We, the Queen Anne Community Council are opposed to WSDOT plans to build a fence on the Aurora Bridge.
In order of importance, our reasons are: 1) the fence is unlikely to prevent a significant number of suicides, 2) spending more than $7 million of public funds for this purpose seems wasteful, and 3) a fence could greatly mar the appearance of the bridge, an "Historic Place" and a "City Landmark."
The Aurora Bridge is the site of few suicides in King County. The Medical Examiner's Office reviewed records of 2,115 people who took their own lives from 1998 to 2007. In 142 instances, persons committed suicide by jumping from high places, with 36 (1.7 percent of the total) choosing the Aurora Bridge.
The most effective way to prevent suicide is to focus on identifying and treating mental illnesses - severe depression and bipolar disorder are associated with most suicide attempts. Since the majority of suicide victims are not receiving mental health treatment at the time of their deaths, we need to enable doctors, other health care providers and gatekeepers to be more aware of suicide-risk evaluation.
For persons who jump from the Aurora Bridge, a fence might prevent suicides at that site, but not those choosing other locations or other means to take their own lives.
Our priority as a community shouldn't be to build fences. The proposed state transportation budget for 2009-2011 includes $6,087,000 for the Aurora Bridge fence, with total cost projected to be $7,458,000. Facing a severe budget shortfall, this expenditure seems misguided.
One reason for a fence is that witnesses and others affected by any suicide attempt could be seriously traumatized by the event. We do not mean to minimize the importance of this consideration.
However, our purpose is to encourage our legislators to redirect funding from a project that adds very little in terms of social, mental health or community value to agencies and groups that recognize and treat mental illnesses.
Increased access to mental health services for vulnerable populations who do not have, or who lose, health insurance is another critical need. The public visibility of the suicides from the Aurora Bridge should be used to raise awareness of mental health issues in our society, not focus on a fence built to keep them out of view.
- George W. Counts
Robert Vets
Peter Lawrence
Members, Queen Anne
Community Council
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