7/30/2022
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The Spokesman-Review
Nonprofits, advocates urge city officials to rethink policy on cooling centers as heat wave sets in
State won’t remove cooling tent at Camp Hope
KREM
KREM
Spokane County Fire Marshall requests cooling tent on I-90 and Freya be taken down
Range Media
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The Spokesman-Review
Nonprofits, advocates urge city officials to rethink policy on cooling centers as heat wave sets in
By Jase Picanso and Mathew Callaghan
A group of community members and nonprofits is opening pop-up cooling centers as temperatures in the area soar, claiming in a letter that the city of Spokane’s heat response has been inadequate. The cooling centers like one on Second Avenue and Madison Street are meant to provide water and food for anyone who needs it.
The organizations and individuals who signed the letter urged the city to follow their example of taking action with what they call the Cool Spokane movement. The initiative aims to help both housed and unhoused people have easy access to resources like food, water and shelter.
Among other requests, the letter specifically asks the city to open cooling centers when the temperature reaches 85 degrees or higher for at two days in a row or longer. The city’s threshold for centers is 95 degrees for the same stretch of time.
“The current Spokane human rights ordinances dictating emergency shelter activation requirements have proven inadequate. So many gaps in service have been left unfilled during this year’s heat wave,” the letter sent to mayor Nadine Woodward, City Administrator Johnnie Perkins and the City Council reads.
Other groups, like Spectrum Center, Latinos in Spokane, Spokane Community Against Racism, Mutual Aid Survival Squad, Shalom Ministeries, the MAC movement and many others signed the letter Wednesday.
Kirstin Davis, a spokesperson for the city, said the Spokane City Council sets such policies.
Davis said the Spokane Fire Department received nine calls for heat-related situations Monday through Wednesday.
“We expect that to increase in the next 48 hours, but we aren’t seeing any significant increases at this time, and we are confident that when those increase, we have all of the medical response necessary to take care of them.”
Still, the community saw a need, said Angel Tomeo Sam, an advocate for the Compassion Addiction Treatment nonprofit, who is part of the cooling movement.
“We know in the past the city has struggled to provide for the community during heat waves,” Sam said.
City Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson said she was dismayed at the city’s plan.
“This is just the beginning of the hardest part of the summer,” she said. “So if we think it’s only going to be a week that we have these temperatures ... we are sorely mistaken.”
Wilkerson said she would consider voting in favor of the suggestions from the letter.
“I hadn’t really thought about how hot the blacktop gets ... how it holds the heat in. But when we wrote the ordinance, we didn’t take that into consideration,” she said of the city’s rule on cooling centers. “But I think it’s something we should look at. And that might mean us going back revising the ordinance.”
Other City Council members couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
At the cooling center on Second and Madison on Thursday afternoon, Mariah Villanpando, an advocate for the Health and Justice Recovery alliance, was managing a booth with volunteer Thomas Savage.
If nonprofits and ordinary citizens could come together to help, Villanpando said, who knows what the impact would be “if we actually had the help from the city they said they were going to give.”
“We’re just trying to come together and fill those gaps as much as we can with community volunteers,” Villanpando said.
Savage said he felt compelled to help rather than stay isolated in his own cool environment.
“I’m sitting at home with a nice air conditioner and I know there’s people on the streets that don’t have that same luxury,” Savage said.
In the blazing heat of midday, a man adorned with a cross necklace, sunglasses, red shirt and dark shorts rode up to the cooling center on his bike.
The man, Aaron Mikes, believes it’s great that nonprofits in the Spokane area are providing water and food for all members of the community.
“I don’t like to sit and dwell on things that don’t make me happy,” Mikes said.
Another member of the community who lives in a tent near the cooling station managed by Savage and Villanpando had a simple message for other homeless people: “Be respectful,” Oliver Stewart said. “Clean up your stuff.”
Stewart said he believes the biggest problem the city has with the homeless population is a lot of them do not clean up after themselves.
Stewart also said he believes the mayor’s office is not doing enough to help the homeless.
Georgina Bronowski walked up to the cooling center, saying the refuge “means a lot, really.”
