King County announced that it will be purchasing the Econo Lodge in Kent and turning it into a quarantine facility for the coronavirus, and the City of Kent is very upset.
This hotel is located at 1233 Central Ave N. (map below).
There are no known cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Kent as of Wednesday.
The city says it was first alerted to this issue by a third party late on Monday, Mar. 2, and claims it was not consulted or notified – at all – by the county.
Mayor Dana Ralph said at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Mar. 4, 2020, that Public Health – Seattle and King County “has been looking at this site for months, with the intent for using it for public health purposes, including homelessness and as a site for quarantines for other communicable diseases.”
“We are concerned that the coronavirus is simply a pretext for the siting of a longterm quarantine facility here in Kent,” Ralph said.
Ralph added that the county plans to move patients into this facility within 9-10 days, but still has not inquired with the city about permits or occupancy of the building.
“I am very concerned about the public health and safety implications this has for our community,” she said. “They are replicating and bringing a facility similar in scale to the Life Care Center in Kirkland and dropping it in our community. We have asked numerous questions that they have no answer for.”
“This has not been a transparent process,” she said, adding that she thinks the county will put this property back on the market once the coronavirus crisis is over.
“This location is in the middle of one of our main gateways into the city of Kent. We have invested millions of dollars into the infrastructure around this location, and now visitors and residents will be greeted by a public health quarantine facility,” Ralph said. “The county intends to bring sick people from wealthier and less diverse communities and drop them off in Kent without regard to our community or the people in it.”
Ralph encourages all residents who have questions about this new facility to call the county at (206) 477-3977.
Other city officials spoke at the conference, which was held in council chambers.
“I took an oath to protect our community, which is why I cannot support this ill advised and dangerous plan by King County,” Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla said.
Padilla added that this new site will be a voluntary intake facility, which means patients could come and go as they please.
“It will not be a secure location,” Padilla said.
“As a City Councilmember, I am deeply disappointed by the action of the county,” Councilmember Bill Boyce said. “This will only cripple our growth, it feels wrong -– wrong to me, that the county put the only large permanent site not next to the majority of the coronavirus outbreak, but instead put it in the heart of one of the most diverse commmunities and shipping patients to Kent without any regards to our community. We expect the county to respect all residents, including the residents of Kent.”
VIDEO
Below is raw video of the city’s press conference:
The Econo Lodge is located at 1233 Central Ave N.:
Maybe if you don’t like the way the State Legislature is running things you might want to vote them out.
I’ll bet King County government goes to booking sites like TripAdvisor.com to find the lowest rated fleabag motels in the county and then makes their owners an offer…without notifying the community they’re in.
The real question is, which relative of Dow Constantine had a hotel for sale? Just one more example of King County lack of transparency.
What can we do to stop this from happening?
This is a disgraceful for our city. They have such a miss of homelessness so now they want to disgrace use and move in without giving our CITY a choice. GIVE US A BREAK.
White Center has a Twitter petition going to protest the siting in their city. We need one too! ( don’t know how to do this – I am a fossil) Our council member is Dave Upthegrove. Text him! Text Dow Constantine! Don’t just complain here, take action!
This is a very bad and unthoughtful move by our State and King County government. Basically they are creating a Pottersville in Kent, very close to neighborhoods and business. There are several Assisted living homes and nursing facilities within 2 miles of that location. The very people who likely will die if they contract this virus. Kent has a very large population of low wage earners and probably has a very high rate of people without health insurance. I understand that no neighborhood is going to want this facility in their back yard but wouldn’t it be better to keep this disease in the hot spot zone rather than spreading it out in the region? Or, wouldn’t it be better to find an area with fewer residential areas and businesses? I personally commute to downtown Seattle daily. I have stopped taking public transportation in order to lower the risk to myself and coworkers. And now…. do we really have to just accept this?
I support the Mayor and city leaders. There’s something that smells here. Wonder who the middle men were who concocted this deal.
Are there no abandoned facilities available in Seattle that can be converted? Seattle appears to be in a far better position to handle this epidemic, what with all the positions of authority already filled.
Bye bye anyone who eats at the Denny’s across the street from the ‘voluntary’ quarantine facility meant for people who don’t have homes they can self-quarantine themselves in. You know, because homeless people are responsible, upstanding citizens who would never put others at risk of infection.
Why put our city at threat of yet another serious out break..These people will be free to Rome around our city and infect our residents who live here and that is not right at all..I myself am very scared of the thought of it being there because my son was born prematurely and has a underlying heart condition and lung condition. HE HAS A PULMONARY VALVE STENOSIS AND CHRONIC LUNG DISEASE FROM BEING UNDER DEVELOPED WHEN BORN AT 7 MONTHS BEING SO EARLY..HE HAS BEEN DISCHARGED AFTER SPENDING 2 MONTHS IN THE NICU NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT IN THE HOSPITAL ON OXYGEN AND THAT REALLY FRIGHTENS ME IF I OR MY FAMILY GO OUT TO THE STORE OR FOR WHAT EVER REASON AND CONTRACT IT AND BRING HOME TO US AND HE GETS IT AND THIS DISEASE ATTACKS THE LUNGS SO I DON’T THINK HE WILL HAVE A FIGHTING CHANCE..NOT FEELING SAFE IN MY OWN CITY WITH HEALTH OFFICIALS STARTING OF WITH SO MUCH DONE WRONG ALREADY AND EXPERIMENTING WITH THIS SIGHT GOD KNOWS HOW MUCH MORE THEY WILL DO WRONG IN EXPOSING MY,OUR CITY OF KENT MY PLACE OF HOME SINCE 1982 TO SUCH DEADLY PRACTICES..LETS PUT THEM IN YOUR BACK YARD AND SEE HOW YOU FEEL FOR YOUR FAMILY FRIENDS AND ELDERLY AND MOST OF ALL US HUMAN BEINGS THAT ARE TRYING SO HARD TO KEEP IT FROM HITTING OUR TOWN..PLEASE CONSIDER SOMEWHERE ELSE TO TAKE THIS INFECTIOUS DISEASE AND STAY OUT OF OUR CITY AND ALSO KEEPING MY SON IN MIND AND GIVE HIM A CHANCE TO GROW AND EXPERIENCE LIFE AND NOT HAVE IT TAKEN BY HEALTH OFFICIALS THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING OUR PUBLIC NOT EXPOSING…CITY OF KENT LETS WORK TOGETHER TO RUN THEM OUT OF HERE THEY HAVE NO ON SITE KITCHEN IN THE MOTEL HOW ARE THEY GOING TO EAT AND GET THINGS NEEDED TO LIVE WELL HATE TO SAY THIS BUT WONDERING AROUND OUR CITY FREE TO INFECT ALL OF US..