SPOKANE, Wash. – A Spokane City Councilmember wants to see more camping bans enforced by the city but even in neighborhoods near homeless camps, some residents disagree with this idea.
Spokane City Councilor Jonathan Bingle is sponsoring a new resolution that urges the city to enforce more camping bans. This comes after the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that allows cities to criminalize sleeping in public spaces.
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Bingle added that he wants to see even broader camping bans moving forward.
In the West Central neighborhood, a number of residents said they have seen a lot of people camping unlawfully over the last five years. Despite this, they aren’t sure if kicking them out is the right thing to do.
“I’ve got a friend that’s homeless,” said resident Alex Barclay. “I knew him before all of that happened. It comes down to something like breaking your ankle on a skateboard when you don’t have insurance and there you are.”
Barclay has been living in West Central for the past seven years. He said being homeless is a lot more challenging than people realize.
“Always looking over your shoulder because you’re not sure whether the police are coming for you because you happen to be camped out. What’s safe, what’s not, how do you get ice? How do you go to a job interview and leave all your stuff? There’s problems and it’s a real problem,” Barclay said.
Some neighbors said they have had good and bad interactions with homeless people in the neighborhood.
Others said they would like to see more enforcement from the city to move people away from nearby encampments.
One neighbor said removing people from sleeping in parks will only create more problems for other areas of the city.
Barclay believes there are other areas the city should focus on when it comes to people camping illegally.
“Areas like downtown, Second Avenue near the 7-Eleven, things have gotten out of control down there to the point where Starbucks decided to leave,” Barclay explained. “I guess that’s pretty extreme when Starbucks leaves.”
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