{"id":2340624,"date":"2024-09-13T09:25:01","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T13:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/spokane-hosts-discussion-over-deferred-homeless-measures-but-never-mentions-them-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-09-13T09:31:37","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T13:31:37","slug":"spokane-hosts-discussion-over-deferred-homeless-measures-but-never-mentions-them-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/spokane-hosts-discussion-over-deferred-homeless-measures-but-never-mentions-them-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Spokane hosts discussion over deferred homeless measures but never mentions them &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fspokane-hosts-discussion-over-deferred-homeless-measures-but-never-mentions-them-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2340624&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Spokane recently held\u200d its first community roundtable discussion focusing on the city&#8217;s deferred\u2064 policies regarding homelessness, but the deferred \u200cordinances \u2063were notably absent from the conversation. Council President Betsy Wilkerson and \u2063Councilmember Zack Zappone guided participants through a review \u2062of \u200dcurrent laws concerning homeless individuals, soliciting feedback \u200dthrough questionnaires about existing \u200claws \u2064and potential changes.\u200c <\/p>\n<p>Despite expectations to\u2064 discuss specific deferred measures, such as an increase in restrictions \u200brelated to Proposition 1\u2014which prohibits camping near schools and parks\u2014and the &#8220;Homeless \u2063Bill of Rights,&#8221;\u200b these topics were not addressed. Participants\u200d expressed dissatisfaction with\u200b the \u200dmeeting&#8217;s direction, feeling that it did not prioritize their concerns. Critics,\u2064 including \u2062Jonathan Bingle, noted that\u200b many attendees felt misled\u200b about \u200dthe meeting&#8217;s purpose, which resulted in frustration\u200d over\u200c the lack of\u200d engagement on pressing issues.<\/p>\n<p>Activists emphasized the need for more effective community initiatives to better support homeless individuals,\u2063 arguing that current criminalization strategies have not\u200c yielded positive outcomes. The roundtable highlighted a growing\u2063 need for \u200binclusive discussions that genuinely consider community input on homelessness\u200d solutions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Spokane hosts discussion over deferred homeless measures but never mentions them<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1759604\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>(The Center Square)&nbsp;&ndash; Spokane hosted its first community roundtable over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chicago-mayor-intends-to-remove-george-washington-statue-from-city-hall-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Chicago mayor intends to remove George Washington statue from City Hall - Washington Examiner\">city <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pride-month-goes-out-with-a-whimper\/\" title=\"Pride Month Goes Out with a Whimper\">council&#038;rsquo<\/a><\/a>;s deferred ordinances regarding homelessness without mentioning the shelved measures.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Council President Betsy Wilkerson and Councilmember Zack Zappone ran dozens of community stakeholders through the Tuesday meeting. It started with a rundown of the rules for the series and an overhaul of the city&rsquo;s current municipal code that addresses homelessness.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After reviewing the laws on the books, Zappone had all the participants fill out a questionnaire. The form asked what was working and what they&rsquo;d like to change about the laws that allow police to cite the homeless. Then, the same was asked about the laws protecting the homeless.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;As much as you guys want to talk about [Proposition] 1, this isn&rsquo;t about Prop 1,&rdquo; said Nicolette Ocheltree, the council&rsquo;s Housing and Homelessness Initiatives manager. &ldquo;Prop 1 can&rsquo;t be changed, not for three years &hellip; please keep that in mind with your suggestions.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>While&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_ebd47f14-3e0e-11ef-aeeb-874b9d71c53f.html#:~:text=Piccolo%20said%20the,restrictions%20on%20camping\">Proposition 1<\/a><\/strong>, Spokane&rsquo;s voter initiative that prohibits camping within 1,000 feet of school, park or daycare, can&rsquo;t be taken off the books for three years, new policy can strengthen it. However, Ocheltree, Zappone, and Wilkerson never mentioned that fact aloud to the group.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One of the&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_63dd66d8-5a61-11ef-98a5-6fb30baed989.html\">deferred<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;ordinances that the community thought they would discuss would&rsquo;ve&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_6dcd4b0a-34c7-11ef-bd99-538e52f727aa.html\">increased<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;Proposition 1 to within 1,000 of any comprehensive support services, but again, it wasn&rsquo;t mentioned. Neither was the &ldquo;Homeless Bill of Rights&rdquo;&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_306767de-58d3-11ef-b7b7-0b9666ab6922.html\">ordinance<\/a><\/strong>, which was deferred after causing an outcry within the business community, although Wilkerson painted their concerns as &ldquo;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_72a95d58-6c85-11ef-b40e-af561c45f310.html\">misinformation<\/a><\/strong>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Councilmember Jonathan Bingle didn&rsquo;t attend the roundtable but told The Center Square on Thursday that several people contacted him afterward, upset with how the meeting played out.