Anthony Papini .com

So, the incredibly rich, incredibly over-privileged residents of Magnolia, one of the most expensive neighborhoods of Seattle, are upset because the city plans to develop a homeless shelter at the now defunct Fort Lawton.

Living in South Seattle for a few years in a neighborhood that housed several low-income and previously no-income (i.e., homeless) folks had its struggles, I am not going to lie. However, I think that if provided with the right resources and support - counseling, education, job assistance programs, and other social services (which is usually the piece that is missing from all these programs) - this could be successful. In Holly Park, it was difficult to tell the low-income and no-income housing from the market-rate housing.

I know that I am very privileged myself, but the folks from Magnolia interviewed for this article kill me. They are upset that homeless people are going to be invading their grocery stores, damaging their property value, and affecting the natural habitat (there is a huge blue heron reserve there). These people don’t give a fuck about the birds - they are eating $10.00 a pound pâté. So, I hope they double the number of units they build there and also add some programming for the uber-rich folks: Living 101: Understanding & Respecting your Homeless Neighbors.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at 8:36 am and is filed under Social Awareness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.