Work lies ahead after streets initiative report is out
Published 5:24 pm Friday, October 31, 2014
At times its unavoidable and unpleasant. We are confronted by those with drug and alcohol addictions, mental illness or homelessness, often in very public places, a Broadway fast-food restaurant, the library or busy intersections.
Everett’s Community Streets Initiative, a task force of 23 representatives of businesses, social service agencies and churches appointed by Mayor Ray Stephanson, has been meeting regularly since July to discuss short- and long-term efforts to address issues related to homelessness, addiction, untreated mental health, aggressive panhandling and related social issues. The group has a final meeting, 3 to 6 p.m. Nov. 13 in the Weyerhaeuser Room at Everett Station, 3201 Smith Avenue, before it sends its final report to the mayor and the City Council.
As it prepares its recommendations, the panel has found issues related to affordable housing and shelter topping its list. At a task force meeting in September, Mark Smith, executive director of the Housing Consortium of Everett and Snohomish County, citing population growth projections, said Snohomish County will need to provide 22,000 additional units of affordable housing by 2035, with 5,600 of those in Everett.
“That’s a dauntingly expensive proposition, and it doesn’t address what the current need is now,” Smith said in a Sept. 25 story by Herald reporter Chris Winters.
To augment the panel’s report, Everett’s mayor updated members in an Oct. 15 letter that outlines initiatives the city and others already are working on, among them:
The city is drafting an ordinance that will bar the sale of high-alcohol, inexpensive beverages in certain commercial areas.
It also is attempting to identify those individuals in the community who are most frequently in contact with emergency medical service providers, police and hospitals to develop a long-term therapeutic plan for each person to help them and limit the demand on those services.
The city is planning to amend its aggressive panhandling ordinance to stop the practice at intersections and busy streets. And Everett’s police department has increased the visibility of officers in the downtown core.
The city also is supporting a Snohomish County plan to turn the former Carnegie Library building into a transition facility for those released from the jail for nonviolent crimes who are homeless, to provide short-term shelter and connect them with mental health, substance abuse and job training services.
The transition facility at the Carnegie buildings shows promise in addressing the city’s most pressing needs for aiding the homeless, although we wonder if there isn’t a location available in downtown Everett that would be better suited and less expensive to renovate.
The initiatives outlined above and the ones still under consideration by the task force need to be given serious consideration. And then, the city and county government, social agencies, church and community organizations will need to step forward and identify those initiatives they can most effectively lead and complete.
In the end, the goal must be not to displace or hide those in our community who are homeless or struggling with mental illness and addiction, but help them connect with the resources they need.