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He said the stakeholders and other participants thought the meeting was to discuss the deferred ordinances. Instead, they spent an hour reviewing the code and filling out a questionnaire before being rushed out the door due to time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Much of the responses on Thursday noted that the city&rsquo;s current efforts&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_872ef042-6ee9-11ef-be81-4b922ed93f79.html\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-nevada-a-corrupt-cash-for-votes-scheme-is-hiding-in-plain-sight\/\" title=\"In Nevada, A Corrupt Cash-For-Votes Scheme Is Hiding In Plain Sight\">aren&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;working. This was the case for both questionnaires regarding efforts to cite the homeless and protect them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Justice Forall, director of operations for Spokane Community Against Racism, argued that criminalization efforts aren&rsquo;t working. Forall thinks the city should host more events to get the homeless involved in the community so they aren&rsquo;t pulled toward drug addiction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;None of these things have made anything better,&rdquo; Forall said. &ldquo;We need to think of&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_d2ec0f74-6fa7-11ef-b149-6bf4ec8f7747.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">things<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;that are actually productive for the city, and criminalization is not one of them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Still, Spokane regularly hosts various community events, and criminalization efforts have been dismal. According to data presented by Ocheltree last month, the Spokane&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_cd63e3ea-4925-11ef-953a-17efee3ba85d.html#:~:text=After%20the%20Grants,SPD%E2%80%99s%20initial%20statement\">Police<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;Department only cited fewer than&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_9f328884-5c0b-11ef-9181-ef5b7c49e780.html\">4%<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;of the over 2,400 calls related to illegal camping this year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Last year, SPD received 1,709 calls for service related to illegal camping for all of 2023, according to Ocheltree&rsquo;s data; this year&rsquo;s calls surpassed that, with several months remaining in 2024.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Some of the comments up there were difficult to read,&rdquo; Wilkerson said. &ldquo;Probably from both perspectives of people in this room &hellip; We will be gathering [these responses], we will share; there is nothing secret.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The following community roundtable is scheduled for Oct. 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1759604\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1759604\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spokane held its initial community roundtable to discuss the city council&#8217;s postponed ordinances related to homelessness, but the deferred measures were not addressed during the meeting. Council President Betsy Wilkerson and Councilmember Zack Zappone guided numerous community stakeholders through the session, which began with an overview of the rules for future meetings and a review of existing municipal codes concerning homelessness. After examining these laws, Zappone asked participants to complete a questionnaire about what aspects were effective and what changes they would like regarding laws that permit police to issue citations to homeless individuals. The same questions were posed about laws designed to protect them.<\/p>\n<p>Nicolette Ocheltree, who manages Housing and Homelessness Initiatives for the council, emphasized that while there was interest in discussing Proposition 1\u2014an initiative preventing camping within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, or daycare centers\u2014this meeting was not focused on it since it cannot be altered for three years. Although new policies could potentially enhance Proposition 1&#8217;s effectiveness, this point was not explicitly mentioned during discussions.<\/p>\n<p>One ordinance that attendees expected to discuss would have expanded Proposition 1\u2019s restrictions near comprehensive support services; however, this topic also went unmentioned. Additionally, there was no discussion of the &#8220;Homeless Bill of Rights&#8221; ordinance that had been deferred following backlash from local businesses\u2014a situation Wilkerson attributed to &#8220;misinformation.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Councilmember Jonathan Bingle did not attend but later received feedback from several attendees who felt misled about the purpose of the meeting; they believed it would focus on deferred ordinances rather than reviewing existing codes and completing questionnaires before being hurried out due to time constraints.<\/p>\n<p>Many responses indicated dissatisfaction with current city efforts regarding both citation practices for homeless individuals and their protection. Justice Forall from Spokane Community Against Racism argued against criminalization strategies as ineffective and suggested more community engagement events aimed at integrating homeless individuals into society rather than pushing them toward substance abuse issues.<\/p>\n<p>Despite ongoing community events in Spokane addressing these issues alongside poor outcomes from criminalization efforts\u2014evidenced by data showing less than 4% citation rates among over 2,400 illegal camping calls\u2014the conversation continues as officials plan another roundtable on October 1st<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2340625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Supreme-Court-Homeless-Camping-Bans.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[11561,40815,32585],"class_list":["post-2340624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-homelessness","tag-public-discussion","tag-spokane"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Supreme-Court-Homeless-Camping-Bans.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2340624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2340625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2340624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2340624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2340624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}