Dear Representative,
I am writing to you regarding HB-2489 which establishes statewide standards for how law enforcement regulates the use of public spaces for life-sustaining activities. From what I have read, this bill wants to make it illegal for cities to enforce laws that make it illegal for people to camp in city limits, unless they can prove that they have provided adequate shelter space at the time and place of the person camping.
As someone who is currently living in a hotel and has been in a a state of homelessness for many years, and also a person who had volunteered with Love Overwhelming and The Salvation Army, I have put a lot of thought into my viewpoint. I know there are people in need. But I also know there are people that take advantage of the system. While small business owners are victims of people who refuse services while they vandalize and torment them because they are on drugs and can’t be held responsible. I also know that not all cities are the same. Some cities are able to handle the needs of the homeless and some can not. Forcing cities to endure camping, without backup funding to pay for sanitation or mediation is not right.
Allowing people to camp in city limits is not the best way to answer rising housing costs, when you insist on raising taxes on hardworking people you only hurt the middle and lower classes of people, when the ones who own the buildings tend to have more money. So while I am telling you that I am so very much against HB-2489, I am also against anymore sales taxes. If you can’t balance the budget with the money you already have, you aren’t doing your job right.
It doesn’t make sense to hurt small businesses ever. Where I live, when homeless people harass my mother’s small business or threaten her, she is lucky if the police will charge the person with trespassing, however, if they break her window, she is responsible for replacing those windows, even though she doesn’t own the building. Why don’t you make a law that supports local businesses? When the drug-addicted homeless people left their paraphernalia in the bushes and my mom’s dog almost died, no one helped pay the vet bill or helped her take care of her dog. When she shows up to open her business and someone has pooped on her welcome mat, she is the only one to clean it up, but she isn’t the only business on her block that has similar stories. Downtown Longview, Washington deserves to decide that people do not get to camp in their business district.
We have shelters in Longview, WA. If you want services, you have to get sober. I used to think that was too hard for some people, but my wife works 3 jobs so we can live in this hotel. We are not eligible for help. We make too much money. I have worked hard to overcome mental illness. It can happen. I am better than I have ever been. I know some people can’t make good choices but I have to have faith that the right people will help those people. For the rest, they will have to choose to follow the rules.
Please vote no on HB-2489.
Sincerely,
Summer D. Clemenson
1
20
20
20
Please wait...
