That’s not our Annie
My husband and I were shocked to read your obviously misinterpreted interview with Annie Stocker of Two Dog Yoga in Lake City. (“Not in my fire station,” RC, June 27, 2011)
We have known and worked with Annie for 12 years. We are both small business owners and students of hers in the Lake City area.
Stocker’s support of low-income and homeless people throughout the years has been strong, demonstrated by the repeated food bank collections from the yoga and other students who attend the studio as well as by the meals we have prepared for the neighborhood homeless. She also offers free classes and scholarships for those interested and in need.
She consistently attends meetings to improve Lake City while raising a family, teaching, maintaining a private practice and running the studio.
Her passion, in fact, is for more community development with more city involvement, more green spaces/parks (perhaps at the location of the old firehouse), more community services like police (we have no police station). She wants to foster more social interactions within our neighborhood.
Judith Marcus and Rick McKenney
Seattle
Not our Annie, either
Your reporter got it wrong in the article about the fate of Fire Station 39. (“Not in my fire station,” RC, June 27, 2012) In the article, he interviewed Annie Stocker, owner of Two Dog Yoga, a business located near the station. As a longtime member of the Two Dog community, I read the article with interest. I was extremely surprised to see Stocker painted as anti-low income housing and anti-poor people’s needs. This does not jibe with my experience.
Stocker was a supporter of tent city and the Union Gospel Mission winter shelters located in the fire station and served on the Union Gospel Mission neighborhood advisory committee. The Two Dog community has cooked meals for 100-plus and donated food and clothing to local shelters. Two Dog supported and participated in last winter’s Art Carts food donation event. The Two Dog community has been collecting food and dollar donations for more than two decades for the North Helpline Food Bank. Shelter residents were invited to attend yoga classes for free at Two Dog.
Stocker is an active supporter of the Lake City community and someone who thoughtfully invites dialogue to look at the big picture.
Your reporter did not say what Stocker told him — that community land-use planning is a complex issue and should be looked at as such. Instead he oversimplified and in the process publicly gave a bad name to a good business. How does this support the neighborhood and encourage the community to work together?
Gail Gensler
Seattle