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Relative: 25-04-24 1st Installment-20250904T062400Z-1-001/25-04-24 1st Installment/32782_Installment_1B_Email_March_21-30__652_/Redmond Firehouse Teen Center  (6).msg
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From: Olivia Leslie <olivialeslie1@gmail.com>
To: MayorCouncil@redmond.gov
Subject: Redmond Firehouse Teen Center 
Date: 2025-03-30 11:30:35-10:00

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To the mayor and redmond city council:

My name is Olivia, I’ve been a member of the community my entire life and am writing to urge a reconsideration of plans to close the Old Firehouse Teen Center.

I spent a good deal of my teen years at the Old Firehouse. I attended events and concerts, hosted auditions and rehearsals for my youth theater group, and met up with friends after school and during the summer. It was one of the only places I was able to go that was accessible by public transportation and didn’t cost anything. It was my community hub.

Nowadays, I see fewer and fewer places for today’s adolescents to find community. As someone who works with kids and their caretakers, I hear so often how their kids don’t have friends, don’t leave their rooms, spend all their time online; I see kids who are lonely, isolated, and disillusioned. When we close these vital community centers, this further exacerbates these issues.

I understand there’s a plan to continue community efforts at a less accessible location and urge you to not only support teen community planning at this new location but to also continue efforts at the Firehouse.

The most valuable use of this space is not in the hands of developers— it’s in the hands of people who will uphold this vital community hub.

I appreciate your consideration and look forward to further conversations regarding this matter.

Be well,
Olivia L.
Olivialeslie1@gmail.com
