Bellingham city officials appeared at a packed community meeting at a hotel on Northwest Avenue and Bakerview Road Tuesday, Nov. 19 to discuss a growing homeless encampment on that corner.
Organized by a coalition of concerned community members, more than 100 people crowded into the conference room of the La Quinta Inn & Suites Tuesday afternoon. The encampment behind the Jack in the Box has grown in recent months, with now roughly 50-70 residents, and garbage, tents and shopping carts clearly visible from the street.
Nearby businesses have complained of issues with theft, shoplifting and vandalism, while neighbors have complained about safety. Some violent incidents have occurred within the encampment: Bellingham Police say at least three felony assaults within the last several months, and one man arrested for the rape of a child in the third degree and other alleged crimes.
[ Read more: Owners urged to fence, clean property to address growing homeless camp off Bakerview ]
For most of the meeting, Mayor Kim Lund and Bellingham Police Lieutenant Claudia Murphy talked through the challenges associated with addressing the encampment. Tuesday morning, city staff began a cleanup of another large encampment on private property behind the Bellingham Walmart.
The encampment on Northwest and Bakerview spans six pieces of private property, with five different owners. City staff said they’ve hosted three meetings urging owners to work together to clean and secure properties with fencing. Lund told community members at the Tuesday meeting that the city is “prepared to take further action to compel a cleanup” if property owners don’t comply.
In anticipation of that eventual coordinated cleanup, Murphy told people in attendance to fence and patrol any pieces of undeveloped property people may own.
“We all know that there are people out there who will not accept the help that we offer, and they will just pack up and they’ll move to a different place,” she said. “So that’s why it’s incumbent on all of you as property owners: If you have an undeveloped piece of property, the old ‘set it and forget it’ is not going to work. You have to maintain it.”
Murphy also urged people to report any crimes they witness to the police.
Despite comments on social media claiming package theft, vehicle break-ins and other issues related to the encampment, Murphy said the police have received one call about a package theft from a porch on Garland Lane in the last four months.
“If you don’t report it, we don’t know it,” she said.
Jean Scribner, a Bellingham resident who doesn’t live near the encampment but frequently comes to the area, was the main organizer behind the coalition and the meeting on Tuesday. She said the goal of the meeting was to educate people on the city’s process and understand that “it’s bigger than just saying, ‘just get rid of it.’”
Scribner told the audience that she feels the city is making a “sincere effort” to resolve the encampment. At the meeting, she provided printouts of de-escalation tactics and the city’s web pages on unauthorized encampments.
Murphy emphasized to the crowd that the issue of this encampment is bigger than Bellingham.
“This issue that we’re facing is, we are all managing this — cities up and down the West Coast, cities across the United States — we are managing this catastrophe because we’re not solving it,” Murphy said. “Our city does not have enough funds to be able to solve this on our own.”
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