“I’m, like, dying right now … It’s really hot out,” Bronowski said with a bit of a chuckle.
She is concerned not enough people are aware the cooling centers exist.
“They’re stuck wherever they’re at,” she said, “like under the bridges down by the Tiki Lodge, there’s a bunch of people down there that don’t know about this.”
To Bronowski, even something as simple as spreading flyers could help those most at risk.
Advocates said each day hundreds of individuals are already being helped by the resources provided by the Cool Spokane Movement. Team members like Stephanie Ullah from the Health and Justice Recovery Alliance are going to locations like parks to look for homeless people in need struggling in the heat. Ullah offers these individuals food and water, and a ride to a cooling center. She was delivering meal boxes from CHAS to the cooling center at Second and Madison.
“It’s really been a collaborative group effort,” Tomeo Sam said.
Carmen Pacheco-Jones, the executive director of Health and Justice Recovery Alliance, feels that city cooling centers are not good resources for homeless people as they are being stigmatized there.
“It was very disheartening to see the city tell individuals to go to libraries and things like splash pads,” Jones said.
Jones said these people don’t have access to clean clothes, and are right away judged in these locations.
But Davis said in a statement that “people have been accessing available resources through the heat wave whether it’s going to the mall, heading to the libraries, hitting the splash pads early in the morning.”
“People are adjusting their daily behaviors to deal with it,” she said.
Still, Wilkerson expressed frustration with the Woodward administration. She pointed out that the city’s planned homeless shelter on Trent Avenue is still unopened, and city cooling centers are far enough to make some people uncomfortable leaving the large Camp Hope encampment at Second and Ray Street.
“The mayor says, you know, they don’t want to make homelessness comfortable,” she said. “But being out in this type of weather is not comfortable for anybody.”
“I’m frustrated that we haven’t partnered with those folks who are meeting a need for the citizens who live in Spokane,” she added.
S-R reporter Greg Mason contributed to this article. Jase Picanso and Mathew Callaghan are members of The Spokesman-Review’s Teen Journalism Institute, a paid high school summer internship program funded by Bank of America and Innovia Foundation. As the only paid high school newspaper internship in the nation, it is for local students between the ages of 16 and 18 who work directly with senior editors and reporters in the newsroom. All stories written by these interns can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information, please contact our newspaper’s managing editor.
Makayla McCray uses sunscreen provided by the popup cooling center on Second Avenue and Madison Street on Thursday afternoon.
JASE PICANSO/
State won’t remove cooling tent at Camp Hope
By Greg Mason
The state Department of Transportation will not take action to remove the cooling tent on WSDOT land built for the people living at the Camp Hope homeless encampment in Spokane.
WSDOT was sent a notice Wednesday from Spokane Fire Marshal Lance Dahl requesting the cooling tent’s removal. Tents the size of Camp Hope’s need a permit from the fire marshal to legally operate, but since WSDOT has not formally condoned the tent’s activities even though state officials have no plans to stop them, city officials say they cannot issue the permit.
WSDOT and the state Department of Commerce issued a joint statement Friday on the situation.
“Ultimately, the safety and well-being of people is our paramount concern,” the statement read. “In response to the city administration’s notice of violation, the state will not take action during this extreme weather to remove the cooling center.”
Owned by Jewels Helping Hands and funded by the Empire Health Foundation, the 1,950-square-foot tent was built in an effort to help the hundreds at Camp Hope on Second Avenue and Ray Street stay cool during this week’s heat wave. The tent is located across Pacific Avenue adjacent to the Camp Hope encampment.
The city’s notice of violation to WSDOT set a 9 a.m. Monday deadline for the state to take responsibility for the tent, whether by allowing the activities or trespassing the tent off the property. If WSDOT fails to meet that deadline, the state could be assessed a civil infraction of $536 per day for every day the tent remains in place.
The city administration would prefer Camp Hope residents use the cooling centers established with expanded hours through Sunday at the Central, Shadle Park, Liberty Park and Hillyard libraries. The closest to Camp Hope, Liberty Park, is about a mile away.
Spokane Transit Authority is providing fare waivers for people who cannot afford the trip and are going to or from a cooling center.
