material speaks of the reluctance to put criminals in jail, and notes that significantly fewer face jail time now than in previous years. Anyone watching the regular drug sales on Third Avenue downtown while waiting for a bus sees this policy in action. Regardless of the city's desire to reward bad behavior, jail time is mandatory for some law breakers such as those convicted of DUIs or arrested for spousal abuse.
Neighborhood groups throughout Seattle are unanimous in saying the new jail under study should be located anywhere except the site near their neighborhoods.
The Magnolia Community Club has submitted a four-page letter, objecting to a jail being located in the Interbay area at 1600 West Armory Way. The letter lists the proximity of residential areas, the lack of good access to highways, and the inappropriate use of industrial lands among the reasons it should not be located at the Interbay site.
The community club points out that the area is a liquefaction zone. The city itself refused to accept suggestions of sites in the area for a fire station to replace Station 20 because of the potential danger in an earthquake. That brings up the question of why a facility housing people unable to leave the building would be safe?
Most city council members are silent, holding digits in the air, waiting for a telltale breeze. Tim Burgess, a freshmen council member, and Queen Anne resident, stepped up in a Georgetown community meeting to opine that the Interbay site is the best of the four currently on the table for a city jail and would be a good site for a regional jail too.
Did council member Burgess just forget that the City Council typically shows no leadership on issues that generate neither voting blocks nor contributions? Or is he planning to change that style? In either case, he will have some unhappy neighbors.[[In-content Ad]]
