Would you rather live near a dog park or a homeless camp?
Aug 4, 2015, 12:19 PM | Updated: 2:01 pm
(AP)
From expanding industry to out-of-state transplants, there is only so much space to go around in Seattle.
Which prompted Tom Tangney and Luke Burbank of KIRO Radio’s Tom and Curley Show to ask: Would you rather live near an off-leash dog park or a homeless encampment?
“There’s really very few other life forms on this planet that we view with loveliness and innocence than dogs,” Burbank said on KIRO Radio. “Most people really love dogs and the idea of dogs, and they see a cute puppy and think this thing embodies what is great about planet Earth.”
“Then we talk about, ‘Where are we going to put the homeless people?’ And have the opposite reaction to them,” he said. “We tend to think, ‘Oh, you don’t have a place to live, you must be some scary person who means me harm.’ When really, they can just be down on their luck. Most of us are two paychecks away from asking Mike O’Brien for a place to crash.”
City Council Member Mike O’Brien was the only city official to attend a gathering in Ballard on Monday night, according to KING 5. The city has slated a site along Market Street for a homeless encampment that could provide temporary housing for 52 residents.
The city is considering three sites for homeless camps, including the Ballard site, as well as one in West Seattle and another off of Industrial Way in the Industrial District. But the Ballard location has drawn ire from residents.
Related: Jason Rantz not surprised homeless camps won’t be where activists live
“I don’t think it’s fair to assume that because homeless people are going to live on this site that it is going to be a negative impact on the community,” O’Brien said to the crowd. His comment was met with a wall of jeers and boos.
Some Ballardites continue to protest the idea.
“One of the complaints was that it’s right next to a liquor store, it’s rights next to a pot store,” Tom said. “But it’s right on a main drag, which I think that is actually preferable because it’s out and exposed, rather than being tucked away. My hunch is, and I don’t want to be unfair to the people that were [at the meeting], is that they don’t want it to be anywhere near Ballard.”
Tom noted that the camps run by the city are meant to have security and conditions placed on the residents.
Related: Dori Monson said Seattle dropped a bombshell on businesses
“The essential question is, ‘Is it inherently bad for a neighborhood to have a group of people that are down on their luck, living in the neighborhood?'” Burbank said. “I think even the most bleeding heart of liberal Seattleites will think long and hard before being OK with a homeless encampment coming in next to them.”
“There’s already a lot of homeless people in Ballard right now, in their cars,” he said. “I see people all over who are living in, essentially, impromptu, informal homeless camps. So, to me, the notion of formalizing it to some degree and having supervision is a better system.”
While the debate over homeless camps rages on in Ballard, others are up in arms over the city’s lack of resources for dogs.
“What if they announced that instead of having a homeless encampment right there on Market [Street] in Ballard, we turn it into a dog park?” Tom said. “I bet there would be a lot fewer complaints.”
“I don’t say this with any judgment, because I would have the same reaction if I lived there, I’m sure the Ballardites would rejoice,” Burbank responded.
A local group, Citizens for Off-Leash Areas, or COLA, has engaged the city and the public in an attempt to increase dog parks in Seattle. The city, with an estimated 150,000 pooches, currently has 14 off-leash dog parks. Other West Coast towns, such as San Francisco and Portland, average 32 dog parks, according to COLA.
COLA is pointing locals to a city survey asking for opinions about adding more dog parks in Seattle.
The survey covers what sort of dog a person has — large to tiny — and what a person looks for in a park, such as water bowls, benches, or shade.
It’s an idea that Burbank can get behind.
“Dog parks are seen, typically, as a social good,” he said. “I think most of us think of dog parks as being good for a neighborhood.”