Editor,
As a long-term Magnolian who predates Discovery Park, and having enjoyed overnights at a grade school classmate/friend living in an officer’s row house on Montana Circle at “the fort,” and actually having played on the sandy bluff above Perkins Lane, which most now know is precipitously/perilously eroded and very much not accessible to frolic, I am a proponent in wholehearted agreement with Friends of Discovery Park President Philip Vogelzang’s commentary regarding City of Seattle’s ill-suited DP housing proposal that must remain blocked.
Since the construction of the fort did not include the typical infrastructure needed for neighborhood urban living, it is too much of a stretch to spend excessively to develop too little a quantity of low-income and homeless housing. Given that this property was simply transferred to the city in 2012 after the fort closed, it is the most logical, natural and cost-effective to allow this acreage to be absorbed into Discovery Park. More residents, for the extended future and at less cost, will benefit from the access to the open space than the few who might, and that’s a big might, benefit from the isolated housing. This is not just a dollars and sense (pun intended) consideration; this land is native to the area and should have its habitat restored and preserved.
Discovery Park is a legacy to be nurtured and improved, and this is a no-brainer to choose to add, not subtract, from this invaluable green space.
— Theresa Santucci
Magnolia