Pub. Note: For those just coming aboard or who may have missed an installment in our fantastical approach to addressing the problems posed in the Seattle Is Dying documentary, here are links to: Mayor Durkan’s Address; Homeless Central, a First Step; background on Action (nee Homeless) Central Director John Shannon; his distinction between Homelessness and Lawlessness and The Stakeholders.
And this news flash! The biggest myth surrounding the Seattle Is Dying documentary is that it was done at the behest of the right-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of KOMO-TV. To those who think so, we recommend you read Eric Johnson’s Facebook post on the subject: “Some have wondered accusingly if I took my marching orders from KOMO’s parent company Sinclair. I smile to myself at that notion for this reason: the bosses at Sinclair didn’t see one script, didn’t see one frame of video, didn’t say one single word to me about this project. I’m not sure any of them even knew it was happening. That’s the truth.”
And the fantasy continues…
We entered our weekly meeting with John Shannon with what we thought was a winning—even brilliant—suggestion for a site for the proposed Action Central—the IMAX Theater in the Pacific Science Center—pictured above!
It’s centrally located, has near-perfect dimensions for the kind of facility we envision and, ironically, is visible from the deck of KOMO-TV, which got this whole fantasy started with its chilling and impactful Seattle Is Dying documentary.
“Not a bad idea,” John (aka Action Jack or AJ) said. “I’ll add it to my list of possible sites. Even though it’s in Seattle Center, which the city owns, the Science Center is an independent nonprofit operation, so acquiring it might not be easy.”
The standard IMAX screen is 72 feet wide x 53 feet tall. The photo of a standard IMAX theater (above) has been altered to show the kind of layout we envision, with the Action (A) Team consoles front and center, flanked by the Backup (B) Team, with the Support (S) team monitors on either side of the main screen or video wall. All three teams would be interconnected electronically.
“We’re beginning to make some progress with some of those key stakeholders we talked about last week,” John said. “Everyone I’ve spoken with on our A and B Team list understands the importance of giving constant visibility to all of the factors affecting our homeless/lawless crisis—and being able to act immediately, when necessary.
“And we all agreed that the S Team members—like the courts and the legislative bodies—are key players, even though their impacts on the solutions may not be felt for years. We believe that having them aware of the situation on a daily basis can’t help but encourage faster action in support of the overall effort.”
We discussed how empowering it will be to have constant awareness of all the factors affecting the crisis and even the benefits of being able to identify the impediments, like lack of mental health facilities or restraints on police. Then we asked about the other sites under consideration.
“Well, city hall is an obvious consideration,“ AJ said, “but there simply isn’t a room large enough to accommodate the video wall, without taking out an entire floor, and folks already are packed pretty tightly, so that doesn’t seem like an option. Another is to approach Amazon about accommodating us in one of its buildings under construction, because we also are looking to them as a major contributor to the project—in both dollars and in-kind services.
“A really exciting part of this Action Central facility is the opportunity to have Amazon, Microsoft and Google combine their talents in creating what will be a state-of-the art control center unlike any in existence. And we’ll be designing it with the idea of making it replicable in other cities facing similar crises,” John said.
As we wrapped up the meeting, he thanked us for our IMAX Theater idea and said the next crucial steps are confirming a site and gauging interest on the part of Amazon, Microsoft and Google in participating in the project.
Again, back to reality… And if you haven’t voted already, please do.
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