A year ago, the Port of Seattle's plan to tear down a Burien apartment complex drew the wrath of housing advocates.Several sued to stop demolition, and Port officials, who had hoped to put a big-box store or a cargo warehouse there, were pressured into selling the apartments to the King County Housing Authority.
On Friday, the housing authority and the Port said the sale was off. Tests showed significant soil contamination, left over from the site's days as an auto-wrecking yard in the 1950s.
The 162 Lora Lake apartments, which had become a political poster child for a countywide effort to end homelessness, will come down.
"We're obviously very sad and disappointed," said Rhonda Rosenberg, spokeswoman for the King County Housing Authority.
She said the fight was still worth it.
"It helped focus regional attention on the unnecessary loss of rental housing."
Public Health — Seattle & King County will spend a month looking at whether previous residents could have been exposed to dangerous levels of dioxins, which could increase risk of cancer.
Charissa Fotinos, medical director with Public Health's clinical services, said it is difficult to assess anyone's risk at this point. "We're certainly concerned," she said.
The apartments have been empty since residents moved out last summer.
The private developer who built the apartments tested and cleaned the site in consultation with the state Department of Ecology in 1987, according to the housing authority.
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7 comments:
They could always build a school district administration building there.
Somebody call Highline. Maybe they could buy it for just twice its actual value.
Goodbye Tracy. It wasn't fun while it lasted. Maybe I won't see you around later. Hopefully you won't land on your feet. I really hope that any school district in the area is aware of your track record. If Silvana meats has an HR opening, I bet all their employees would enjoy having 150-200 days off per year.
Is Tracy leaving the District? She came from Everett School Distict; they know her record. Hopefully, she has learned something from this mess, do ya think?
This entry is about calling off a real estate transaction because of contamination - even after it was cleared by the Department of Ecology.
Far more interesting than the departure of a single employee.
Maybe Mark you're not up to speed on the damage she has done to many employees. There are bigger fish to fry in the world than Marla Miller, as well. I am working with what is or was close proximity to me. This is what I know, and I am sorry if you feel that this is insignificant!
I apologize if my comment was disrespectful.
What would be better for everyone is to have the situation with which you are familiar described in a full blown entry. Inserting comments about HR and staffing issues seems out of place in an entry about contaminated sites and public agencies.
If you can write about the topic specifically, using nicknames or something, the rest of us can get a better understanding of the circumstances you have experienced.
There isn't ANYONE out here who thinks that ANY news of harassment, stupidity, bad judgement, or vengence by anyone (administrator or co-worker) that is making your life miserable is insignificant. People are logging onto the blog because they have been mistreated or have witnessed mistreatment or have heard about mistreatment. Or maybe they're trying to become better informed and not listening only to the district line.
Why does a reference to a departing employee turn up in a comment about an article on contamination? Because it is really important to someone; they are just bursting with aggravation or relief of the possibility that their work life might now improve, that they will no longer dread going to work, or whatever.
Inconsistant with the subject at hand? Yes, but thank you for sharing. Really. (It is sort of like a news flash on the crawler at the bottom of the screen when you're watching CNN. "This just in...")
This news is indicative of the wide-ranging issues that are still of concern to employees of the district; it shows how many places this administration is off-base and going in the wrong direction.
I would again state that the proper reaction should not be of joy or vengence or retribution, but rather that justice has once again been served. With luck, the proper lessons will be learned, we will all be better for it, and we can begin to recover from it.
And of course, we understand that the handling of the Lora Lake Apartments' contamination issues stand in direct contrast to the handling of the future Admin building site. Yes, it would be nice if that deal were to be stopped because it is contaminated and future workers at that site may be exposed to the residual chemicals. But is the administration thinking of that? Are their current and future employees a consideration in the equation?
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