Homeless fight shelter law

A large blue tarp strung from the stately old trees on a curving stretch of West Riverside Avenue was hard to miss Tuesday morning.

Homeless advocates pitched camp in the median to protest the Spokane City Council’s approval on Monday of an ordinance outlawing transient shelters on public property.

Dave Bilsland, organizer of the protest, said he chose the location because it is the “most powerful block this side of the Cascades.”

Protesters said they were being treated quite neighborly. Someone from the nearby Spokane Club brought them coffee. A worker at the Catholic diocese office offered to let them use restrooms there.

“This is to show the public what a transient shelter, if well constructed, looks like,” said Bilsland, chairman of a group called People 4 People.

By late morning, several of the group headed to a downtown church for a free lunch.

City Hall officials responded cautiously. Police left the protesters alone Tuesday and were reportedly considering their response. “We don’t want to make a spectacle of what’s a serious issue,” said Marlene Feist, public affairs officer for the city.

She consulted with Mayor Jim West, who was traveling to Calgary, Alberta, on a local trade mission.

On Tuesday afternoon, Feist issued a brief statement in which she said the city “certainly appreciates citizen rights to protest any city action. However, it is inappropriate to camp in that location regardless of the council action on Monday.”

Don’t expect the protesters to go away. Bilsland said he and the others plan to continue camping across from the Spokane Club throughout the summer.

The transient shelter ordinance, adopted on a 4-3 vote, would go into effect 30 days after it is signed by the mayor. The mayor has 10 days to sign it after he receives it.

Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers said protesters had been threatening for some time to set up camp outside City Hall if the council approved the ordinance. “This is not a surprise,” she said.

Police Chief Roger Bragdon sought the ordinance to give law officers a way to prevent damage to property, vandalism, crime, fire risk and public health problems associated with transient camps.

Police have said they are concerned about problems caused by transients who travel through Spokane rather than homeless residents.

Under the ordinance, it would be a misdemeanor to build or occupy a transient shelter on public property, including park conservation lands. It is punishable by maximum penalties of 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine or both.

Bilsland said his group plans to drop its tarp to the ground once the law goes into effect and sleep on top of it so they cannot be cited for building or occupying a transient shelter, and thus, seek to maintain the protest.

Bragdon said his officers would be under orders to give campers 24 hours notice before they enforce the law. Also, any enforcement action would require a supervisor’s approval.

Councilman Bob Apple, who voted against the ordinance, said Tuesday that services should be available to homeless residents, including mental health and alcohol and drug treatment, before transient shelters are outlawed.

Bilsland, who has appeared numerous times before the council, said he became homeless more than two years ago when he and a girlfriend ended a relationship. He hasn’t had a paying job in more than a year. “I have a job – citizen activist,” he said. “This is too important.”

Most recently, he was living in a rundown motor home at the home of a friend, he said, and his possessions include his bicycle, blankets, tarps, two backpacks and a satchel he calls his “office.” A tattered American flag decorated one end of the camp.

Bilsland was joined at the protest by others, including Chrissy Craig and Junior Bland, a couple who said they came to Spokane two months ago looking for work.

Craig said she was recently laid off from a job as a dancer. “I think it ain’t right,” Craig said of the council vote. “We have no place to go.”

Bland said, “If you are homeless, you don’t have rights.”