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Protest over Capitol Hill crisis center
Capitol Hill community members showed up at King County Council to protest the proposed Broadway Crisis Care Center.
SEATTLE - Several community members from Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood called on King County Council to delay plans for a proposed behavioral health crisis care center on Broadway.
During a committee meeting Tuesday, Seattle Academy’s leadership argued the school’s 1,300 students could be put at risk by the facility, which is planned a few blocks from its East Union Street campus.
What they're saying:
"We had almost no communication regarding this project," said Rob Phillips, co-head of schools at Seattle Academy. "The communication we had was after the project clearly had been essentially, the train had left the station."
Phillips told councilmembers the school supports the mission of the project, but wants assurances about safety and transparency.
"This is a project that we deeply believe in, in terms of its goals and the need," he said. "The trust has not been built with us, as a community, in the way that we need to be able to support it that we would expect."
Phillips and others, including nearby hotel and business owners, asked the council to impose a 90-day pause. A hotel manager described the decision as long-lasting and urged more time for community input. One business owner was more blunt, calling the area "a place that’s endemic to crime" and warning that opening the facility could cause more harm.
Why you should care:
The multi-million-dollar development would be funded by the crisis care levy approved by voters last year. The facility is planned to operate 24/7, providing behavioral health urgent care services.
Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, who is sponsoring the legislation, defended the project, but acknowledged the community’s concerns.
"These crisis care centers, as we all have seen, are desperately needed, and we still need to do additional work to ensure the built environment, the surrounding neighborhood, the operations, the workers have the support they need so that the actual clients can have a successful recovery," Mosqueda said.
Mosqueda requested a 30-day delay, short of the 90-day pause community members sought.
The full King County Council is expected to take up the ordinances tied to the project on Oct. 7.
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The Source: Information in this story comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle reporter Lauren Donovan.