XPost: alt.society.homeless, seattle.politics, alt.business.hospitality
XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns
https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-hotel-sues-city-king-county- alleging-homeless-contaminated-it-w-fentanyl-meth#
SEATTLE — Neha Nariya says she and her family were trying to help the city during a time of crisis, but now feel like they’ve been left with a crisis
of their own.
There are people who do things, and there are people who say they could
have done things. And this is one of those moments,” said the owner of the Civic Hotel in South Lake Union. “We're stepping up to help the community. That’s why Nariya and her late father agreed to lease the hotel to the
City and King County in 2020 to serve as a homeless shelter. But she says, after the County ended the lease in December of 2024, they failed to abide
by the contract and clean the place up.
Nariya says the entire hotel, which was fully renovated in 2018 and sits
across the street from Apple’s Seattle headquarters, is now contaminated
with methamphetamine and fentanyl residue from the people who once lived
there, and that the building is uninhabitable. That’s why she’s now suing Seattle and King County to fix the problem. The suit was filed in
Snohomish County earlier this month.
In the lawsuit, she specifically cites a 2024 case involving a baby that
was found deceased inside the hotel with fentanyl and meth in their
system. The mother, who was a tenant, has been charged with murder. Nariya
says the city failed to properly manage people and make sure they were not doing drugs inside.
Now, both the city and the county are finger-pointing. In a filing, the
Seattle City Attorney’s office said that the “City admits that King County failed to clean and repair damage to the premises” and that “The City
admits that it did not obtain a bid from a bio-cleaning company.”
But the filing also suggests that “The City denies that the Seattle
License required the City to ‘carefully supervise tenants’” and “The City
is without sufficient knowledge' to admit or deny the remaining
statements.” However, the organization known as Purpose Dignity Action, or
PDA, helped to manage the site and services during the time in question
under the umbrella of CoLEAD.
In a statement, the PDA refuted some of the claims.
“The Civic Hotel was a wonderful venue to do low-barrier shelter work the
last few years. We regretted having to leave last December because the
ongoing leasing costs were just too high. As recently as this spring, the owners, who have been great to work with, were asking if we could return. Before CoLEAD started work at the Civic, the Civic leased the space for a different sheltering program not run by us. We can't speak to how that
program operated, but during our tenure, we required that our program participants not smoke any substances inside the building, and we enforced
that requirement. Of course, as in any hotel, occasionally, someone
violates the rules and smokes in the building -- but as in any hotel, if
indoor smoking is identified and not rectified, the person would not be permitted to continue staying on the premises. We also took good care of
the premises because we respect the owners and also because our
participants deserved to stay in a well-maintained facility. We hope this matter is quickly and amicably resolved.”
The PDA says it helped to manage the site from late summer of 2021 through December 2024, and “In the process of wrapping up the move-out, there was visible evidence that people (unrelated to our program) were gaining
entry.” The statement continued, “When we left, we did a thorough visual inspection with the owners, and the building was in good shape, including removal of all garbage and debris.”
The Seattle City Attorney, King County Executive, King County Civil
Division, and PDA all declined interviews on Friday.
“They've dragged their feet every time we've gone to them. They
acknowledge the contamination, they acknowledge that they are supposed to
be doing something, but they just haven't done anything,” said Nariya.
She also suggests that the city and county are slow rolling the issue
because Sound Transit is eyeing the spot for a future light rail station.
“Part of me believes they are using (the contamination) to drive down the
value when they do have to acquire, or are they using that so that I
eventually have to fold?”
Nariya says it may also mean she can’t reopen in time for the 2026 World
Cup, when hotel rooms are expected to be in high demand.
“We’re just kind of stuck,” she said.
--
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.
Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)