urban rest stop = clean homeless people

i, along with a couple of my fellow cosmopolitans, attended the urban rest stop open house yesterday. directly across the street from the cosmopolitan, the urban rest stop is a full service public restroom, complete with showers and laundry facilities.

short of an actual home, this place is one of the best possible public services available for homeless people. it was noted by several of the speakers that basic needs such as cleaning oneself and ones clothes not only enables an appropriate public presence (important for getting and keeping a job) but it also facilitates basic human dignity.

the urban rest stop to me is a surprising sign of real diversity in our neighborhood, and is something that i fully support. it occupies the bottom floor of an historic building, which was recently purchased by the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI). by purchasing the building directly, LIHI secured the future of both the urban rest stop and the low income apartments that occupy the rest of the space.

the speakers for this event included Ronni Gilboa, manager of the urban rest stop ; Bill Block, project director at committee to end homelessness; Alison Eisinger, executive director of seattle/king county coalition on homelessness; Tom Rasmusssen, seattle city councilmember; and seattle mayor Greg Nickels.

here's the urban rest stop wish list for anyone interested in helping out through donations and/or volunteering.
























more pix here.