Who wouldn't want to live next to a bunch of ex-felons? Oh wait, everyone.

I suggest using the King County Dispute Resolution Center
http://www.kcdrc.org/

Back in ~ 1995 the Miller Park neighborhood and the developers of a proposed sex offender congregate house held extensive discussions, expertly mediated by the King County Dispute Resolution Center. Some details: http://www.box.net/index.php?rm=box_v2_d…

We also engaged in extensive negotiations with Oscar McCoy and his supporters, regarding the issues with his bar, Oscar's II, at 22nd & Madison. This resulted in a mutually acceptable, and seemingly effective, Good Neighbor Agreement. Details: http://home.jps.net/~tayles/Madison/osca…

Here's hoping that the two sides can come to some equitable agreement.

Full link:

http://www.box.net/index.php?rm=box_v2_d…

So sad. No wonder so many churches go into "hate everyone outside our doors" mode. They try to do something beneficial to society, and get spat upon in the process.

Oh, and we all live next to criminals. Fraud is a felony too, just like dealing drugs. WaMu, mortgage fraud.... Which crime hurts society more?

Nimby cowards. Our Department of Corrections in no way deserves that name, yet when someone actually tries to stem the tide of recidivism, this is what we get. Disgusting.

@4,

The church has no plans for how to actually care for those felons. The neighbors are well within their rights to be concerned about a bunch of novices getting involved in felon housing.

So, instead of ex-felons being in supervised housing, where they can be reintegrated into society, they're going to be still in the neighborhood, but homeless and breaking into their backyards. Good thinking.

Cienna, given how much you write about this, why don't you ever cover the aspect of the story that is the New Hope Baptist Church's demonstrated naivete about how to successfully run a felon housing program?

There are lots of transition houses for felons in the CD that are operated competently and transparently. Nobody is trying to run them out of town. Your NIMBY vs. do-gooder angle might get pageviews but it's simplistic and unlikely to help resolve the underlying issues.

Reverend Jeffrey has no idea what he is doing. Thats the problem.

There is already well run felon housing in the CD the operates with no controversy and lots of support from the community. We are also currently home to a tent city operation which likewise has been well received.

Since you write about this issue so much, Cienna, how about covering this development?

http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2010/…

Wow. http://twitter.com/ciennam/status/968928…

You don't bother to put any real effort into reporting both sides of a story, then you wonder why people tell you that you're a crappy reporter. You can't have it both ways. Sweetheart.