There have been few public updates on the King County Department of Community and Human Services plan to open a mental health Crisis Care Center at Broadway and Union but two Seattle political leaders are collaborating on an event next week on Capitol Hill to raise support for the project.
“7/7 @ 7PM is our chance to lift every voice in support of a behavioral health crisis center that will help the Capitol Hill community and its people,” reads the social media post from Rep. Shaun Scott. “Come ready to have a good time at Vermillion with community leaders who support an inclusive Seattle.”
The Crisis Care Center Townhall will take place Monday night at the 11th Ave art bar and will include Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, according to the flyer.
We have inquiries out to Scott and Rinck to learn more. King County DCHS is also listed as part of the event as is comedian Brett Hamil.
“Drinks + Comedy + Civics,” the pitch reads.
Monday’s planned event comes after the county met with significant pushback from the area business community over its $50 million proposal to acquire the former Polyclinic building at the corner of Broadway and Union to create an emergency and walk-in clinic part of a voter-approved, $1.25 billion network of five facilities across the county.
CHS broke the news on the plan in May.
Kelly Rider, director of the county’s Department of Community and Human Services, said that a purchase and sale agreement was put in place for the former Polyclinic facility in January. The $50 million plan is hoped to go in front of the King County Council this summer for approval. Rider said in May that if the process is not interrupted, closing would happen at the end of 2025. The earliest the center could open is 2027.
The county says that the Polyclinic site offers a number of hard-to-find advantages. It is large enough to support the Crisis Care Center, which calls for 30,000 square feet of space. It has the right zoning and is already built out for health care services. And it is centrally located.
Critics worry that it will only add to public safety concerns in an area troubled by crime and public drug use. “I would encourage you to look at a site that is in a neighborhood that doesn’t have so much crisis going on right now,” ice cream entrepreneur and Pike/Pine business leader Molly Moon Neitzel said during a May meeting with neighborhood business and property representatives.
Future public feedback opportunities have been promised but not announced. Both the Capitol Hill Community Council and the First Hill Improvement Association have said they are working with the county to organize events.
Scott and Rinck, meanwhile, are taking the reins in drumming up support for the center. The two progressive leaders spent last summer campaigning and winning endorsements from organizations including the 43rd District Democrats on their way to victory at the polls. Rinck faces another election for her citywide council seat this year and has raised her profile with a Mayor Bruce Harrell-supported proposal to overhaul the city’s business and occupation tax system that would give most of the city’s small businesses a four-year break while boosting taxes on the city’s most profitable companies.
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30,000 square feet!!! That is nearly twice as large as the Whole Foods grocery store that just closed in anticipation of the crime and chaos that will come if this facility is allowed to open one block away from their location. What a disaster that King County and the City of Seattle want to place a regional facility to dump more drug addicts in psychosis from around the region on Capitol Hill in the heart of the gay neighborhood. This is on top of all the failed housing first drug addict warehouses that were concentrated here during Covid. They should be finding a location that is far removed from residential areas and business districts rather than destroying a historic neighborhood. Speak up now before these idiot ideologue elected officials turn Capitol Hill into Seattle’s version of the Tenderloin in San Francisco.
Preach
100% agree.
My god, smoke a joint and turn off KOMO
How many readers do you +\- assume watch/read/steam KOMO?
The comment is passé and unimaginative.We are even six (6) years beyond that Seattle is Dead. The dying has long since left the building, it has a drugstore valentines card from Feb 2020, that never got opened.
I’m a Q13 AM, omg fox affiliate, for Bill Wixey’s hair and hot tips on hokey, Adam Gehrke for smooth traffic voice and astute movie comments, Brian MacMillan for area school lunches and sometimes weather. Omg MAGA! I gotta turn in my district D43 Democratic/tbd party of Socialists card, NOW!!??$&@,? Egads!!!
lol
The OP starts off with a ridiculous lie on why the Whole Foods closed (right wing tactic #1 – just flat out lie) didn’t notice that one or did your right wing blinders not allow you to see that?
Right wingers hijack stories here on this blog about new food places opening up to complain about crime constantly ( right wing tactic #2 spam the shit out of everything and wear everyone down like a toddler having a tantrum)
And it’s Chi Chi who makes the unimaginative comment?
