Church to host informational meeting Wednesday night, July 9
By J. Jacob Edel
Mercer Island Reporter
Neighbors of the Island’s United Methodist Church and supporters of Tent City again filled city hall on Monday night as neighbors chided the City Council for entering a temporary use agreement without first enacting an encampment ordinance while others defended the camp and its supporters.
In all, there were 21 speakers who took their three minutes to address the Council as the public comments lasted for about an hour and 15 minutes on Monday night. However, few remained for the rest of the meeting as Councilmembers and city staff stayed past midnight to resolve other business. The crowd of about 70 was also reminded and warned by Mayor Jim Pearman to be respectful and refrain from clapping and cheering in support of comments made.
Many First Hill residents who live near the church, which is located at the corner of 71st Avenue S.E. and 24th Street, demanded that the Council revoke the temporary use agreement it recently signed with the church and Tent City, and devise a temporary encampment ordinance. They listed other cities that have enacted such ordinances prior to or during Tent City stays in their communities.
Charles Peterson, who said he lives near the Park on the Lid and is a 34-year Island resident, requested an ordinance that managed homeless or temporary encampments on Mercer Island. He also suggested that a more thorough public input process take place before the camp should return in the future.
“It’s much better off when the rules of game are well defined before a course of action,” Peterson said of establishing an ordinance.
Island resident Ira Appelman suggested that the Council institute a moratorium on temporary encampments and enact an ordinance regulating them just as a past City Council did during plans to establish group homes on the Island.
The United Methodist Church, which invited the Eastside homeless encampment, Tent City 4, to stay on Mercer Island beginning next month, will also be hosting an informational meeting on Wednesday night, July 9, from 7 to 9 p.m. The church is inviting all who want to attend to meet current residents of Tent City or ask Island police questions regarding safety concerns. Police Chief Ed Holmes plans to attend.
Several residents of Tent City attended the Council meeting on Monday night as well, refuting many statements made by concerned neighbors and thanking public officials for working with the Methodist Church instead of against it.
Tent City resident Amber Lilly said she wanted to share her story with the Council amid such allegations made against the intentions of the camp. She said she is a self-sufficient single mother of a 12-year-old daughter and recently lost her home-based business. She now has stable employment, and soon she will be able to afford housing again so that her daughter can come home, she said.
Neighbors, however, showed frustration that the Council did not require Tent City residents to undergo a criminal background check conducted by the Mercer Island Police department during their stay. They also criticized the lack of public input sought from the neighbors.
“People feel disenfranchised in the decision process,” said Islander Rick Bailey.
Some speakers expressed fears of a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak resulting from Tent City. Marcia Stone, a public health nurse with the county, said she works with the homeless and as a TB prevention nurse, she knows there has never been case of TB in any Tent City.
Tent City resident Craig Corey also told Councilmembers that similar fears of safety and health are expressed in every community prior to the camp’s first stay, but those reduce dramatically when the camp returns.
“That will be the case here, too,” Corey said.
