We can do better

As a neighbor living across the street from the King County Juvenile Detention Center, there is no doubt that improvements are needed to better serve our youth, but the editorial, “Voters see need for new juvenile-justice center,” is disingenuous [Opinion, Aug. 8].

Declaring the passing of Proposition 1 as “proof that King County voters care,” labels the 136,112 voters — nearly half — who voted against the measure, as callous individuals without care for our future generations.

Proposition 1 passing does give King County a tremendous opportunity to gain an impressive treasure by redeveloping the nine acres of publicly owned land within such a diverse neighborhood, however, we must dream beyond the singular focus of a modern facility.

Selling a third of this precious community resource to fill in more dense living space would be a failure to our youth and the potential of our community. Instead, we must together learn how we are failing our youth and imagine a free public space that brings our bright, young individuals together with the community to learn, share, create and work toward preventing the cracks that allow so many of them to fail.

We can do better, which happens to be why many voted against Proposition 1.

— Michael Lanthier, Seattle