EVERETT, Wash. — The Everett City Council has voted to approve an expansion of the city's controversial "no sit, no lie" ordinance during its meeting Wednesday.
The council approved the proposal with four votes in favor and three votes against. The bill will take effect on May 18.
Many people at the meeting were not happy that it passed.
“I do a lot of street outreach with my student club members, I have a recovery center,” said Jason Cockburn, a man who showed up to oppose the ordinance expansion. “That means I have to go out and look for them to save their lives."
Cockburn is a nonprofit leader who used to be homeless. He now helps others out of homelessness. He came to the Everett City Council meeting to share his opposition, and he wasn't alone.
“All welcome in Everett-- except the houseless? Shame on you for even bringing this forward,” said one public testifier.
Others in Everett, however, are fed up with encampments near their property.
“There are a lot of homeless people that are gathering in our neighborhood, and they are bringing drugs, trash, they're littering, they're not respecting the neighbors who live in the neighborhood,” said another man who publicly testified.
Another part of this ordinance bans disallows people from giving homeless people food, water, or other things in these buffer zones.
When KING 5 asked Mayor Cassie Franklin about this recently, she said this intended to prevent helpers from "causing undue harm to the community around them."
The existing law prohibits people from laying or sitting down within 10 blocks of the Everett Gospel Mission, punishable with a fine of up to $500 and up to 90 days in jail.
The new ordinance would expand the law to prohibit sitting or lying down near facilities that provide behavioral health, substance abuse, or emergency housing services. The proposed ordinance reads "No person shall sit or lie down upon, or place a blanket, sleeping bag, backpack, chair, mattress, couch, stool, or any similar equipment, item, or furniture upon City property, whether improved or unimproved, within a Service Facility Buffer Zone."
The ”Service Facility Buffer Zone” would be a two-block area designated at the mayor’s discretion, according to the ordinance.
There was a lot of opposition to the existing ordinance when the Everett City Council voted to approve it in 2021. The ordinance came about after repeated complaints from businesses along Smith Avenue. It was tied to the $1 million construction project of 20 tiny homes directly behind the Everett Gospel Mission. It can house up to 30 people.
During public comment before the 2021 vote, community members called the ordinance "cruel."
“This actually gives the public permission to hate them,” one community member said.
Another said, "The harmful thing that will happen... is the increase of public discrimination towards the homeless."
But many business owners in the area disagree and said the city must step up to help them.
"The critics of this proposal said the ordinance would be a violation of human rights. My reply to this comment: I could not disagree more,” said one business owner. “Since when is human rights violations having used needles and human waste on my sidewalks? Where are my rights to have a safe, secure workplace?”
Another business owner said, “I support the no sit, no lie, because I need some kind of indication from the city that they will not just let us all fail down here."