Letters to the editor

Lines of discontent

Crisis presents an opportunity for us to act now

Editor, The Times:

I read Keith Ervin's article about the county budget shortfall with a heavy heart, knowing that when the cuts begin, those who will likely bleed will be children and families ["County budget shortfall bad, and it will get worse," Times, Local News, April 9]. When King County Budget Director Bob Cowan states that public health and human-service organizations should plan to "entirely phase out of these lines of business by 2011," he misrepresents the implications for what will occur. This work is not a line of business, it is about human lives.

When we are forced, through the shortsightedness of government funding and planning, to cut a "line of business," we are cutting vital services. These cuts represent the community health clinic offering free or reduced health care in your neighborhood. These cuts represent the after-school program that nurtures and educates your child. These cuts represent violence-prevention programs that keep our neighborhoods safe and provide support to victims.

This budget shortfall is not unexpected. For the past several years, community volunteers, human-service professionals and the faith-based community has been asking our elected officials to plan and prepare for this eventuality.

Perhaps this crisis is an opportunity. Now is the time to act.

— Janet St. Clair Lazar, Seattle

Remember, we're all in this together

Bob Cowan described some of the likely cuts in community health and human services and suggested that agencies "entirely phase out of these lines of business." These services are not just "lines of business." They are basic and necessary services that affect human lives, possibly even those of your family and neighbors.

Five years ago, we faced this possibility of elimination of county funding for "these lines of business." After two county-appointed task forces, hundreds of hours of meetings and concrete recommendations for how to avoid the situation we find ourselves in today, it is unconscionable that King County would consider walking away from its responsibility to provide basic health and human services to its citizens.

We must find a way to provide long-term, dedicated funding for community health, after-school programs, violence prevention and safe neighborhoods, help for crime victims, mental-health treatment, domestic-violence and sexual-assault services and prevention, drug- and alcohol-abuse prevention and senior centers. After all, we are all in this together.

— Steve Daschle, co-chair, Seattle Human Services Coalition, Seattle

No surprises here

Bob Cowan suggested that the $60 million budget shortfall be addressed by phasing out some "lines of business." Public health is not a "line of business" that you can phase out. Homeless shelters are not a "line of business" that you can phase out. These health and human services directly impact human lives.

This shortfall is not a surprise. The human-service and faith communities have been working together for the last five years to urge county leaders to find long-term solutions for this issue. Our leaders must step up and do what they should have five years ago: find adequate, stable funding to meet our county's most basic needs.

— Alaric Bien, Bellevue

The best solution both fiscal, humane

I find it sad that Bob Cowan describes the work of the health and human service agencies as a "line of business."

As the executive director of an agency receiving these funds, I see them as counseling for children who are at-risk of suicide or drug use; a support group for addicted teens struggling to stay clean; tutorial and support services for middle-school children on the "D and F" list.

It is very expedient to just get rid of these "lines of business" on an Excel budget. However, the cost in lives of children — and in dollars and cents when these children get arrested by police, involved in courts, and sent to jail — cannot be discounted.

I call on Cowan and his staff to recognize the human impact of the county's economic decisions and create an elegant solution that is both fiscally responsible and humane. It will be difficult, but once accomplished, we will all be proud to live in a county that understands the many nuances of "the bottom line."

— Sam Collins, executive director, Vashon Youth & Family Services, Vashon