Re: “Seattle approved Fort Lawton housing years ago. So why is nothing happening?” [Dec. 6, Local News]:
The recent article on the debate over the future of abandoned Fort Lawton reminds me of the iconic quote from French philosopher Voltaire: “Common sense is not so common.”
Demolishing the many structures left at the remote Fort Lawton site and rebuilding with infrastructure for formerly homeless seniors and affordable housing makes about as much sense as moving Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office to Port Orchard.
The more logical and cost-effective solution is to return Fort Lawton to a natural state and merge it into Discovery Park. Then utilize existing structures throughout the central core of Seattle for low-income housing, which would be near existing services these residents need.
There is precedent for this binary approach. In 2010, the city of Seattle purchased the large Capehart Navy housing complex in the center of Discovery Park, which has been replaced with natural meadows, forests and wildlife. Simultaneously, the city and county have invested many millions to move homeless campers into existing apartments, hotels and tiny houses, etc.
Anyone who studies Seattle’s map — and budget — will agree that this makes the most common sense for the benefit of our entire region. Let’s stop the name-calling, suspend the ideology and get to work.
Vic Barry, Gig Harbor