EVERETT — After an initial recommendation to keep “stay out of drug areas” as they exist today, the Everett City Council on Wednesday added new zones to Henry M. Jackson and Wiggums Hollow parks.
On Wednesday, the council voted 6-0 to add the two parks, and 5-1 to renew the stay out of drug areas.
Council member Liz Vogeli opposed the renewal, citing data that shows the “war on drugs has failed” and that increased incarceration doesn’t deter crime.
“I’ve cleaned up a lot of needles at those parks,” said council member Mary Fosse, who used to lead the Delta Neighborhood Association.
During the June 14 council meeting, the Everett Police Department proposed keeping its existing enforcement areas. They generally cover Broadway, West Casino Road, Clark Park, Evergreen Way, Everett Mall Way, Hewitt Avenue and Smith Avenue.
People with a drug-related charge or conviction can be arrested if they violate the ban and are found by law enforcement in the stay out of drug areas (SODAs).
The zones have been criticized by people working in addiction recovery, for pushing people struggling with addiction or other health crises farther out, potentially into other neighborhoods.
Delta resident Ryan Weber asked the council, Mayor Cassie Franklin and Police Chief Dan Templeman to add the two parks to its list in a June 15 email. He made a similar request two years earlier when the council last reviewed it as required by the city code.
“Since then neighbors have reported drug related crime, use, graffiti, threats and violence on a daily basis,” Weber wrote. “I walk the area almost daily, often with my kids and I report suspected activity almost every time. I wish I were exaggerating. There are drug mule cars stationed around the park. An organized gang makes daily runs to leave and retrieve items from these cars and drive away again.”
The neighborhood and parks have had headline-grabbing crime in recent years, including shootings. Franklin spoke at a Mayors and Business Leaders for Public Safety press conference calling for legislative changes related to law enforcement at Jackson Park in October.
Between 2021 and 2022, police data at Jackson Park and the two-block radius around it showed three overdoses, six drug arrests and 77 calls for service related to drugs, Templeman said.
Over the same time period, Wiggums Hollow Park had five overdoses, 10 drug-related arrests and 61 calls for service, Templeman said.
None of the arrests were in the parks, according to city data.
“If we add it, it’ll be potentially more arrests for SODA violations, and I know that’s a concern for this council,” Templeman said.
There were 1,958 alcohol and drug-related calls to 911 and initiated by police in 2021 across the other nine SODAs, according to city data. In 2022, there were 3,073 such calls, which don’t all result in an arrest or conviction.
City staff are expected to evaluate drug-related data at all of Everett’s parks and present it to the City Council.
Ben Watanabe: 425-339-3037; bwatanabe@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @benwatanabe.
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