About 75 Yakima residents and business owners told city officials in no uncertain terms Friday they don’t want a homeless encampment in their neighborhood.
“There has to be a better choice for a homeless encampment than among all these businesses who have worked hard for years,” resident Craig McBride said. “Your short-term fix is going to have a long-term effect.”
McBride, owner of Northwest Auto Body, was among those speaking against a proposal for a short-term homeless encampment on a triangular piece of city property at Fruitvale Boulevard and Castlevale Road at a meeting with city officials.
Advocates from Transform Yakima Together, the faith-based organization that’s volunteering to manage the proposed encampment, say it would be operated much differently than the “disaster” of an emergency encampment on Third Avenue and Walnut Street last summer.
“We’re trying to take what happened last summer, create a dignified environment for the homeless and still respond to concerns from residents,” said Mike Kay, who would manage the encampment if it materializes.
It would have barracks-style tents, 24-hour security and staff oversight, and campers would have to agree to not bother surrounding businesses, Kay said.
City officials said the site would operate for only a few months until a permanent facility can open elsewhere. But the plan wasn’t enough for those attending Friday’s meeting, which was held at the city’s public works office across the street from the proposed site.
Representing the city were council members Kathy Coffey, Bill Lover and Maureen Adkison, City Manager Cliff Moore and others.
Faron Cox, owner of Basic Emergency Safety Training, told them he worries about his staff and students, who would have to come in and out of the building at night.
Even as a temporary encampment, four months could be enough to ruin his business because customers would feel unsafe and stop coming, he said.
The Yakima City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to let the project move ahead.
