jenk

The New York Times has a nice article on Priscilla Bullitt Collins. Excerpt about a lower-income housing development she did:

A few years ago, Ms. Collins bought one of the prime blocks of land on First Hill, angering developers who had plans for a condominium high rise on the site. She wondered why housing for the working poor could not fit there. Many neighbors were aghast.

Ms. Collins spent considerably on good architecture, and the design and the housing project, after being turned over to the city to run, have become an award-winning and much-desired part of this neighborhood.

"These are the working poor, the people who clean the buildings downtown, the people who draw your blood in the hospitals," she said. "Neighbors were worried about traffic and crime before it opened. Then somebody said to me, `When do the people start moving in?' I said: `They're already living there. And you didn't even notice.' "

What's more, the low-income housing project is directly behind the grand Tudor mansion where the Bullitt matriarch grew up, the Stimson Green Mansion, now preserved under terms of national historic laws.

"You hear a lot about Not in My Backyard — Nimby," Ms. Collins said. "Not me. I put this housing project right in my backyard."

Edit: This was reprinted at a registration-free site.