la quinta homeless hotel
Fix Homelessness How to rebuild human lives
Blog

King County “Insisted it Be Kept a Secret From the Public”, Council Voting on Kirkland Homeless Hotel

View at Twitter
Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

Exclusive

Kirkland Council member Toby Nixon (@tobylnixon) says Tuesday night’s council meeting could get interesting and shared insights on how he plans to vote on the “final agreement” that would green-light a controversial homeless hotel at the former La Quinta Inn (@LQ).

Nixon is also talking about some of the strong arm tactics being used by King County Executive Dow Constantine’s (@kcexec) team, as they inevitably try to march these projects into other cities.

As for the Kirkland deal, Nixon says King County, “insisted that it be kept a secret from the public.”

Like most of Dow’s homeless hotels, neighbors find out last minute and then protests erupt. In this case, a lawsuit has also been filed by angry parents who are trying to block this from coming in since it’s right next to Eastside Preparatory School.

In other words, Dow’s playbook has not changed. If this gets approved, it would be the second one(Redmond) on the Eastside. Once again, state laws undermining local governments. @pennycasweet #Kirkland

On the Agenda

Council meeting starts at 5:30pm, City Hall.

https://kirklandwa.gov/files/sharedassets/public/city-council/agenda-documents/2023/march-21-2023/9a_business.pdf

Motel Meth

Earlier this year, @thehoffather and I broke the story about Federal Way’s homeless hotel problems. King County Executive Dow Constantine’s (@kcexec) team was accused of failing to provide city leaders all details about meth damage in the former Red Lion hotel, which is still not open because of clean up delays. Making matters worse, a pipe burst causing water damage as well. #FederalWay

Jonathan Choe

Journalist and Senior Fellow, Center on Wealth and Poverty
Jonathan Choe is a journalist and Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute's Center on Wealth and Poverty, covering homelessness issues for its Fix Homelessness initiative. Prior to joining Discovery, Choe spent several years as one of the lead reporters at KOMO-TV, consistently the top rated television station in Seattle. His in depth stories on crime and deep dive investigations into the homeless crisis led to measurable results in the community, including changes in public policy. Choe has more than two decades of experience in television news behind the scenes and in front of the camera for ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, and Tribune. He has also been nominated and honored with multiple industry awards including an Emmy. Choe spent several years teaching classes on emerging media and entrepreneurship to under privileged youth in inner city Chicago. As an independent journalist, Choe also contributes regularly to the Mill Creek View and Lynnwood Times and has reported on exclusive stories in the past year for Daily Wire and The Postmillennial.