“In light of the heat wave and obviously the purpose of the tent, the notice of violation to WSDOT and requesting that it be disassembled Monday when temperatures are expected to return to normal, that felt like middle ground to handle that as best we could,” city spokesperson Kirstin Davis said Thursday.
Camp Hope first took shape in December after the city disbanded a protest outside Spokane City Hall in demand of more shelter for homeless populations. WSDOT has not taken action on Camp Hope to date due to the city’s lack of available shelter beds.
The cooling tent, equipped with fans and misters, is seen as some relief for this week’s temperatures. Highs are expected to continue to cross the 100-degree mark through Sunday.
“This encampment began as a protest to the city administration’s inaction to provide social and health services and their treatment of individuals experiencing homelessness,” the WSDOT and Commerce statement read. “The state has repeatedly requested the city administration engage and find constructive solutions to ensure basic public safety and health standards are met and find safer shelter and long-term housing options.
“We are hopeful the city administration and city council will coalesce behind a plan. Until then, we will continue to review other local proposals submitted last week and allow non-profit organizations to continue helping individuals in need.”
The Spokane City Council may take action Monday to consider some sort of low-cost lease agreement that could involve either the city or Empire Health leasing the property to clear the cooling tent for WSDOT’s purposes.
The city submitted a plan last week for approximately $24.3 million available through the Department of Commerce’s Rights of Way initiative with projects for relocating the individuals living at Camp Hope into better living situations.
Responding to the joint statement from WSDOT and Commerce, Mayor Nadine Woodward contested the state’s assertion that the city has not responded to the encampment, citing the presence of on-site security, increased police patrols, provided garbage dumpsters and meetings with nearby businesses and community members.
“We have been repeatedly disappointed with the response from the State that the City has not provided assistance to the encampment,” she said in a statement. “We are required to follow the law and that may conflict with the actions of organizations providing assistance, but we are open and willing to find viable, legal solutions that meet the needs of individuals at the encampment.”
Greg Mason can be reached at (509) 459-5047 or gregm@spokesman. com.
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KREM
The cooling tent is almost 2,000 square feet, and Jewels Helping Hands does not have a permit for it.
SPOKANE, Wash. — WSDOT is on notice.
The Spokane County Fire Marshall says the cooling tent set up on WSDOT's property near I-90 and Freya is illegal.
So, he sent a letter to WSDOT requesting they take it down.
The cooling tent went up on Wednesday and since WSDOT is the property owner, it's responsible for removing it, or getting the proper permits.
Jewels Helping Hands set up the tent. It has fans, misters, and just last night, they added air conditioners. WSDOT is aware of the cooling tent, and while the agency does not allow camping on its land, officials say they don't want someone to have a medical emergency on their property.
Spokane Fire Marshal Lance Dahl told me temporary structures, such as tents with sides that measure at least 400 square feet, require a permit.
The cooling tent is almost 2,000 square feet, and Jewels Helping Hands does not have a permit for it.
City Council President Breean Beggs said he notified council members that the cooling tent was going up at the request of the fire chief. Now, he says he's just trying to untangle the bureaucratic issues that have popped up, as a result.
"My goal is to solve the bureaucratic issues so that we can get to the substance of it," Beggs said. "In the meantime, the tent will still provide cooling services to the people who need it, which is great because we don't want to have people with health issues due to the heat if possible. So, glad that's happening."
WSDOT and Department of Commerce release a joint statement this afternoon responding to the fire marshal's letter--saying they will not take action to remove the cooling center during this extreme weather.
In the meantime, WSDOT and the Department of Commerce will continue to review other local proposals submitted last week and allow non-profit organizations to continue helping individuals in need.
Still, the letter from the fire marshal says WSDOT has to remove the tent by 9 a.m. Monday. If not, WSDOT could get a civil infraction of $536 for every day the cooling tent is left up.
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KXLY
July 29, 2022 3:25 PM
Updated: July 29, 2022 7:05 PM
SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington State Department of Transportation will not remove a cooling center at Camp Hope despite the City of Spokane’s demand it be taken down.
