This info was just passed on to us:
"House Bill 3071 is still stalled in the House Rules Committee as of 11:30 p.m. tonight [Thursday]. This is likely due to the all of the calls to the Legislative Hotline, your emails and letters to our legislators in the 46th District, and the letters from LCC and the Northeast District Council opposing the bill. ... please call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and leave a message for our legislators. It’s easy and takes less than a minute and will make a major difference. "Please help us keep up the pressure. Email addresses for our 46th District Legislators are at the top of this page. Here's an example letter shared with us by a neighbor:
"Hello Representatives McIntire and Kenney, Speaker Chopp and Senator Jacobsen,
I am strongly opposed to Children’s Hospital’s efforts to obtain Laurelon Terrace without the permission of residents. Please vote NO on HB3071 and encourage your colleagues to do so. Allowing a private corporation to take over homes without the full willingness of residents is just plain wrong. This verges on the exercise of eminent domain on behalf of a private entity.
The hospital is putting residents in an impossible position. By laying out a development plan beyond the wildest dreams of long-time residents, it is using intimidation and scare tactics to strong-arm residents into selling their homes. Remember, the underlying zoning at the Hospital site is single-family residential, not high-rise.
Many residents of Laurelon are elderly and bought their homes with the expectation that they would live out many of their last years there near their families. Where will they go? The fifth floor of a high-rise apartment building in the U-District? No grass and trees and sunlight there. Yes, high-rises are right for some people, but not for all, especially elderly individuals who find stairs hard. We need all types in our city, not just hardened city slickers.
Laurelon is part of our community and an irreplaceable resource. You know what sort of housing units are being built now. They aren’t garden apartments that sell for about $250,000 in a residential neighborhood on a non-busy street.
The people living in Laurelon should not be strong-armed into giving up their homes by either HB3071 or the Hospital’s excessive development plans.
Further information on community opposition to HB3071 is available on www.childrensaction.com. In particular, see the following posts:
Please help us stop HB3071. Thank you."
