»Play Video
Pool some hard-to-come-by budget dollars from the state, King County, City of Seattle and the federal government.
All told, cough up about $9 million tax dollars.
Now, use the money to renovate a four story apartment house in Seattle's 'Denny Triangle' neighborhood.
When it's done, offer 75 tenants room, board and booze.
Well, to be fair, they'll have to provide their own booze. But they will get two meals a day and have access to alcoholism treatment.
The idea here is to get homeless drunks off the street and - ready for this? - sorta "nudge" them into treatment.
To do that, the drunks will not only be allowed to drink in their new apartments, they'll be allowed to invite others in to drink with them!
(No word on whether mini-bars are to be provided!)
The braintrust that came up with this idea uses words like innovative and unconventional to describe it.
My two adjectives would be "dumb" and "REALLY dumb."
You don't help alcoholics by enabling them.
You don't "nudge" people to stop drinking by giving them a new apartment to drink in.
What's next? Giving them a car to "nudge" them into driving to AA meetings?
We need answers about how to help chronic alcoholics.
This "touchy-feely" apartment idea is not an answer.
It's a crock.
Want to share your thoughts with Ken Schram? You can e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com4