“The amount of human feces, needles, and garbage I encounter on my daily dog walks in this area is absolutely appalling. ” – Gigi, online commenter
Burien’s debate over DESC’s Bloomside supportive-housing project has boiled over this week — on the streets, in letters to the editor, and in the comments sections where readers are now fact-checking each other in real time.
On Sept. 1, the B-Town Blog published a letter from resident John White titled “Shut down the DESC in Burien,” alleging open drug use outside Bloomside and blaming local leaders for backing the facility. “What you’ll see are crowds of drug users gathered out front, openly dealing and using drugs in the middle of the day,” White wrote. The B-Town (Burien) Blog
A week earlier, Burien.News ran a letter from Dr. David Gould posing questions about DESC and homelessness policy that helped spark the current discussion. Burien.News
What DESC is — and how it got approved
DESC (Downtown Emergency Service Center) operates permanent supportive housing at Bloomside in downtown Burien. The project was included in Burien’s Affordable Housing Demonstration Program by a 6–1 council vote on June 21, 2021. The City’s own post confirms the action and date. City of Burien
Fact check: Who actually voted “yes” in 2021?
B-Town Blog’s letter did not originally name who served on the council at the time, which prompted readers to interject with inaccurate information. The outlet has since updated its editor’s note to list the six yes votes as Kevin Schilling, Sofia Aragon, Jimmy Matta, Cydney Moore, Krystal Marx, and Pedro Olguín; Nancy Tosta voted no. The B-Town (Burien) Blog
Two further points of clarification:
- Bob Edgar was not on the council in 2021; the City honored him as an outgoing councilmember in December 2019. City of Burien
- Hugo Garcia was elected later in 2021 and first took office January 10, 2022; he was not a councilmember for the June 2021 vote (he had served on the Planning Commission). Burien Magazine
Despite those facts, one commenter — identified as David Feinberg — posted beneath the B-Town Blog letter that the 2021 “yes” votes included “Bob Edgar” and “Krystal Marks,” and insisted “HUGO WASN’T EVEN ON THE COUNCIL YET!” (correct about Garcia, incorrect about Edgar/Marx’s name/spelling). The B-Town (Burien) Blog
Bottom line: The correct 2021 “yes” votes were Schilling, Aragon, Matta, Cydney Moore, Krystal Marx, and Pedro Olguín. Edgar was off the council by then; Garcia joined months later. The B-Town (Burien) BlogBurien, WABurien Magazine
The push and pull: How readers are framing it
The conversation has turned raw — and polarized.
- Dr. David Gould argued that “a housing-first policy without treatment…is just a better tent,” and called for closing DESC and moving residents “to an actual treatment facility.” The B-Town (Burien) Blog
- John M. Lowrance wrote, “DESC buildings have never worked — not once,” calling them “another failed social experiment.” The B-Town (Burien) Blog
- Louis G. warned that “the most important thing in regards to this DESC fiasco is the City Council Candidates who support such facilities, Sarah, Hugo, Sam & Rocco are ardent fans of the Homeless Industrial Complex and would gladly add to that grift in Burien by adding even more.” The B-Town (Burien) Blog
- Kelsey Vanhee pushed back, saying John White’s letters “need to be taken with a grain of salt,” and linked to DESC’s page summarizing JAMA research finding taxpayer cost savings from supportive housing. The B-Town (Burien) BlogDESC
- Charles Schaefer questioned why abuse of “certain drugs is shrugged off” while other drug use is “viewed as a moral failure,” arguing for a consistent standard. The B-Town (Burien) Blog
Several commenters challenged White to submit photos/video to police; others pasted links to articles and YouTube clips they said document problems around DESC sites. The B-Town (Burien) Blog
One of the many related links posted by readers included coverage by Jonathan Choe, a journalist who reports on the perils of DESC and other “housing first” projects in Seattle. Fix Homelessness – Closed DESC becomes abandoned drug den.
