JPAE neighborhood concerns

The Jackson Place Alliance for Equity is an organized neighborhood group focused on addressing concerns about siting the DESC's Crisis Diversion Facility and Crisis Diversion Interim Service in the Jackson Place residential community, located in the Central Area of Seattle.

The neighborhood of Jackson Place Community, and its immediately surrounding areas, has had a long history of welcoming social services that meet both community and citywide needs. Over the past years, we have welcomed several social services, including the Catholic Food Bank, Casa Latina, the Refugee Resettlement Office, and projects by the Seattle Housing Institute for low-income families.

The Jackson Place Alliance for Equity has serious concerns about the decision made by the DESC, through the support of the King County and Seattle City councils, to locate its crisis center at 1600-1618 South Lane Street. JPAE does not oppose the need for the Crisis Solutions Center - it's a program that has the potential to provide a vital service to people living in King County. JPAE and Jackson Place Community neighbors question the legal process and siting of the crisis center on South Lane Street.

Local government officials and the DESC have made the decision to site the crisis center on South Lane Street in haste without engaging the community in any manner to understand what possible consequences siting the center so close to family-oriented homes and schools could have on our community. The failure by our elected Council members to engage our community in this decision making process justifies revisiting the decision and providing the community with a reasonable opportunity to provide its input.

JPAE maintains that the Request for Interpretation and the process under which permits were issued to DESC was not given a full, transparent, public review process. As a result, on April 25, 2011 JPAE filed a legal action in Superior Court seeking an impartial, unbiased review of the siting of the crisis diversion facility on South Lane Street. A review hearing at the King County courthouse is scheduled for September 30th, 2011.

Jackson Place Alliance for Equity (JPAE) Crisis Solutions Center (CSC) Information Packet (click to open in Google Docs or download the document at the bottom of the page)

To learn how you can support the JPAE, please go to How You Can Help.