If anyone hijacks discussions it’s the usual Socialist contingent that takes real community issues like ongoing people in crisis situations, and turns it into another chance to soapbox against Capitalism and law enforcement. The ongoing problem of crime and people in crisis is real. We have been doing “harm reduction” on people that need action and intervention and better responses than just leaving them be encamped. I doubt any of this will be in Shaun Scott’s playbook though. He and Rinck are both new arrivals. They never saw D43 beforn pandemic and before all the new low-barrier properties were put in.
Uh, Scott moved to Seattle as a child, and Rinck moved to Seattle in roughly 2017. So, not new arrivals.
And while we’re on the topic of discussions being hijacked, how about the people who try to say that they’ve lived here longer and thus their opinions are more correct, even when they get the facts wrong?
The KOMO comments are tired. CHB readers, I figure, are informed, and are aware of Sinclair and the potentially biased spin on news stories.
As a community let’s compromise. Open the care center, fully staff it and make it a regional benefit. In return, no more sidewalk or park encampments, no more open drug use along Broadway.
KC/Seattle residents have voted to fund housing and the crisis centers. The majority of us moderate and even left of center residents support a social safety net. The City of Seattle has failed on the return of normalcy for regular residents post covid. Broadway is garbage. Residential streets are hit or miss. Person in crisis is a daily occurrence. Encampments in shared community spaces and blocking neighborhood sidewalks is constant. Open and blatant drug use and dealing in front of retail spaces is shrugged off. Not wanting those defining characteristics in the area you live in doesn’t make one a “right winger.”
Maybe consider those of us constantly living with the turmoil of the encamped and low barrier buildings now here. Ponder how “crisis center opening” might create a knee jerk reaction of, “oh no.”
Pretty sure there was no time when Whole Foods or Amazon said the closure had anything to do with crime…? From what employees have said, the store had been in a freefall from (possibly intentionally) poor management for quite a while now. (And as we learned from the Target debacle last year, businesses LOVE blaming crime on their own closures.)
Anyway. It’s a crisis center. As you point out, there are already people in crisis here. And there’s already a medical facility built & ready, and accessible via multiple transit lines. If it’s gotta be built SOMEWHERE, I can see why the county’s reasoning to put it here kind of seems like a no-brainer.
Am I excited for what it has the potential to do for property values? Of course not. But putting a center like this in SoDo or out in a rural middle-of-nowhere (the only places I can think off that’re far from residential areas or business districts…?) won’t make it usable for the vast majority of people who need it.
At this point, it looks like it’s gonna happen no matter how many times Molly Moon kicks up a fuss or whatever, so I think it’d be a lot more productive to put pressure on the city & county to make sure there are measures in place to get people given placed in treatment/housing & given transport when released, if they don’t have anywhere else to go. Increased security in the area. Make the SPD actually do their jobs. Etc. Find something that’s actually productive to rally for–because NIMBYing isn’t gonna get you anywhere.
I think the Tenderloin is the direction newer and the progressive left residents of Capitol Hill want to go. They cheer at the idea of Kroger Inc closing. They want low barrier housing, defund, and a crisis center. Many vocalize the distain for any business, including small and independent, that refrain from unionizing or vocalize that we are not a productive business environment. No cars and all compact human stuffed living density. We hate on We Heart Seattle as a money grubbing fraudulent non-profit out to destroy the unhoused living in Capitol Hill parks. Residents promote shoplifting and vandalism of independently owned items and property. We ignore and step over people in a fenty slump that might overdosed as “sleeping”. As a community, we disregard and ignore the few posts Che before assault in a tent at cal Anderson as “there are no tends there.”
To the horrible evil awful greedy property owners, sell or rent, when you can. Join the migration out of your long term area. Walk away from the activists, smack down the good Capitol Hill that you helped build, for the past 30+ years, in an area that needs it. You be the voice, the progression, the forward thrust to uplift a different area.
Sometimes, dead is better
This is something of a wild overgeneralization to the point of just being a straw man argument. There are many people here with many different points of view. Representing detractors in this way is as reductive as anything else IMO
My references are all comments made frequently on this blog.
I know three longer term residents leaving the neighborhood in the next two months because this neighborhood is just not worth the constant exposure to people in crisis, crime, and public drug use. Yes, nimby’s… all of us. This backyard is full of rot and more dump trucks are heading this way.
lol there’s been a dozen or so tents in Cal Anderson since the the middle of June. There’s now a chop shop operating out of an encampment at 14th and Howell. Dude is chopping up high end bikes with no shame, right out in the open, in the densest neighborhood.
WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE? Do people ever get sick and tired of paying so much to live an a neighborhood that in the last 5-6 years has become the entire region’s dumping ground for the worst mentally ill, entitled addicts around?
I’m compassioned out. Many are.
Che’s idiotic comment lasted an entire 24 hours before one of their “houseless neighbors” committed a vile crime.
Hopefully it doesn’t take a murder suicide this summer to clear out Cal Anderson like it did in 2022.
The second gathering hosted at the Recovery Cafe’s South Lake Union location was far more supportive of the Crisis Center plan. I’m sad that wasn’t reported here. The fear mongering around the Capital Hill location OSS disheartening. If anything, the planned center on Broadway should help mitigate the issues folks have with the number of people in crisis in our neighborhood. Come to the public comment gatherings and learn directly from the team implementing the centers how they plan to reduce the issues in our area before knocking the plan.
Yes, I’m not sure why the King County Department of Community and Human Services did not announce that session more widely and did not reach out to CHS to let us know about it. As of today, there are no future events listed by DCHS regarding this initiative leaving next week’s town hall as the most prominent update since the spring meetings. We’re easy to reach — [email protected]
Based on community interest and attendance at the last meeting, which was mid-workday and not really advertised, Vermillion may reach capacity.
Hopefully someone will document/share the jokes.
Brett Hamill will be speaking, so – don’t worry, there won’t be any.
lol I’m already excited because the E Republican Line commenters are SO MAD
We can’t allow this facility here. It will completely entrench the problems we see everyday on the Hill, especially that stretch of Broadway.
I am 100% pro crisis center. I am 100% against putting it in a neighborhood that on any given moment is already hosting so many people in crisis.
The only people that want this are either naive or will be selling the drugs that will immediately temp anybody leaving the center.
How familiar are you with the term “NIMBY”? Because this comment paints you as kind of a textbook example.
No NIMBYing houseless/mental health facilities. Period. Build them where they can be built.
How about at your house then?
No problem at all. Pretty crammed at the moment though so could use this location too.
I always see this as the go-to argument from said NIMBY types & it makes no sense. UNLESS the person you’re asking has a large prebuilt medical facility with easy access to multiple transit lines, parking, etc., all within a stone’s throw of an area of the city that already has a high concentration of people in crisis, I guess…somehow I’m betting that isn’t the case, though.
Is this existing proposal already invading someone’s house or did you just make a dumb argument?
Everyone knows that Capitol Hill tolerates this stuff. We are the easy dumping ground for all things because about half the population is fully supportive. Ironically, most of this portion of the population will be gone from Capitol Hill in five years, for a variety of predictable reasons. Those of us who have sunk deep roots, who started and run businesses here, raise kids here, and those who would like to do the same will be left with the consequences. And for the record, I am not against supportive services for people who are struggling in myriad ways. It is a question of how many facilities can one neighborhood support before the negative effects outweigh the positives. Frankly, I think Capitol Hill has done enough and the rest of the city needs to step up. But I know better than to think that Fremont, Wallingford, or other north Seattle locations will take on this burden. And I know better than to believe that our most Progressive neighbors will see any reason in opinions expressed that don’t mirror their own. I see and understand your perspective. Can you say the same?
I find myself wondering if people who only want these facilities to exist (if they exist at all) in difficult-to-reach areas, far from population centers and good transit, actually want to solve this problem like you claim you do. It seems you really want the status quo.
Where should you put it then?
It’s a crisis center. Where is it supposed to go and how mobile do you think homeless junkies are?
The endless whining of how bad it is here would indicate that this is exactly where that needs to be.
You put it where the junkies are. Because that’s where it’s needed.
This sounds fun. Joy would never
Rinck is trying hard to ruin Capital Hill. What is her response if it turns out to be druggie heaven for all of us who live here?
I’m pretty sure Rinck, who also lives here, knows how to spell the neighborhood’s name.
Ruin? She’s been a godsend. These conservatives in the council all suck and need to go
Please stop throwing around the word “conservative” when it clearly is inaccurate.
I live and work in the neighborhood and say build it. We need these centers and this is a good spot for it with all the transit options.
This is the worst idea. Where do you think these people are going to go when they are released in a drug-induced psychosis? Just let me know when the nut house is opening so I can be sure not to renew my lease and get the f out of this awful neighborhood.
