YMCA

Where is the city’s support for new YMCA?

We are all going to be the recipients of a grand new YMCA on Echo Lake — we hope. After 12 years of personally working on this project, I was always sure we could count on the city of Shoreline to make a major commitment.

Where is the city of Shoreline’s support for a YMCA?

After a stellar presentation by the YMCA Board asking for a $1 million service agreement over a 20 year period to provide additional family resource programming and low income scholarships to Shoreline residents …

After YMCA staff provided statistics that include adding 250 new jobs and providing additional sales and property tax to the city’s coffers …

When repeatedly at Teen Summits our community’s youth request a place to call their own and more late night programs such as activities a new YMCA Youth Development Center could provide …

When gambling casinos receive thousands of dollars in tax support, why is a 52,000-square-foot YMCA building awaiting a city partnership that could ensure a dream becomes reality …

When the cities of Auburn, SeaTac and Monroe have each pledged over $1 million to their new YMCAs …

When everyone reads and quotes the 40 developmental assets needed for the success of each child and they include the kinds of activities that a new YMCA would provide …

When making their decision to move ahead with a very expensive new city hall …

Where is the city of Shoreline’s support for a YMCA?

How will this lack of support from the city of Shoreline register with the community and its voters? I set out to answer this question and created a letter asking for financial support from the city. I was amazed by the quick and genuine responses I received. City residents could not believe that we had not received support. Within a few hours over 50 people signed my letter.

Pearl Noreen

Shoreline

Darfur

Everyone can do their part to stop genocide

Isn’t it odd how little people know about the genocide in Darfur? And for those who do know, isn’t it odd how little they do about it? The rest of the world rarely acknowledges the genocide in Darfur, but since the genocide began in 2003, more than 300,000 Darfurians have been brutally killed, displacing millions and breaking the hearts of millions in Africa, but almost none of the hearts in the rest of the world. While the U.S. has been pressuring the U.N. to take action on the genocide, it never seems to be enough to stop the violence. U.S. officials have been doing very little about it and acting like they are doing everything in their power to stop the genocide.

But we can’t expect our government to take action and end the violence if we don’t do anything, so the students of my World Studies class in Shorewood High School are giving the public a chance to help stop the genocide by simply donating one dollar to savedarfur.org. We will be collecting donations soon in places throughout Seattle in the coming weeks. You can take action simply by going to savedarfur.org, signing a petition to pressure Fidelity to divest from Sudan, or just by spreading awareness through everyday conversation, e-mail or over the phone.

Scott Anderson

Shoreline

Mental health

County meeting on mental illness plan

Enterprise readers are invited to a special County Council meeting on King County’s groundbreaking Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Action Plan on Monday, June 25, right here in Shoreline.

Individuals suffering from mental illnesses or drug and alcohol dependencies now fill our jails, courts and hospitals. I have introduced legislation to break this cycle of recidivism and abuse by expanding options for treatment, housing, integration of services and supervision.

Come learn what King County government is doing to break the cycle, protect the public and save lives.

The Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Action Plan will help protect the public by holding offenders accountable for their actions and reducing the motivations that drive offenders to commit common crimes such as stealing cars and identities. I will be joined by the County Council and a panel of professionals to address your questions. It promises to be an exciting meeting and I hope you will attend.

Event Details:

King County Council Town Hall Meeting

Mental Illness and Drug Dependency Action Plan

Monday, June 25, from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. (Public reception at 6 p.m.)

Shoreline Conference Center, 18560 First Ave. NE in Shoreline.

I look forward to seeing you at the meeting — and be sure to bring your questions!

Bob Ferguson

King County Councilmember, District 1

Seattle

National news

Bush can’t take government from us

On June 8 the Enterprise printed a letter in which the writer asserted that the “National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive” enacted a month ago laid the groundwork for our president and his cohorts to permanently take over.

For at least 50 years, our presidents have issued, re-issued and revised similar directives outlining means to ensure the U.S. survives a national emergency in a recognizable form. Until recently, this planning was motivated by fear of a coordinated, massive attack on our major cities and installations by the Soviet Union. The scenarios we envision now, horrifying as they are, are miniscule by comparison. Mass panic can be easily triggered though, and having plans in place to preserve continued functionality of our government, business and financial systems makes good sense.

As for a coup, I don’t believe this or any administration can take our government from us — unless we let it. In Albert Speer’s “Inside the Third Reich,” we see a chilling picture of a progressive, democratic society that did just that. They allowed themselves to be manipulated by men who played to their fears and their pride, and they relinquished control to them. The scary thing is not that the German people were different somehow, but that we all have the same fear and pride inside us, waiting to germinate.

We can control these weeds by informing ourselves about the world, by limiting individual power, and by assuring mankind’s rights to liberty, equality and justice. If we spend as much time on this as we do keeping up with “American Idol,” the standings in the various pro sports leagues, and the opinions of the pundits, we’ll have nothing to fear.

R. Cuplin

Brier