HomeMy WebLinkAboutDineen2 Attachment 1Dear Mayor Pavone and Renton City Council,
As a long time downtown Renton resident I would like to share with you my experiences and conclusion about the
homeless.
1. There is a heavy price that an area has to pay for a large visible homeless population. Over the years I have
been surprised by the number of times when asked where I live and I say Downtown Renton, I get responses
such as “the last time I was in Renton I ran into the coziest homeless person. How can you live there?” or “I
was at the Renton Safeway and it was full of the craziest people, I will never go back there again”. When the
church next to me was hosting the homeless, an out of town friend stopped for dinner. A headlight on their
car caught a rock so I was helping them replace the headlight on their car parked in front of my house. There
were homeless all around us and my friend asked me “What kind of a place do you live in” and it downed on
me that if I had my house up for sale I would have had a hard time selling it.
2. Because of continues theft I have been forced to keep all the gates into my yards locked as well as all doors
into buildings.
3. I spend a lot of time walking around Renton and I am appalled at the number of locations that reek of urine. I
have repeatedly been forced to clean up human waste in the alley around my house. I have often wondered
about the health concerns associated with the accumulation of human waste. I don’t think the City would
allow me to have an outhouse.
4. Besides giving an area a negative image a large homeless population suppresses property value and
community development.
I do not believe that the congregation of the homeless is random. To a large degree it is driven by where we put
services and the placement of services has as much to do with where the system want the homeless to be as it is
about serving the homeless. When areas get targeted as homeless centers the people who live in those areas are
presented with a tremendous unfair burden. Downtown Renton has been forced to carry the City’s homeless burden
for far too long. There are places in this City, County, and State with little to no homeless problem and it is time that
there is a more equitable distribution of this issue. Whenever anyone speaks out about homeless concerns they are
often framed as being prejudice. In my opinion the real prejudice issue is how we target areas. I am not sure of
what the causes are for homelessness or who or what to blame but I do know one thing the unfair targeting of areas
to carry the burden of the homeless is just as bad as the homeless issue it is trying to address.
I am very skeptical that King County plans for the Renton Red Lion are temporary. My understanding of the facility,
as described by the people running the facility is that hundreds of the Counties most difficult homeless were/are
being brought to Renton. Participants are provided a room as long as they comply with house rules, if not the facility
will try to relocate them but if no placement is found they end up on our City streets. How does the City insure that
we have not setup a system what results in Renton’s streets being filled with the Counties least compliant homeless
individuals? If this facility becomes permanent what happens when the extra COVID funds dry up? All indications are
that the people running the Red Lion are doing good work with the compliant individuals in their care but I do not see
where that is Renton specific. It could be duplicated in any hotel say in Bellevue, Mercer Island, Redmond, Kirkland,
or even Medina. I find it curious that so many of these County moves are directed at our South King County
Communities.
Sincerely,
Jeff Dineen
320 Smithers Ave S
Renton WA 98057