Proposed new jail sites stir up controversy
Bellevue and Shoreline have joined four other locations around King County as possible sites for a new jail.
But residents in both communities promise a fight to keep the jail out.
"I've lived here over 30 years, and I don't want to see it," says Robert Curtis of Shoreline, who lives next to an old school that could be torn down for the new jail.
"Let's say they escaped or something, where are they going to come?" he says. "I live right next door. I don't feel it's the safest."
The Shoreline property is newly added to the list of possible jail sites, as is a parking lot near downtown Bellevue.
Those two locations join the King County Jail annex, two Seattle sites and another near Redmond as potential locations for a jail to house 640 inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes.
All King County cities contract with the King County jail in downtown Seattle right now - but that jail is running out of space and may not have any beds left five years from now, officials say.
"Seattle is very committed to diversion and treatment, but we can't get our jail number down to zero," says Catherine Cornwall, senior policy analyst for the city of Seattle.
In four years, King County ends its jail contract with Seattle and other cities. Those cities say it's cheaper to build a jail together - and cuts the operational cost in half.
But the biggest hurdle is finding a place to put the new facility.
Businesses next door to the Bellevue site say the proposal won't fly in their neighborhood - even though the new jail is envisioned as housing the least dangerous criminals, charged with misdemeanors.
"I think it would be a negative response," says Bill Tapscott, manager of Ford of Bellevue. "It would be so much that they wouldn't be able to put it there."
Maybe they have misdemeanors now. Down the road maybe there's more criminals here and they decide oh, you know we don't have anywhere to put them so let's put them here," says Colin Foster of Rack and Road in Bellevue.
The jail planning group will hold a series of meetings starting Dec. 3 in Seattle. It hopes to have a new jail site picked in 2010.
The six sites under consideration are:
- King County Jail Annex, southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Jefferson Street, Seattle
- Seattle north, 1600 W. Armory Way
- Seattle south, Highland Park Way SW and W. Marginal Way SW
- Bellevue, 555 116th Ave NE
- Shoreline, 2545 NE 200th St.
- Unincorporated King County, 13225 NE 125th Place
But residents in both communities promise a fight to keep the jail out.
"I've lived here over 30 years, and I don't want to see it," says Robert Curtis of Shoreline, who lives next to an old school that could be torn down for the new jail.
"Let's say they escaped or something, where are they going to come?" he says. "I live right next door. I don't feel it's the safest."
The Shoreline property is newly added to the list of possible jail sites, as is a parking lot near downtown Bellevue.
Those two locations join the King County Jail annex, two Seattle sites and another near Redmond as potential locations for a jail to house 640 inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes.
All King County cities contract with the King County jail in downtown Seattle right now - but that jail is running out of space and may not have any beds left five years from now, officials say.
"Seattle is very committed to diversion and treatment, but we can't get our jail number down to zero," says Catherine Cornwall, senior policy analyst for the city of Seattle.
In four years, King County ends its jail contract with Seattle and other cities. Those cities say it's cheaper to build a jail together - and cuts the operational cost in half.
But the biggest hurdle is finding a place to put the new facility.
Businesses next door to the Bellevue site say the proposal won't fly in their neighborhood - even though the new jail is envisioned as housing the least dangerous criminals, charged with misdemeanors.
"I think it would be a negative response," says Bill Tapscott, manager of Ford of Bellevue. "It would be so much that they wouldn't be able to put it there."
Maybe they have misdemeanors now. Down the road maybe there's more criminals here and they decide oh, you know we don't have anywhere to put them so let's put them here," says Colin Foster of Rack and Road in Bellevue.
The jail planning group will hold a series of meetings starting Dec. 3 in Seattle. It hopes to have a new jail site picked in 2010.
The six sites under consideration are:
- King County Jail Annex, southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Jefferson Street, Seattle
- Seattle north, 1600 W. Armory Way
- Seattle south, Highland Park Way SW and W. Marginal Way SW
- Bellevue, 555 116th Ave NE
- Shoreline, 2545 NE 200th St.
- Unincorporated King County, 13225 NE 125th Place