Pub. Note: Our fantasy began with the Mayor’s Fate of the City Address, then dug out background on the director of the proposed new Homeless Central facility, John Shannon, and continues with the first interview with Shannon, in just his first week on the job…
Marketingnw.com managed to get a 10-minute interview with John Shannon, Mayor Durkan’s appointee as director of Seattle’s new Homeless Central facility—a first step in dealing with the homeless/drug/mental health/crime crisis.
John’s temporary quarters on the 12th floor of City Hall actually adjoin the office of the mayor, to whom he’ll report directly. At first glance, it appears to be a microcosm of the high-tech facility over which he’ll soon preside—with three large-screen computer monitors and two laptops open and working. He slides his cell phone into his shirt pocket, as he extends a welcoming hand.
Visible on one computer monitor are about two dozen lines of appointments in the coming days with a variety of city, county, state and private-sector stakeholders, who will be key players in Homeless Central—which we quickly learned has a new name!
“We’ll be calling it Action Central,” John declared. “That’s more appropriate, for two reasons. One, there will be action there to address the situation we face today. And, two, the word ‘homeless’ is being used too broadly. As the mayor has said repeatedly, she does not conflate homelessness with crime, and i agree—with the following understanding.”
He went on to explain that, in his view, there are two distinct categories of those living in the encampments and vehicles throughout the city. In the first category are the true homeless—those who lost their job, can’t afford to buy or rent living space, experienced some costly medical crisis or are escaping abusive relationships.”
“In the second category,”Shannon said, “are the lawless—those with addictions or mental issues who repeatedly break the law, refuse to live by the norms of society and even reject offers of free housing. While the addicted and those with mental issues must be dealt with differently, they clearly do not fit into the homeless category.”
“Our mission is simple,” John asserted, “We will tend to homelessness and put an end to lawlessness. Period. This new facility will keep the entire picture in front of people with authority to act 24/7, day-in-and-day out. Right now, there are a lot of worthy—but disjointed—efforts. This will end that once-and-for-all.”
It quickly was clear that the mayor has chosen a no-nonsense, take-charge guy to tackle the complex challenges ahead. And his long and successful track record as a business owner with a collaborative approach to problem solving and experience in several homeless initiatives should stand him in good stead.
With our 10 minutes nearly up, we did extract a promise from John to keep us posted on the progress of the Action Central project. Of interest in the weeks ahead will be the strategic plan and key players, the funding and design of the facility and the operating concept. The target in the mayor’s address was to be up and running by the end of the year. But after meeting John Shannon, it may well be earlier.
Upon departing, we noted the lack of an assistant or two. “Glad you noticed,” John said. “We’re going to run a lean operation, and that begins with me.”
Now, back to reality once more…
For those who’ve not yet voted on the Action (nee Homeless) Central idea, please do so below:
[polldaddy poll=10282613]
—Larry Coffman