They go home.
Real question. My understanding is that this facility is for everyone in the whole neighborhood, not just for people living unhoused with addiction and mental health illnesses (which seems to be the sticking point for some). So many people who are housed experience mental health emergencies or issues that need care that is unaffordable to them, or that they can’t get an appointment in a timely manner, or where it does not make sense to go to urgent care for. Isn’t this what this center is for? That would be a real source of help to many of us/our neighbors where it is not obvious in looking at a person that mental health medical care would be needed in the short term. And really, for those who are visibly suffering from addiction and mental illness on the street, why not provide help right away, even if over and over again, until it works?
Rep. Shaun Scott. “Come ready to have a good time at Vermillion with community leaders who support an inclusive Seattle“
I don’t think Rep Shawn Scott understands the concept of a townhall meeting with constituents. It sounds more like he is arranging a PR event by filling a bar with advocates and political allies to create the perception of grassroots support for a massive regional crisis care facility in an awful location. It is deeply unpopular with residents and small businesses in the neighborhood because Capitol Hill and First Hill already bear an unfair and overwhelming burden caused by the magnet effect created by concentrated homeless services, tolerance for open drug use and drug dealing and lawlessness. This facility doubles down on the failed policies and will literally make Capitol Hill the official dumping ground for regional drug/homless/mental health issues. This is on top of the homeless shelter located a block away and the homeless youth center under construction just two blocks away. City officials want to move the homeless drug problem out of downtown for the World Cup and the ID which already went into a death spiral because of similar facilities. Don’t be fooled by this pep rally. We need to fight this like the survival of our community depends on it. This facility should be located where it will have the fewest impacts, not in the heart of a densely populated neighborhood with a fragile business district that is the heart of the gay community.
Spot on!!!!!!!!!
We voted Shaun Scott in and we are happy with his decisions. You are in the minority. You are free to move.
Please do not concern troll us gays as being supportive of your NIMBY tirade that has no basis in facts or reality.
100% plus this is like having one fire house for all of Seattle. Build/lease 12 smaller facilities NOW. The crisis is NOW and response should be too. This kick-the-can Costco size crisis care center (KCCSCCC) is not the answer. Unless the question is: How do you kill what’s left of the daytime business community on the Hill? Also a private equity company from Arizona is behind this effort. Why are my favorite Democratic Socialists doing their bidding and making rich people richer on the backs of those in need? Let’s not be suckers. I’ll be skipping Rep Shaun’s comedy of errors showcase.
Just because this particular event isn’t a town hall event doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand the concept of them…? It’s literally just a different thing.
Also, just because some businesses and residents are being very loud and public about their displeasure with the plan doesn’t mean it’s “deeply unpopular”; I know plenty of people who support it.
Exactly!!
The intention for these centers is good, but as others have said, the reality will be grim. Addicts will be released from the facility after a 24h stay, right into the open arms of dealers, and the street problems we see today will become horribly entrenched.
So uh….you think the solution to the problem is simply….not providing a crisis center?
While the former Polyclinic location might be suitable facility wise it is unsuitable location wise. Pike and Broadway is currently a troubled location. The QFC there has drug addicts trying to walk out with stolen merchandise non stop. Addicts and homeless litter the sidewalk and doorways 24/7. Unless the county can guarantee that this center will not just bring more mentally disturbed and addicted people to that area to increase the chaos they should site the center elsewhere. One should not feel like they have to carry pepper spray to go to the local QFC. But with all the deranged people you have to deal with to visit the Harvard Market QFC carrying pepper spray is probably a good idea.
It’s almost as if there is a high concentration of people in need of crisis care in the area where they want to put a crisis center….interesting…
Molly moon, it’s a crisis center in a neighborhood with so much crisis going on right now, figure it out. Are we a neighborhood that needs more ice cream right now? Debatable.
Two questions: 1) What is going to motivate the street addicts to actually use this center? Many of them refuse all services when offered by outreach workers now. 2) Will there be an inpatient treatment program there? This is badly needed because at present such beds are scarce.
Doesn’t anyone find it funny that Scott is celebrating the opening of a crisis center at a bar?
The crisis center was the product of Frank Chopp’s “bring home the bacon” political capital, Scott’s choice to raise a wine glass in celebration?
Tone-deaf.
As projects go, this is not one that any other district will want to wrestle out of our hands.