Petition started to keep homeless camp away from neighborhoods, schools

by EMRY DINMAN
Staff Writer | May 17, 2020 10:40 PM

MOSES LAKE — Over 1,300 people have signed a petition asking the Moses Lake City Council to keep a managed homeless camp out of neighborhoods and away from schools.

“This petition is to ask the City Council, Mayor and City Manager to choose a different location for the tent camp and permanent homeless housing,” the petition on Change.org reads. “This location should not be within a local neighborhood or near a local school.”

The petition was started Thursday by Jennifer De Hoog, a registered nurse at Samaritan Healthcare, highlighting four concerns with the city’s chosen site, along Longview Street Northeast and just over 600 feet south of Longview Elementary School.

According to De Hoog, the site would present a risk to children in the neighborhood and the staff and students attending the nearby elementary school. Children would have to walk past the camp on their way to the school, and the homeless would have to walk through neighborhoods to reach the nearest bus stop and local services, De Hoog added.

Finally, De Hoog contends that the school district would need to spend additional funds to increase the safety and security of students at Longview Elementary, funds which could be spent in other ways.

Council members voted 6-1 to approve the building of the emergency shelter camp at the Longview Tracts site at a May 12 meeting. Along with the city council, Mayor David Curnel and City Manager Allison Williams, the petition is also addressed to council member Karen Liebrecht, the sole “no” vote on the council.

At the May 12 meeting, Liebrecht expressed concerns that the site had been selected over alternatives because the surrounding neighborhoods are low-income and populated by at-risk communities that may not be as able to protest the decision. Neighborhood residents have expressed anger over the decision to add the camp to the area, noting that the city provided no notice that the site was being considered.

Following community blowback, the council has stated that it will take up the issue again at the next city council meeting, scheduled for May 26, and vote whether to continue at the Longview Tracts site.