In a joint statement with the Washington Department of Commerce, WSDOT said:
“Ultimately, the safety and well being of people is our paramount concern. In response to the city administration’s notice of violation, the state will not take action during this extreme weather to remove the cooling center.
This encampment began as a protest to the city administration’s inaction to provide social and health services and their treatment of individuals experiencing homelessness. The state has repeatedly requested the city administration engage and find constructive solutions to ensure basic public safety and health standards are met and find safer shelter and long-term housing options.
We are hopeful the city administration and city council will coalesce behind a plan. Until then, we will continue to review other local proposals submitted last week and allow non-profit organizations to continue helping individuals in need.”
Jewels Helping Hands set up the cooling tent earlier this week to help those living at Camp Hope find some relief from the heatwave.
As first reported by Range, Mayor Nadine Woodward’s administration announced their intentions to force Camp Hope to dismantle the cooling shelter. Range reports the email came from Interim City Attorney Lynden P. Smithson and details plans to tell WSDOT the temporary cooling shelter is an illegal building.
By law, any temporary structure must have an inspection by the Fire Marshal to ensure it meets health and safety code requirements before it can be occupied.
The City said the Fire Marshal went to the site to conduct an inspection of the cooling center and outline the items that need to be in place for a permit to be issued.
One of those items is property owner authorization. The City says WSDOT did not authorize the construction of the tent and is not taking to action to trespass any occupants.
“Without authorization of activities by a property owner, the City, by law, cannot issue a permit,” the City said in a statement.
4 News Now obtained an email sent by Fire Marshal Lance Dahl to WSDOT, requesting the “illegally constructed temporary structure be removed from [the] property by 0900 on August 1st, 2022.”
A statement from the City of Spokane said they were “very concerned that an occupant could be injured or there could be a serious fire event at the site causing mass casualties.”
The battle over the cooling center comes as Spokane deals with multiple days of triple-degree heat. At this time, the city of Spokane has offered local libraries as an option for those experiencing homelessness to get a break from the heat.
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Range Media
Carl Segerstrom
HEAT WAVE DAY 5 | With temperatures expected to hit 104 degrees this weekend, the most pressing supply needs for Camp Hope are ice, Gatorade, pet food, roller gauze and gauze pads.
We've been checking in with our unhoused neighbors at Camp Hope every day during this heat wave to see how they’re faring and what they need. Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here and Day 4 here.
Who will help? It’s a question that’s swirled around the Camp Hope community as the ongoing heat wave brings dangerously high temperatures to the region. Jewels Helping Hands, with support from Empire Health Foundation, has made it clear they’ll do what it takes to provide an on-site cooling center. Meanwhile, a divided city government has fought over whether or not to provide relief directly to Camp Hope residents, or try to get the cooling center taken down.
As the heat has intensified, the community has shown more support than ever before, according to Timothy Morgan, who organizes security at the camp. Pallets worth of Gatorade and water, hundreds of pounds of ice, and other needs like sunscreen and toiletries have come from community organizations and individuals who’ve felt the heat and wanted to do what they can to help the residents of Camp Hope survive.
Father and son duo John and Micah, who didn’t want to draw attention to themselves by sharing their full names, felt compelled to provide support. “I get hot walking from my air conditioned house to my air conditioned car, I can only imagine what it’s like in those tents,” John said. “I thought we could bring some water down to help people out.”
That generosity doesn’t go unnoticed by the residents of Camp Hope who are effusive in their gratitude. “This is a life saver,” said Mitchell Penberthy, who was cooling off in the cooling shelter across the street from Camp Hope. “I’m grateful, very happy for this. Whoever put this up, high marks for that. This is a lot better than the tent.”
While residents share their gratitude for help from outside the camp, they also band together to help each other. As they look out for the most vulnerable and share the resources that they have, networks of mutual aid have developed in the community. Still, more support is needed, especially when it comes to mental health and addiction treatment.
With the heat wave incoming, Chris Senn, a camp resident, veteran and – hoping to hear back on a job soon – painter, was part of a group helping their fellow community members. “I served in the military, so I've been in the heat before,” Senn said. “I know how to take care of myself. It's the older people I worry about. So we all try to help out and take care of them.”
