ESBA Board of Directors: East Spokane Business Association cares about our low-income families and small businesses

By ESBA Board of Directors

Recently The Spokesman-Review ran a guest opinion written by Edie Rice-Sauer in which she critiqued how the East Spokane Business Association (ESBA) expends funds. In particular, she took issue with the ESBA calling for Camp Hope to be closed in ESBA advertisements in The Spokesman-Review.

Camp Hope has had a devastating effect on the families of the East Central Neighborhood. East Central is one of the lowest income neighborhoods in the state of Washington. We are proud that it is populated by 20,000 law-abiding and hard-working residents as well as 1,800 businesses. Our neighborhood does not have the advantages of the wealthy neighborhoods in Spokane and Spokane Valley. Most of our residents do not have garages with powered door openers, home security systems or other costly tools to prevent crime – tools that are common in the wealthier neighborhoods of Spokane County. Consequently, when the enormous amount of crime that came with Camp Hope began, the citizens in our neighborhood were particularly vulnerable. The Board of Directors of ESBA felt it was important that ESBA speak up and represent the 20,000 residents and businesses that are being affected.

It is clear to us that the occupants of Camp Hope were abundantly served by government. Gov. Jay Inslee and his Commerce Secretary, Lisa Brown, spent millions of dollars on this tiny population. We believe that the population of Camp Hope was wildly exaggerated for political purposes. Notably, at the supposed peak of the population of the Camp, when the state government-paid administrators claimed up to 650 occupants, Spokane Fire Department had to respond in the middle of the night to one of the many fires that occurred there. To protect the occupants, the Fire Department had to evacuate the camp and a careful and thorough census counted only 241 occupants of the camp. Nevertheless, even if the larger, claimed population is to be believed, the government spent millions of dollars on this tiny group. Meanwhile, it was clear that ESBA needed to stand up for the law-abiding, low-income East Central residents who were so negatively affected by the skyrocketing crime that came with Camp Hope.

ESBA also cares about the individuals suffering from addictions and mental issues that constituted most of Camp Hope’s occupants and are pleased that so much was available to them. When the extreme cold weather came to Spokane, much of the camp emptied and migrated to the Trent Resource Assistance Center (TRAC) where they were given at no cost to the residents: warm beds, unlimited food, counseling for substance abuse and/or mental health challenges, new smart phones with data and voice minutes, laundry allowance, transportation, showers and regular bedding changes. ESBA is very thankful that Mayor Nadine Woodard’s team took the critical steps last summer to get the TRAC in place. What would have happened if there had been no place for the Camp Hope occupants to go in the extreme weather that Spokane experienced this winter?

As a city, we should ask ourselves why 18 homeless centers and all of the illegal camps are only in Downtown, lower South Hill and in the East Central neighborhoods? It is very clear to us that these are the only options considered because the wealthier neighborhoods, who claim to care about the homeless, will not accept them in their neighborhoods. Consequently, our low-income citizens are the victims of the crime, open drug use, filthy conditions, graffiti, violence, etc., that accompany the homeless centers and camps.

We remain steadfast in our decision to call for Camp Hope to be closed. Since we began our advertising campaign, the population of Camp Hope has dropped by some 90% according to the figures released by the State of Washington. And, subsequently, the crime has dropped with it.

It begs the question: are a few hundred illegal campers on government property more important than 20,000 hard-working citizens? ESBA emphatically says no! ESBA will continue to step forward and speak up for the law-abiding residents and businesses of Spokane.

ESBA Board of Directors consists of Danny Beard, LaVerne Biel, George Demakis, Cyndi Fridye, Jim Hanley, Larry Stone, Jake Swartz, Doug Trudeau, and Barbara Woodbridge.