Summit planned Friday to tackle White Center problem: Helping the homeless, while stabilizing the community
Just in from White Center Chamber of Commerce president Mark Ufkes:
The White Center Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission and WestSide Baby, is planning a working summit of White Center service providers on Friday, Oct 21 from 9 am to 12 pm at Mount View Presbyterian Church – 10806 12th Ave. SW.
The summit will bring together front line service providers who are currently serving the estimated 45 people struggling with homelessness and chronic alcoholism who currently live on White Center streets. The goal of this summit is to find ways to help our homeless neighbors and to establish a 10-point plan that addresses their service needs, plan a budget estimating the costs to provide these services, and discuss possible policies needed to address the challenges they create for our community.
“We are finding that more and more people are in need in White Center,” said Mark Ufkes, president, White Center Chamber of Commerce. “We estimate that our community’s homelessness has grown by about 30% this past summer. While I’m concerned about their needs, Chamber members want a family-oriented shopping district. I’m hearing from business owners that several of the new faces are aggressive and congregate in groups that can be intimidating.”
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October 18th, 2011 at 9:30 am
Thanks for the announcement! The White Center CDA is also a main partner of this event. Additional info can be found on the official flyer posted here:
http://www.wccda.org/home/wccda/2028
Sincerely,
Ian
October 19th, 2011 at 8:44 am
First: where did they get the resources to move into White Center?
Second: chronic alcoholism/drug abuse has a high rate of recidisivm
Third: They bring down the neighborhood value/safety/health of residents/crime
Fourth: Move them back to downtown, don’t dump them on us!
Fifth: They burden our neighborhood and medical facilities
Sixth: For those activists who want that warm fuzzy feeling they are helping, why not open your home/apartment and let them live with you while you can mentor them and feel good about yourself and let law abiding residents alone
October 21st, 2011 at 9:14 pm
I’m glad to hear this and I hope things will get better. I’ve definitely noticed that it’s gotten worse. Just a week or two ago I was walking with my daughter past Samway the other day and a guy was in the middle of the street screaming the F word over and over about how the stupid f*ers inside Samway don’t speak English. A group of his friends were congregated on the sidewalk egging him on. I’ve never been freaked out in WC but I was that time.