Vancouver residents who showed up to speak with city councilors at a Monday community forum expressed concerns about the upcoming police levy, crime at two of Vancouver Housing Authority’s apartment buildings and efforts to make streets more pedestrian friendly.
About 50 people attended the event at Educational Service District 112. The Vancouver City Council hosts four community forums a year.
Police levy
Some residents asked about Vancouver’s proposal to increase property taxes to bolster the police department.
Proposition 4, which is before voters on the Nov. 5 ballot, would add up to 80 full-time sworn officers and 36 non-sworn police positions, form a traffic enforcement camera program, expand the city’s Homeless Assistance and Resources Team (which has two officers) and upgrade equipment.
The Proposition 4 levy lid lift would increase the city’s 2024 general fund property tax levy by about 41 cents per $1,000 of assessed value for 2025. The levy would increase 5 percent a year for six years. The measure would raise about $15.5 million the first year and about $36 million by 2030, according to the city.
A police advisory committee said the additional funding is necessary due to a lack of staff, a 30 percent increase in call volume for police services and an 87 percent increase in reported crimes since 2018, according to the city.
Resident Debra Kalz asked how the increased funding would prevent burnout and increase retention, because those seem to be major issues for the department, she said. The increase in property taxes would challenge her financially as a widow, she said.
“People are at their financial wits’ end,” she said. “I’m right on the edge here of not being able to afford my house.”
The city estimates impact on the owner of a $500,000 home to be an additional $205 in property tax in the first year and $585 in 2030.
Councilor Sarah Fox said having more staff will alleviate burnout because officers are currently stretched thin.
“Having more staff will help many of these problems that we’re seeing,” Fox said.
Kalz pointed to additional taxes the city is considering. The city is considering five new taxes to close its $43 million budget gap.
“We’re being hit on so many levels,” Kalz said.
The Pacific and Meridian
Keith Hiatt works at On Target Driving School, which is just across the street from two Vancouver Housing Authority buildings for people exiting homelessness, The Pacific and The Meridian.
An August article in The Columbian exposed the dangerous environment around the buildings and a not-so-underground drug market causing neighbors and tenants distress.
Hiatt said he often sees people doing drugs or having mental health crises at the apartments on Northeast 78th Avenue in Vancouver’s Ogden neighborhood. He and another neighbor said they’ve complained about the apartments to the city over the past year and never received a response. Police gave them the runaround, they said.
“As we put in things like a bridge shelter or these places, we need to have adequate enforcement,” Hiatt said.
Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle said the city is working with VHA to increase security measures and lease enforcement.
“I’m sorry your business got hit pretty hard,” McEnerny-Ogle said. “What we’re seeing is not necessarily people in the apartments coming down. … What we’re seeing is a drug market.”
At last week’s city council meeting, VHA CEO Andy Silver acknowledged the issues, including drug dealing and sex trafficking at the properties.
VHA installed gates and fences, added more regularly monitored security cameras, and now provides updates to tenants of a list of individuals not allowed on the premises. It also changed the legal notice process to quickly respond if a tenant is connected to criminal activity.
McEnerny-Ogle said the city will continue to monitor issues around the buildings.
Pedestrians vs. drivers
Several residents at the forum addressed street improvement projects, such as those on Main Street and McGillivray Boulevard, that focus on pedestrian and bicycle access instead of expanding capacity for cars.
Vancouver’s redesign of Main Street in the city’s downtown includes replacing diagonal parking with parallel parking, narrowing the roadway while extending sidewalks, and setting a roadway level with the sidewalk so there are no curbs.
The city is planning to remove one car lane in each direction on McGillivray between Southeast Seventh Street and Southeast 164th Avenue. The plan also includes creating a 10-foot-wide mobility lane for pedestrians and cyclists.
Some residents living near McGillivray complained that the area is an aging community that relies on cars.
Others said they appreciate the city focusing more on people who don’t or can’t drive — a population that Vancouver resident Zach Gatton said was previously ignored.
“You’re not giving anyone a choice to do anything else but drive,” he said of the city’s current streets.
