Concerns largely pingponged between street changes and the homeless camp along West Mill Plain Boulevard at the city of Vancouver’s community forum Monday.
Residents also expressed anxiety about another attempt to pass Proposition 4, the property tax hike to fund Vancouver police rejected by voters Nov. 5.
The forum at the Evergreen Public Schools Administrative Service Center featured two roundtable discussions with Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle and half of the city’s councilors: Sarah Fox, Ty Stober and Diana Perez. Councilors Bart Hansen, Kim Harless and Erik Paulsen were absent.
The forums give residents the opportunity to talk with city councilors about any topic because public comments during city council meetings are restricted to the meeting’s agenda.
Sound wall camp
Over the past year, people living near what they call “the sound wall camp” have pleaded with the city of Vancouver to close the stretch along West Mill Plain Boulevard to camping. The camp has grown from a couple of tents to about 75, residents living in the nearby Hough neighborhood say.
The city’s homeless response manager Jamie Spinelli previously said people often have more than one tent for storage purposes, making it look as though more people live there.
Although the Mill Plain sound wall divides the camp from the houses behind it, housed residents say the camp is bleeding into the neighborhood. People at the community forum complained about campers openly using drugs, as well as urinating and defecating on or near their property.
“It feels like I have to retreat into my home to feel safe,” Hough resident Kandi Shearer said. “But that’s not why I moved to Vancouver.”
Others worried about the environmental impact of the camp. Until the recent placement of portable toilets there, people often relieved themselves in buckets.
“Why didn’t you do something that would look to our need? We’ve been contaminated by a biohazard for the last two years,” Hough resident Mary Cray said.
The city sweeps through the camp every other week or so to clear trash and human waste. Although costs vary, Spinelli estimates homeless camp cleanups average $3,000 to $4,000 per instance. The city tackles the sound wall camp at the same time it cleans up another camp near the Share House Men’s Shelter.
Workers visit the sound wall camp daily to offer outreach services and to haul away trash, which costs an additional $3,000 per week in staff time, equipment, supplies and dump fees, Spinelli said.
The sound wall camp produces 1 ton of solid waste every other day, she said. That’s the same weight as two grand pianos.
Several people at the community forum demanded the city close the camp immediately and scatter boulders across the site so people will not return.
McEnerny-Ogle said the city has a plan for clearing the camp: People from the camp will soon be moved into spots at the city’s four Safe Stay homeless shelters, which each consist of a cluster of 20 sleeping huts. The city, through the Vancouver Housing Authority, is building Lincoln Place 2, a 30-unit supportive housing project.
City officials have pointed out that clearing the sound wall camp would disperse campers into other neighborhoods and parks.
“These are not easy issues to tackle,” Fox said. “You move them, and they move somewhere else.”
That would undermine outreach workers’ efforts to connect the campers to services and housing, Spinelli previously said.
Hough resident Matthew Trevino said he’s met people in the camp who have made genuine progress, including getting off drugs and into some sort of housing. However, he still wants to see the camp closed.
Street changes
The city’s “complete streets” ordinance is another point of contention. The 2017 ordinance aims to create “a safe, accessible street system that benefits all users, ages and abilities, regardless of how they choose to travel,” according to the city’s website.
Some of those plans include removing traffic lanes to create bus lanes or buffers around bicycle lanes and sidewalks. The lane removals have elicited backlash from neighbors, who say the changes will only worsen traffic next to their homes.
“There’s no reason to make it more congested,” Vancouver resident Sharen Bernhardt said.
The most prominent complaints were about recently completed lane removals along Southeast 34th Street, as well as ones planned for McGillivray Boulevard.
In October, motorists complained after Southeast 34th Street saw a major Monday morning traffic backup following a crash on state Highway 14.
Rick Ackman, who lives off the street, commended Perez for sitting with him for 45 minutes to watch the flow of cars and drivers who broke traffic rules.
Still, people complained that city councilors had not listened to largely negative community comments about the projects before moving forward with the street changes.
Earlier this month, members of the grassroots group Save Vancouver Streets said they delivered a petition with 6,517 signatures to Vancouver City Hall seeking a ballot initiative that would require voter approval to remove traffic lanes. If the signatures are certified, the initiative will appear on the November 2025 ballot.
Possible future levy
Several people at Monday’s forum said they’re concerned about public safety City officials say public safety is consistently the top concern for Vancouver residents year after year.
Still, a proposed levy to increase funding for the police department failed in November’s general election, with 52.33 percent voting against it.
Proposition 4 would have added 80 sworn officers and 36 nonsworn police positions, as well as create a traffic enforcement camera program and expand the city’s Homeless Assistance and Resources Team (which has two officers).
The measure would have increased the city’s 2024 general fund property tax levy by about 41 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value for 2025. The levy would have increased 5 percent per year for six years and raised about $15.5 million the first year, growing to about $36 million by 2030, according to the city. The city estimated the owner of a $500,000 house would pay an additional $205 in property taxes in 2025 and $585 in 2030.
McEnerny-Ogle said the city will consider placing another version of the measure on a future ballot. Councilors will hear from staff about why the proposition failed and what version of the levy, if any, would be more effective.
Some residents expressed concerns about increased taxes in Vancouver. The city recently passed five new taxes and two tax increases to address a $43 million budget deficit, due to slowing growth and inflation.
Vancouver resident Laurie Arndt expressed concern about the sustainability of funding services through levies.
“We cannot be the only ones on a fixed income in this room,” she said, referring to her husband. “It’s just going to kill us. It’s going to drive us out of Vancouver.”
