SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Durkan’s press conference was great optics, but not much else
Jan 19, 2018, 12:09 PM | Updated: 12:10 pm
Mayor Jenny Durkan announces her Building a Bridge to Housing for All plan. (Seattle Channel)
(Seattle Channel)
Press conferences are funny things. They make it seem like something is happening. That brings us to Seattle’s new Mayor Jenny Durkan.
She’s a smart politician. You see, she recently did a press conference about homelessness not behind a podium down at city hall, rather, in a lot surrounded by a bunch of tiny homes being constructed. This is what those in the biz call “good optics.”
RELATED: Durkan’s “bridge to housing plan” for homelessness
Doesn’t it seem like something is happening? Just look at that cute little house. That’s way better than living under the bridge. Thoughts like those are exactly what they want you to think when you just glance at the story, or see five seconds of news footage with the sound down.
Oh, looks like there’s some tiny houses going in. Nice job Durkan.
Let’s dig a little deeper for a second. The City of Seattle is selling a police communications building in South Lake Union for $11 million dollars. Part of the proceeds are earmarked for homeless housing. Let me quote from the Seattle Times story so I get it just right. Durkan “also suggested the new spending could support backyard cottages for people in homelessness, such as The BLOCK Project. In the months between now and the close of the sale, the city will consider multiple options for adding capacity, she said.”
Did you catch what actually happened there? Exactly nothing. She suggested that something could happen at some point in the future and the city will consider multiple options.
That’s a roundabout way of saying “maybe.”
Well, I actually looked up the BLOCK Project. It’s an idea that Don and I have been batting around for the better part of a decade. Here’s what they do according to their website:
The BLOCK Project invites community into the task of ending homelessness by placing a BLOCK Home in the backyard of one single-family lot on every residentially zoned block within the City of Seattle. Each 125 sq ft home is beautifully designed to be off-grid, self-sufficient, and amenity-rich (featuring a kitchen, bathroom, sleeping area, solar-panels, greywater system, composting toilet, etc.).
Why not have the press conference in someone’s backyard where the first BLOCK home is being built? Why not announce that you’re taking a few million from this sale and building the first 25 BLOCK homes?
If I try to really answer that question, I’ll get cynical really quickly. I honestly don’t know why.
Let me consider my options, and I’ll get back to you in a few months with my suggestions as to why we continue to do nothing.
You can hear “What are we talking about here?” everyday at 4:45 p.m. on 97.3 FM.
