Prior to the November ballot measure that asked for approval of a bond issue to fund a new police station, I submitted a letter to the editor, wherein I cautioned against such an extravagance and suggested the city research other options.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I suggested two possibilities: 1, retrofit the current police station to accommodate more people and provide better use of space; and 2, locate some of the police in empty retail space throughout the community.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I would like to return to No. 2. There is a vacant space on Meeker \u2013 the old JC Penney space, which is only two blocks from the current police station. What a wonderful opportunity for the police to be part of the revitalization of Old Downtown Kent.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This space has sat empty, except for periodic uses, for almost two decades. Although it would be preferable for a successful retail operation to move in, for whatever reason, that has not happened and appears unlikely to happen.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Thus, I encourage the City Council to begin negotiations with the owner of this property to lease it for a police annex. The monthly rental and the initial outlay to build out the space would be minimal in comparison to a new police station (a $34 million bond measure).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
My overall message is, “Toss out that box inside which decisions are made and pursue creative ways to revitalize our old downtown. Put the police in a storefront. Put the officers in public view. Make them a part of the area. Make their offices a place to visit. Make the police storefront on Meeker beautiful and inviting. Show the commercial retailers that old downtown is alive and well and safe.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2013\u00a0Ruth Riddle<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Prior to the November ballot measure that asked for approval of a bond issue to fund a new police station, I submitted a letter to the editor, wherein I cautioned against such an extravagance and suggested the city research other options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-8884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8884"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8884"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=8884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}