Chris Senn speaks with RANGE Media reporter Carl Segerstrom at Camp Hope in Spokane, Wash. on Thursday, July 28, 2022 (Erick Doxey for RANGE Media)
Pointing to an RV in a corner of the lot, Senn said they had moved an elderly lady into the vehicle so she could stay cool there through the heat wave. “We all pitched in, got a generator and an AC unit for the motorhome,” Senn said. All together he said that meant pooling together $500 from people within the camp.
“There's a lot of bad said about this place, but when it comes down to it, we all help each other out,” Senn said. “It's the way I remember Spokane as a kid. As a town that always pulled together for everybody.”
As I was speaking with people inside the cooling tent, Theophil Braa came into the tent from a red truck in the street and grabbed three water bottles from supplies donated to Camp Hope. He pointed his finger, asked me if I was from the media and said he wanted to tell his piece of the story.
Braa has a felony record and has lived on the streets. He’s in a home now and engaged to his partner, who was with him at the camp as they came by to check-it out and grab themselves water from supplies donated to Camp Hope.
Braa initially expressed disgust for the people living at Camp Hope, apparently fueled in part by anguish from the recent loss of a family member to a Fentanyl overdose. He admonished the people at the camp for not going to shelters and seeking treatment — rattling off a number of local service providers like Salvation Army, Goodwill and the Martin Luther King Center who could help them. He also said Jewels Helping Hands wasn’t doing them any favors by helping them survive out here.
To Braa, Camp Hope seemed like a dead end and a way for people to escape rather than grow. “It’s possible to raise up out of this, man,” he said. “I know there’s sad stories. But there’s also hope. But it’s a choice and it’s hard. I just want these people to know that if they make a different choice or a different decision [they can move on].”
I asked Braa what it was that helped him move on and if he was interested in sharing his experience with any of the camp residents. He said if he talked to them, maybe one in 10 would be receptive. He didn’t appear to have the time or will to try.
Still, Braa’s apparent disdain dissipated the more he talked about his own story and the challenges he has faced. “These are my brothers and sisters, whether I'm standing here clean and showered or not, the only reason separating me from them is dope and choice,” Braa said. “I'm just tired, bro. I'm tired of burying our people.”
Camp Hope does have some mental health and addiction treatment organizations that visit and work to get people into services. Compassionate Addiction Treatment and Ideal Option both make regular visits to work with residents, and Spokane Treatment and Recovery Services and Pioneer Human Services are both expected to begin working with camp residents, according to Julie Garcia, the founder and executive director of Jewels Helping Hands.
For resident Senn, the biggest challenge facing the Camp Hope community is mental health. “I personally think there's a lot of mental health problems in this place,” he said. “I think there should be some mental health help for some of these people.”
“I used to be a caregiver for developmentally disabled people,” Senn said. “I see a lot of it here. We've got doctors that come in a couple, three times a week to help out, but I don't see any mental health people coming out. That would be huge.”
While mental health is a challenge in the Camp Hope community and there’s a stated need for more support, people have also found the community as a place where they feel supported.
Swamp coolers inside the cooling tent at Camp Hope in Spokane, Wash. on Thursday, July 28, 2022 (Erick Doxey for RANGE Media)
In the cooling tent, Melissa B., a camp resident, doled out two Gatorades each to fellow residents from a trash can full of ice. Melissa grew up in Spokane Valley and said that giving back to the community at Camp Hope by helping with distribution is important for her because the community here has given so much in return. When she came here, she said she had nothing. But, then people banded around her and gave her a place where she felt she belonged.
Melissa said she was born with a silver spoon and once had a far different lifestyle. “I made six figures. I had three cars. I had full custody of all my kids,” she said. “But I got beat every day and it wasn't worth it. So, I gave it all up.”
Giving it all up led her to Camp Hope and a newfound sense of self and community. “I’ve learned a lot and without this experience I don’t think I ever would have,” Melissa said. “These people out here, I wouldn’t change them for the world, because every single one of these guys they've had my back more than my family ever did.”
“We have fights, we have problems just like everybody else — but our walls are paper thin,” Melissa said. “We are just like everyone else. We’re people. Our houses are just made different.”