Ted Leonhardt is fantasizing about the potential for creative co-ops to help deal with the challenges of a dystopian world.
Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Basketball. and especially Fantasy Football are all the rage.
Ergo, why not Fantasy Government? Here’s my fantasy, related to the current homeless/drug/mental health/crime crisis gripping Seattle and King County…
Mayor Durkan’s Fate of the City Address
“Department heads, Honorable City Council Members and citizens of Seattle, welcome to the first-ever Fate of the City Address, which will be repeated only when deemed absolutely necessary.
“While I don’t conflate homelessness and the rise in crime, and while I disagree that Seattle Is Dying, as the KOMO documentary claims, we clearly have serious homeless, drug, mental health and crime problems that must be addressed immediately and incessantly.
“I received a letter recently suggesting that the city create a facility that the writer called Homeless Central, as a first step in addressing the complex challenges we face. In discussions with the writer, he explained that:
“• This is not an additional layer of bureaucracy, but a way to coalesce the many and varied efforts and resources available to address the problems.
“• Care would be taken to protect individual rights, but efforts to rid the city of unsightly, unhealthy and unsafe homeless encampments would be aggressive and unrelenting.
“• Any added expense should be minimal because we’re talking about reprogramming dollars and reassigning key players in creating and staffing the new center.
“• This would seem to be the kind of effort that Microsoft, Amazon or Google might volunteer to design and equip.
“• The fact that these also are problems faced by King County, other cities in Washington State and the State of Washington itself must not be a deterrent to the City of Seattle taking immediate action.
“I want to reemphasize that there are a host of commendable efforts underway on a variety of fronts. The problem is that they simply lack coordination—the kind of coordination that Homeless Central could provide 24/7.
“Therefore, I am today appointing John Shannon as the new Homeless Central director, with the following charge:
“1. Identify all stakeholders in the homeless/drug/mental health crisis.
“2. Design all elements of Homeless Central.
“3. Develop a description of its function.
“4. Seek Microsoft, Amazon, Google or other support.
“5. Meet with stakeholder decision-makers to get their input and buy-in on the design and function of Homeless Central.
“6. Develop a timeline for opening of Homeless Central, with a target date of Jan. 1, 2020.
“A key deliverable from Homeless Central would be a daily Assessment Report, developed by representatives of the major stakeholders, that analyses that day’s activities, identifies responsibilities, cites needed support and prioritizes the next day’s actions.
“My vision is that Homeless Central would end the dangerous and frustrating revolving-door situation with the worst offenders, increase accountability and raise the morale of the police and others on the front lines in this fight.
“Homeless Central is not a panacea, but it could shine a bright and constant light on the complex problems and galvanize governments and key stakeholders into taking the needed steps in intervention, enforcement and legislation to quell the crisis.
“I look forward to the cooperation of our department heads, members of the City Council and business and civic leaders in making Homeless Central a reality—as well as a model for others facing these same challenging conditions.
‘This is not about Conservative or Liberal, Democrat or Republican. This is about humanity. NOTHING LESS THAN THE FATE OF OUR CITY IS AT STAKE. Thank you.”
Now, back to reality…
Be sure to also read Some More Ideas and Stanton On… Seattle Business?
We’re repeating last week’s QwkQiz question here in order to gain more reader reaction: How do you like the Homeless Central idea? You’re encouraged to elaborate on your position in an email to larrycoffman@frontier.com. Names of respondents will be recorded, but not published (unless requested), in the interest of gaining the maximum possible participation.
[polldaddy poll=10282613]
—Larry Coffman