OPINION: Council Should Stop Playing Games With Our Teens

Old Fire House Teen Center

OPINION:  On March 11, 2025 the City stated: "Teen programs currently housed at the Old Fire House Teen Center are proactively transitioning to the Redmond Community Center at Marymoor Village for safety reasons. The transition will begin later this month, and all programs are expected to be operational in their new locations by late April."  After two listening sessions the teens found Marymoor and the Senior & Community Center sterile or unwelcoming.    

More than four months later a bureaucracy of Council / staff / a subcommittee / an advisory committee/ a stakeholder group / focus groups/ and 2 listening sessions still hadn't decided what to do with the Center.  It appeared Council and staff were trying to wear down the teens from protesting in City Hall while shoe-horning them into Marymoor and the Senior & Community Center.  These delays were pure nonsense ... at the expense to our youth's mental and academic health.  

Last night teen participation testimony winnowed down to only three teens.  All spoke against the closure.  One persistently requested accountability. 

In September and October 2025, a Stakeholder Group will meet six times to hear more information, including input from public focus groups, and create a recommendation that will go to Council in November 2025. According to their FAQ City Council is expected to make a decision on whether to renovate the current structure or investigate rebuilding options by the end of 2025.  

Council and staff must stop playing games with our most vulnerable teens.  The Mayor needs to move the process "fast forward."  

Renovation is not an option since Parks Director Loreen Hamilton has invested deeply into taxpayer's pockets for safety and engineering inspections; and it's a potential place for affordable housing.  The building is 50-years old and renovation for safety would be expensive vis a vis the benefits of rebuilding. 

The school district rebuilds all the time, when they tear down their existing buildings and build a new, larger schools on the same parcel. The teen center's basketball courts are mostly unused, as is the deck in the winter.  A rebuild could add 5-6 levels of affordable space, while allowing independent, sound-proofed teen activities in the first floor.  The City owns the land; a partnership with a developer would make it feasible. Hurry!

-- Bob Yoder, 9/3/2025, Updated 9/4/2025