SEATTLE — Korean community leaders Thursday night blasted the Housing Authority of Snohomish County for trying to take over a Mukilteo couple’s motel by eminent domain.
At a press conference at the headquarters of the Seattle-Washington State Korean Association in south Seattle, they accused the housing authority of trying to bully Jong Gil and Hyun Sook Kim into selling the Everett Inn at an unfair price.
"We want them to know that we as a community know about this, we are alarmed, and we expect the housing authority to take actions to correct this," said John Chang, a Shoreline City Council member and a member of the advisory board of the association, the largest Korean group in the state.
The housing authority on Jan. 2 filed an eminent-domain motion in Snohomish County Superior Court to take over the motel, which is just off I-5 near 128th Street SW in south Everett, and convert it into housing and social services offices for homeless families.
Jong Gil Kim said he plans to fight the housing authority in court, but said it’s unfair that he has to spend thousands of dollars in legal costs to defend himself.
"The government can’t do whatever it wants," said Kim, who emigrated from South Korea 22 years ago and said the housing authority is acting like communist North Korea.
"We’re not living in a communist country," he said. "Private property should be protected."
Sunny Kim, president of the Korean Chamber of Commerce of Washington State, said: "This is not just a Korean-American issue, but an issue for anyone who owns a business. They have not been treated fairly."
When the housing authority, which is independent of county government, initially approached Jong Gil Kim about buying the motel, he expressed interest. But he balked at the housing authority’s $1.6 million offer. In 2002, the county assessor’s office valued the property at more than $2.4 million.
The housing authority’s director of capital facilities, Ann Schroeder Osterberg, said the housing authority’s price was based on an appraisal conducted for the agency by PGP Valuation Inc. of Seattle.
But Chang questioned why the offer was so far below the property’s assessed value.
"The county housing authority is bullying and taking over a private entity," said Chang, who owns a motel in Shoreline. "If it were a fair price, we’d have no problem. But when it’s assessed by the county at $2.4 million and they’re offering $1.6 million, that’s outrageous. There has to be some sort of mistake somewhere. We as a community want to get answers."
The Korean group’s president, Young Suhr, said housing authority officials may be trying to take advantage of the Kims under the assumption that, as Korean immigrants, they are "docile" and don’t know how to navigate the U.S. legal system.
"Hopefully, it has nothing to do with them being immigrants, but it’s something we have to investigate," Suhr said.
He said he hopes to meet with county housing authority officials soon to hear their reasons for taking the court action.
The housing authority’s executive director, Bob Davis, declined to comment on the association’s allegations until he meets with representatives from the group.
The Everett Inn, Schroeder Osterberg said, is in an "ideal location" near public transportation, day care centers, schools, Head Start programs and shopping. It’s also next to the housing authority’s offices, and that would allow the agency to better monitor the facility, which would be the first homeless center the authority has opened.
The fair market value of the property could ultimately be determined in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Reporter David Olson:
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