What DESC says
DESC published a statement Sept. 2, 2025, rebutting claims circulating locally about Bloomside. Key assertions:
- Bloomside maintains a “zero-tolerance policy for illicit or illegal activity in our public spaces.” DESC
- Reports about “600 police responses” are “misleading,” saying most were routine entries requested by police for neighborhood monitoring, not service calls tied to tenants; actual calls from staff/tenants were “a small number each week,” often for non-violent or nuisance issues. DESC
- About one-third of tenants were previously unsheltered in Burien, meaning “every person housed at Bloomside is one less person on Burien’s streets.” DESC
- DESC cites University of Washington research that supportive housing reduces substance use and reliance on costly emergency services. DESC
“When someone moves into Bloomside, they sign a lease and…a Good Neighbor Policy,” the statement says, adding staff respond immediately to concerns and “take further action or provide support as needed.” DESC
Evidence & context, briefly
- The City’s June 23, 2021 post confirms the vote to include DESC in the Affordable Housing Demonstration Program and outlines the project (95 studio units, on-site services). City of Burien
- B-Town Blog’s contemporaneous June 23, 2021 story likewise reports a 6–1 vote with Tosta opposed. The B-Town (Burien) Blog
Accountability for accurate records
Readers flagged successive inaccuracies about who voted in 2021. B-Town Blog has now updated its editor’s note with the correct names (above). Burien.News confirmed via City records that Bob Edgar had left office in 2019 and Hugo Garcia didn’t join the council until 2022. The B-Town (Burien) BlogBurien, WA Burien Magazine
8 Responses
I just love that “zero-tolerance….in *our public spaces” quote because they ignore all drug use, dealing and dysfunction directly outside the building. Does that mean they don’t allow it in the lobby, hallways, elevator, laundry room etc and just consider the sidewalks and streets surrounding them a different type of public space? If they consider themselves a “Good Neighbor” I think the drugs are affecting not just residents but also the spokesperson who spouts that nonsense.
I see DESC didn’t even try to respond to my questions and few other issues raised.
I would like to point out the confusion about who voted on the council for the DESC. Yes, I did say that Hugo was involved and this correction that he was not part of the vote is incorrect. If you recall, Kevin Schilling threw a monkey wrench into the approval of the DESC into the Burien affordable housing demonstration Program. He came up with an idea that they needed to house at least 30% of their facilities for Burien residence, which didn’t have anything to do with the requirements laid out in the Burien affordable housing demonstration program so therefore the folks that voted for it in the beginning did not include Hugo but Hugo played a big role in the end by voting for it after the hearing. What hearing you might ask? After Jimmy Matta discovered that Hugo misled the council by not revealing the King County requirements for entry into the DESC building, he called for a hearing Nullified the yes vote of the previous board. By then Hugo was on the council and then they had to vote again for the last round which included the requirement for an interlocal agreement between the DESC and the city of Burien.
I did notice something else in the debate. I noticed that Dr. Bruce David posted some interesting information about the DESC so I will cut and paste it here for all to read.
From Dr. Bruce David, Shorewood,
Whether you favor “housing first” or not, DESC appears to be a money scam.
Just an opinion, but consider this: (1) Its nonprofit Federal tax return, supposed to list top earners in leadership, lists 15 leaders earning zero annually and only 7 earning a total of $1,430,000 annually, yet annual management salaries are over $12,000,000.
(2) DESC’s tentacles are in deep: King County Sheriff and Burien antagonist Patti Cole-Tindall is on DESC’s Board and State Rep Nicole Macri is DESC Deputy Director-but her salary is concealed, year, after year, after year. (3) This band of selfless DESC do-gooders dumped $1,357,000 into leadership pensions during 2024 alone. That’s not counting salaries and other benefits for the over 120 management earning over $100,000 annually.
DESC is sitting on over $418 million in assets, including over $36 million in cash. Just a snapshot of who’s running what is described above as a hot mess, in Burien.
You need to be held accountable for lying to the public in an open letter–spreading misinformation. Ban John White from editorials!
I think that anyone who’s associated with DESC or a supporter of their failed policies should be banned from commenting because nothing they say is true. Stop the enabling!
I think that what is important now is finding out where city council candidates stand on some crucial issues. Whatever happened in the past is over. I will give those council members who voted for DESC the benefit of the doubt. They probably believed the falsehoods told to them about how great this would be. We need to ask those running for the council if they would vote to lift the camping ban. If so, they are not representing the majority of Burien citizens in their thinking. We will go back on the merry go round of chaos and not helping people with viable solutions.
Sarah, Hugo, Sam & Rocco have already stated that they intend on removing the Camping Ban. They collectively spout Progressive, Leftist ideals and all of them are beholden to the Homeless Industrial Complex. They’re collective intent is to serve those interests and push agendas that will serve outside interests and take money for it.