Photos by Stacy Nguyen/NWAW
(This photo by Tuan Vu)
Tam Nguyen (left), owner of Tamarind Tree and Long Provincial Vietnamese restaurants, said that in community engagement, the city needs to realize that most Little Saigon community members are also small business owners working long hours to make ends meet, therefore the City needs to arrange meetings around working hours, which, Nguyen asserts, has not been done consistently in the past. Nguyen also said, “You all know there are impacts on any project. Those impacts need to be studied and looked at closely.” (Ali Lee is shown right of Nguyen.)
Leeching Tran (left, gray scarf), vice president of Viet-Wah Group, talked about what she’d like community outreach to look like. “[It’s] someone going door to door to all of these business. It’s providing materials in-language. It’s, like we’ve mentioned, having community meetings at different times of day. It’s not just — we’ve heard of outreach before where it’s just [people] handing out flyers. We’d like actual engagement.”
Yenvy Pham, Pho Bac co-owner, said, “We suffer from two different police precincts in in our neighbor (East and West), and we’re under three different review boards in a six block radius. How can we get anything pushed forward without policy changes and being under one review board? … We have two councilmembers (Bruce Harrell and Kshama Sawant) for a six-block radius. It’s ridiculous.”
The City’s planning, land use, and zoning committee chair, Councilmember Rob Johnson said, “What I’ve been trying to do is reach out to well-to-do landlords in the city to talk about how we can [convert and] create many shell sites [for individuals transitioning out of homelessness] across the city so that it’s not disparately impacting one community. One thing we know … is that we need to be sharing the benefits and the cost all throughout the city. … I’ve made a lot of phone calls. Not surprisingly, I’m spending a lot of time just educating folks on the model.”
Responding to a question about whether individuals going through the Navigation Center will end up cycling back on the streets due to lack of housing, Councilmember Sally Bagshaw said, “I can’t tell you where the units are [yet]. But the city has committed and budgeted for 500 units for families.” Bagshaw also mentioned that other plans are going to be in place, including contracting with landlords and offering to subsidize housing. Bagshaw also stated she is a fan of the small village concept.
Patty Fong expressed skepticism over whether a navigation center model is the best way to treat homeless individuals with substance addiction. “We [actually] need a mental health hospital in Seattle,” said Fong, who works in health care. She added, “We (Seattle) can afford a top-notch mental health hospital. The International District is not the site for a social experiment for getting people off the street who are opiate-addicted.”
Lam Seafood owner, The Le (left, standing), said, “It seems like this Navigation Center was selected and snuck in. We found about it only after months of planning [by the City]. It’s not that we don’t support the Mayor’s efforts [in combating homelessness], it’s that we weren’t told.”
Gonzalez (top, left) acknowledged that the engagement from the City with Little Saigon has been poor. “Although I wasn’t responsible for setting up the process, I apologized on behalf of the City for the fact that you weren’t engaged in a way that wasn’t disrespectful. This isn’t the first time that this has happened to this community. … So you’re right to be angry, because of the history of lack of engagement. So I apologize for that.”
She added, “I know you all care about these issues, because that’s what compassionate people do — they care. I think the unfortunate way this was approached was that it sends the message that we don’t really believe you have compassion. … but [moving forward] we need to be partners. There are public safety concerns that we (the City) have to acknowledge exist. …”
Fong’s tone became heated as she spoke. Bagshaw then asked Fong to not be angry because Bagshaw was trying to listen. Quynh Pham, board chair of Friends of Little Saigon, then said to Bagshaw, “We’re here today because we’re beyond the point of being angry. I hope you’re open to us being upset, because that’s really why we are here. I feel disrespected for Patty, for you to say, ‘Don’t be angry’ and ‘Don’t speak your mind, because I’m trying to speak over you.’ … That’s something we continue to experience speaking with City Council and the Mayor’s office.”
Bagshaw apologized to Fong after that.
Lam Seafood owner, The Le (left, standing), said, “It seems like this Navigation Center was selected and snuck in. We found about it only after months of planning [by the City]. It’s not that we don’t support the Mayor’s efforts [in combating homelessness], it’s that we weren’t told.”
Gonzalez (top, left) acknowledged that the engagement from the City with Little Saigon has been poor. “Although I wasn’t responsible for setting up the process, I apologized on behalf of the City for the fact that you weren’t engaged in a way that wasn’t disrespectful. This isn’t the first time that this has happened to this community. … So you’re right to be angry, because of the history of lack of engagement. So I apologize for that.”
She added, “I know you all care about these issues, because that’s what compassionate people do — they care. I think the unfortunate way this was approached was that it sends the message that we don’t really believe you have compassion. … but [moving forward] we need to be partners. There are public safety concerns that we (the City) have to acknowledge exist. …”
“What I believe is that the only way we can solve the problem is to bring your voices, your thoughts, your ideas to the table, and what you want in your neighborhood,” said Bagshaw. “Even though there are commonalities, there are still distinctions. You’ve got a very inportant neighborhood, and I want to see it highlighted. And I wish I were your councilmember.” Bagshaw represents nearby district 7, which covers Queen Anne, Magnolia, Uptown, Belltown, Downtown, South Lake Union, and Pioneer Square.