Beleaguered neighbors seek expansion of Pedestrian Interference ordinance

Gary Altman recently returned home from a vacation only to find another homeless person camped on the sidewalk next to his residence, a mixed-use building where his wife’s dental clinic is also located.

“I tried to get rid of that tent, then there were two, then there were four, there were six … all these people living around my building on sidewalks and blocking them,” Altman told the Olympia City Council on October 17.

After 20 years of the dental clinic being there, someone broke in and ransacked through it,” he told the council, adding, “I need your help; I need to have this thing that people have promised me at other levels for years – extended that so that the police have some tools. And then I’d like to have someone to talk to me about a proactive approach rather than me calling and calling and calling.”

The ‘thing’

The “thing” Altman referred to is the No Sit/Lie Ordinance (the Pedestrian Interference Ordinance/OMC 9.16.180) passed by the Olympia City Council in January 2013 that makes it illegal for individuals to “between the hours of 7 am and 12 am sit or lie on any sidewalk, street or alley within the Downtown Commercial Zone."

This means that within the downtown commercial zone, homeless individuals can camp between midnight and 7 a.m.  Before and after these times, however, the police have the ability to cite the offender(s).  Outside of the boundaries of the zone, the police are not authorized to do anything about homeless camping in areas such as around Altman’s residence.

“Currently when the police are here, there is not much they can do,” Altman told The JOLT last week as he sat in his kitchen. “The level of enforcement varies from police giving high-fives to the people outside on the sidewalks and then driving away to others cajoling the homeless to move.”

Businesses and organizations east of Plum Street are outside of Olympia's Downtown Commercial Zone; the Pedestrian Interference restrictions don't …

The zone excludes locations of several social services agencies

The eastern edge of the downtown commercial zone runs down Plum Street SE. Altman’s property is near  the Salvation Army, Community Youth Services and Catholic Community Services – all of which are not included in the zone.

The help that Altman wants is for the city council to extend the geographic boundary of the ordinance which would in turn give the police the tools they need to remove homeless camping around his property and the three service agencies.

“Staff is looking at potentially expanding the Sit/Lie Ordinance that was referenced that is existing in the downtown and seeing if it makes sense around the services being provided just up a few blocks past Plum,” said Darian Lightfoot, Director of Housing & Homeless Response at the October 17 council meeting.

Altman, who said he speaks for a number of other businesses in his neighborhood, said he is past the point of frustration and remains skeptical of what city officials will eventually do.

“They’ve told me for five years that they’re going to extend the downtown commercial zone,” he said.  I’m not a city council guy; I’m not a good politician.  I just know that when you tell someone for five years that something is going to happen and it never happens … I can’t comprehend that.”

At the October 17 city council meeting, City Manager Jay Burney stated that his staff is working on a timeline to present a proposal to the council by the end of the year.