| The City Hearing Examiner, Meredith Getches, spent | | | | He mentions that people who do not know their |
| five days listening to neighborhood opposition to the | | | | drinking limit do, however, know their physical limits |
| proposed $8.7 million housing project in the Denny | | | | when drunk. He says that “people are fearful of |
| Triangle area at 1811 Eastlake. Their fears were of | | | | losing their housing if they go out when they are too |
| the outcome of 75 alcoholics all residing in the same | | | | loaded.” Some opponents expressed their |
| location. Getches cleared the way for construction | | | | concern that maybe some of these drunks have lost |
| of the apartments that will be built by December of | | | | too many brain cells to be able to make smart |
| 2003 and believes that the behaviors of some people | | | | choices. A Bellevue psychiatrist, Dr. Kathleen Decker, |
| can be drastically altered when placed in a supervised | | | | explains that years of alcoholism can cause brain |
| and supportive home. One thing that may have | | | | damage and can impair memory and sometimes |
| helped her in the decision she made was that the | | | | cause a person to be paranoid. To quote Decker, |
| Wintonia, just a short walk from the Denny Triangle | | | | “some people who have that syndrome cannot |
| area, has housed drunks for eight years who have fit | | | | follow any rules in the slightest and also cannot be |
| the mold of “good neighbors.” When asked | | | | motivated to do so due to their cognitive |
| about the Pike/Pine panhandlers senior pastor of First | | | | difficulties.” She goes on to say that “the state |
| Covenant Church on East Pike said he is convinced | | | | of acute intoxication can lead to irritability and |
| that none of them live at the Wintonia. | | | | agitation. Often you don’t have to do anything |
| Susan Gorman, director of a private preschool five | | | | wrong to set off a person like this.” |
| blocks from the site, worries that increasing the | | | | The Denny Triangle house at 1811 Eastlake Ave., just |
| amount of street drunks will make it harder for her | | | | south of Denny Way is coming up against some |
| toddlers to enjoy playing in the nearby park. She | | | | heavy opposition. But as with most public housing |
| fears that the drunks may lash out or something but | | | | projects community opposition riddles the initial planning |
| Ellen Taussig, head of a secondary private school, had | | | | stages. The Wintonia, a subsidized housing building |
| the same concerns eight years ago when the | | | | for recovering alcoholics, offers long-term, stable, |
| Wintonia was being planned. Her school’s | | | | affordable housing by the Archdiocesan Housing |
| 48-student dormitory is right across the street from | | | | Authority, a division of the Catholic Community |
| the shelter and now she feels comfortable with the | | | | Services of Western Washington, who own 14 other |
| idea of being so close to it and she even encourages | | | | low-income permanent-housing properties in the |
| her sixth graders to perform their concerts at the | | | | Seattle area. The ground floor of the once |
| Wintonia. Left over food sometimes gets brought | | | | abandoned building is now home to two successful |
| over to the shelter by the students and Taussig says | | | | businesses and more recently three antique stores |
| that “we have been living in a more-than-peaceful | | | | that have moved into the neighborhood. |
| co-existence.” The Benaroya Co. is worried that | | | | Along with half of the 92 rooms reserved exclusively |
| tenants will not renew their leases in the | | | | for alcoholics the rest is available to the “working |
| company’s nearby buildings when they find out | | | | poor.” One of the founder’s initial desires for |
| about the alcoholics that will be in plain view. | | | | the facility was to offer a place to live in dignity as |
| However, developer Val Thomas believed that the | | | | they reassert control of their lives. The building |
| Wintonia would be a good neighbor and decided to | | | | encasing the residents is a fairly attractive six-story |
| build an upscale condominium across the street and | | | | terra cotta with a masonry exterior that has sparked |
| said that “it’s knee-jerk to assume those types | | | | a developmental mindset in a neighborhood that was |
| of buildings are going to automatically be problems,” | | | | somewhat underdeveloped. One effective plan in |
| while referring to the Wintonia. | | | | getting people to see the place working is to have part |
| An argument against NIMBYism has to do with what | | | | of the building available for neighborhood meetings. |
| Kevin Berube, 4th floor resident, says about drinking. | | | | |