"Decades of decay..." - A Response

An involved member of our community wrote the following letter to the Seattle Times in response to yesterday's front page article and forwarded to Aurora|Seattle.  We should note that the author of Times article responded with appreciation to this letter.

Greetings Sonia...

I hope this finds you well.

I am writing in regards to the front page article about Aurora.

As I ruminated on the content of your article I found myself to be disappointed. It seems to me that this article is one of a handful that have been written about Aurora lately with the same message: Aurora is a problem. While, I certainly did not find your article to carry within it any lies, per-say- it did mask yet again the humanity of the people that inhabit this area. I want to hear a new story- as I believe a new story is being written on Aurora- a story of hope, potential and dignity.

There are larger systemic issues at the heart of Aurora, structural ones. People live in the motels because they have no where else to live- and often it is the city that places them there. And prostitutes- why not explore why they exist. They are most often the mentally ill among us, the abused, the rejected. And we reject them, we mask their faces when we name them "as problems". We , the city and neighbors are failing them...and they have no where to go, they live as the outsider and we treat them as such. These problems are escalated by our lack of compassion and visceral reactions that cause us to treat people as if their particular story matters not when we see them as "the other" and write about them as "the other".

There are beautiful stories of transformation on Aurora. People loving one another exquisitely. There are Prostitutes crying from exhaustion and loneliness- caught in the evil dual-diagnostic cycle of poverty that keeps them there. And the police will not allow us to help them because of the laws that are in place. May we talk about that please? There are barbeque's that bring together 50 people from the Fremont Fellowship, homeless vets that live in their vans on our street and us, their neighbors - and laughter happens there. There is dignity already present. There is hope. There are people who believe in one another - who believe in the addicted - that they will be free. There is a community garden.

Sonia- may I ask you to please tell the stories of the beauty among the ugliness on Aurora. This is what changes people- this is what calls people higher. This is what gives voice to the voiceless and calls them to change, calls us all to change.

In deep gratitude-

Lisa Etter Carlson founder of The Green Bean Coffeehouse

Resident, Aurora, Seattle

90th and Aurora