By The Herald Editorial Board
Any city’s public spaces — its parks, plazas and libraries — greatly contribute to the livability of a city. They are sources of civic pride because they are public, owned by all and open to all.
But to keep them open to all, they have to be maintained, protected and kept safe.
That’s proving to be a balancing act for many cities as the challenges of homelessness, substance abuse and addiction and mental illness are confronted. That’s true now for the Everett Public Library.
The library’s main downtown location, designed by Northwest architect Carl Gould, opened in 1934. A 1991 expansion increased the library’s space and preserved a true civic gem that like all good libraries, offers access to books and other media, public computers and internet access, a connection to local history and community information and programs for adults and children that have helped build a strong and culturally vibrant city.
That’s a resource that deserves our stewardship and protection, and city and library officials are providing that stewardship while respecting the duty to keep public spaces open to everyone, as reported Wednesday by The Herald’s Chris Winters.
Those who are homeless have always lived in the public areas of cities, particularly its parks, plazas, sidewalks, libraries and transit stations. What the city is doing correctly is to focus on problem behaviors and not on specific populations.
“Some of them cause trouble,” library director Eileen Simmons told The Herald, “and some of them come in and read the newspaper or use the computers.”
And there has been trouble, including drug overdoses, vandalism and other disturbances.
Library staff also are being trained to handle disruptions, but Simmons is correct that her staff are employees of a library. “They’re not social workers, they are not EMTs, they are not police,” she said. They can’t be expected to serve those roles.
The city has responded with increased police patrols of the library during afternoon hours. And, to discourage loitering after hours, the library turns off its Wi-Fi signal at closing and has covered outdoor electrical outlets. Shorter doors on restroom stalls are intended to discourage drug use in the restrooms, while still preserving some modesty for patrons.
These and other measures will help, but site-specific efforts have to be joined by broader solutions.
Cities discourage skateboarders from using handrails and the hard concrete edges of flowerbeds and plaza seating with raised metal “skate-stoppers.” But the larger solution, just as cities built parks, swimming pools and public golf courses, is to provide skateparks to direct a legitimate activity to a safe and accessible location.
There’s additional need in Everett for a day-use facility for those who are homeless, a place where they can check email, charge cellphones and take care of other personal needs as well as connect with resources that can help them. The Everett Gospel Mission operates a day center at its shelter, but additional service elsewhere would help.
A day-use facility was one of more than 60 recommendations in the Everett Community Streets Initiative’s final report, issued in 2014. The city and community organizations have made definite progress in implementing many of those recommendations, including work to build a low-barrier housing facility, but other recommendations, particularly a day-use center, deserve renewed attention.
The intent of day-use centers shouldn’t be to hide the homeless away or even discourage their use of libraries and other public spaces, but like a skatepark, it would provide an appropriate facility for their legitimate needs.
Correction: The editorial above has been changed to reflect the availability of day center services at the Everett Gospel Mission.
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