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Capitol Hill Community Council | The battle between fish and firm

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Capitol Hill Community Council members Reiny Cohen and Zachary DeWolf working with Dylan Cate of Rep. Brady Walkinshaw’s #WorkingTogether project to collect community priorities at the Punk Rock Flea Market.

Attending events across Seattle, particularly organizational fundraisers or campaign events, I connect with a variety of interesting people. Often, local electeds and community leaders attend and I always notice one particular behavior during these interactions.

People either shake my hand with the limp enthusiasm one receives when meeting someone who would rather be elsewhere or the confident, respectful hand-embrace given when greeting someone with whom you are familiar. I describe this as the battle between the fish or the firm.

When I was a kid, my father often let me go with him when visiting his friends around the reservation. Even at six, he would pester me about shaking his friends’ hands with strength and confidence. “It must be firm to show respect, not only for the other person but for yourself, as well,” he’d say. Whereas, a dead fish handshake illustrates that one is uninterested, nervous, and lacks confidence, which often leaves the receiver feeling disrespected.

So after reading a recent post on Seattlish titled Ballard NIMBYs are Not Happy that O’Brien, Murray Actually Care About the Homeless Freezing to Death, I thought about how our service through the Capitol Hill Community Council sometimes feels like an active choice between “the fish” or “the firm.”

Our council serves in the spirit of “the firm” handshake, meaning that when neighbors experiencing homelessness need a place to stay inside during the winter, we respect their dignity and will advocate for finding warm shelter in our neighborhood. It also means that we want to be strong against increased hate violence toward the LGBTQ community. And it means we want to find safe, supportive places and services if you’re a neighbor struggling with substance use, which translates into advocating for funding and implementation of the LEAD Program in our neighborhood.

I hope that our neighborhood demonstrates confidence, respect, and strength. We welcome and are inclusive of all people, from the neighbor experiencing homelessness to the single-family homeowner that loves to garden, because all of us are neighbors in this work to create #sharedcommunity. While other neighborhoods hold on to fears and biases about people experiencing homelessness, we embrace a more thoughtful and compassionate approach to how we build community. We are not our circumstances, we are all more than that.

We are lucky to have many types of people show up to our community meetings; our regulars include people experiencing homelessness, young renters, long-time renters, people new to Seattle, homeowners, young couples, and business owners. Our community is too vibrant and diverse to be exclusive, and will be impacted by the HALA recommendations and “Vision Zero” and 2035 Comprehensive Plan, so many unique voices are necessary to ensure our neighborhood’s needs and perspectives are included.

Looking at a recent poll on the Capitol Hill Seattle blog, many commenters describe wanting to see help and support for people living on the streets not that they want them out of here. It feels less us versus them and more like #sharedcommunity.

This month, we want to do just that! We’re hosting a community activation fair to connect neighbors with experts about the HALA recommendations, Convention Center expansion, 2035 Comprehensive Plan, the LEAD Program, Vision Zero, the light rail station, streetcar and more and then identify ways for people to get involved in areas they have most interest in! Join us Thursday, October 22, 2015 at 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at the Cal Anderson Park Shelter house to engage with neighbors, hear more about these policies and projects, and get involved!

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p.galla
p.galla
8 years ago

Zach, the LEAD program is not a safe, supportive service for people. It is a way for law enforcement to keep tabs on people with the threat of imprisonment if you don’t sober up enough for the government’s liking. Contrast this with the concept of neighbors actually looking out for each other, without holding jail over them as a stick.

While I have your ear, what is up with all of the CHCC meetups hosted at businesses which opposed the $15 minimum wage? And both at vocal anti-Sawant businesses (Liberty/Witness). Should that be reported as an in-kind contribution or something? Do you think these meetups really reflect the Capitol Hill community?

z a c h a r y p u l l i n
z a c h a r y p u l l i n
8 years ago
Reply to  p.galla

email me at [email protected] and we can chat about what you’ve raised in your reply, especially since it’s easy to have anonymity in comments and often not ever get to the real, meaningful conversation you’re (i think) wanting to have.

and while i have your ear, it’s fairly easy to make assumptions and then make decisions based on your ideas without actually having connected/talked with me or the council. the TWO events you’re talking about are not chcc events, they were actually d3 facebook group events. and the reason they were at those businesses is because they asked to have get-togethers in-person and they could provide space and refreshments.

in general, ya! the meet ups really do reflect the capitol hill community – 30 people at the last event talking about neighborhood issues, getting to know one another, and sharing stories.

harvey
harvey
8 years ago
Reply to  p.galla

Wow. Still hostile to Liberty? What progressive hypocrisy. Boycott those you disagree with. Tarnish them any chance you can. The owners are lovely people. They are very liberal. They have concerns about maintaining a small business. Get over it. They have. They lost. They’re paying employees what the govt. now mandates. You still don’t want them to do well I guess. Very, very sad commentary on the neighborhood.

Optimum
Optimum
8 years ago
Reply to  harvey

Agree with you harvey. Radicals are generally fascists. Reminds me of a few years ago when there was a collection of people decrying any attempts to clean up the Ave as The Man trying to make it less “edgy.” Until last year hadn’t heard much of that for years because most of these people got to be thirty and wanted to grow up and have jobs and not be surrounded by drug addicts and petty crime. As someone who went hungry as a kid and had a rough time my favorite is when they start talking about “speaking for the oppressed.” They don’t.