REDMOND, Wash. — It appears the end is near for the Old Fire House Teen Center in Redmond.
It’s considered a cultural landmark that has served as a music and arts venue, offering a wide range of activities, workshops, and counseling for teens since 1992.
“This has been a safe drug-free zone for kids for three decades, and it’s just devastating we’re not going to have one anymore,” said Sasha Glenn, a parent whose daughter uses the center.
Now, the city is planning to close it down after giving less than three weeks’ notice, without any public discussion.
A petition Glenn started to “Save The Old Fire House Teen Center” has collected thousands of signatures.
The city says the 73-year-old building is safe to occupy, however, long-term is another story.
So why the rush?
Glenn believes the city has other plans for the $5 million lot.
“So that a deal can be done with a developer. I mean, a lot of money is here to be gained from them just tearing this down, telling the teens to go away, tucking it under the rug, and this being a forgotten lost part of Redmond’s history,” said Glenn.
But the teens aren’t giving up.
They held a rally outside City Hall Tuesday night, where they had a face-to-face with a couple of councilmembers.
“It’s being closed for now, just to make sure that we can maintain a safe environment for our teens,” one of the councilmembers told the group.
“When I see things like this that are so clearly efforts to push teens out of the city, it is so incredibly painful, as a teenager who plans to live here for the rest of my life. I feel so unheard. This decision was made without consulting any of us,” said 16-year-old Aubrey Hansen.
The city says teen programs will move to other community facilities.
Meanwhile, kids are scrambling to save pieces of history.
“With no help from the city, no boxes, no supplies, no nothing. They’re just in there trying to make archives of it so it’s not completely destroyed. It’s hard to watch, it’s really hard to watch,” said Glenn.
Teens and parents say they plan to attend an open city council meeting on April 1.
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