I came across the following argument in a book called Home From Nowhere (circa 1994), written by new urbanist pundit, James Howard Kunstler. It, of course, brought to mind the current issue of condos on the isthmus and got me thinking about how having a difference mix of classes living in downtown would affect Oly's poorer classes. I should probably point out that this excerpt is from a long chapter about the importance of civic life/civic interaction to the health of American civilization. In it, Kunstler argues that suburbia and the automobile have been destroying civility in America for the majority of the last century.:

[Posted on The Olympian's Web site]

Published June 02, 2008
Lawsuit challenges Lacey's new law on homeless tent city
THE OLYMPIAN

LACEY -- Advocates for the homeless have sued Lacey to overturn a law that bans a tent city and instead requires churches to shelter the homeless indoors.

The lawsuit claims the City Council did not follow a proper procedure before it approved the law April 24 with a 4-3 vote.

Panza, a nonprofit group that supports Camp Quixote, Olympia’s tent city; Selena Kilmoyer, Panza’s secretary; and three residents who attend churches in Lacey -- Elizabeth Penney, Ronna Smith and Donald Stern -- filed the lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court.

The lawsuit contends that while the city posted meeting notices and held public hearings and other meetings both before the Lacey Planning Commission and City Council on a draft law regulating temporary homeless encampments, no such steps were taken for a later draft that required faith-based groups to shelter the homeless inside their churches.

As a result, supporters of the law were uninformed that Lacey churches don’t have adequate room to both shelter the homeless and minister to their congregations, Kilmoyer said.

For more on the story, see The Olympian Tuesday.

They also have consistently done this without contacting direct service providers. Organizations like the one I work for, Bread & Roses, and our close partner EGYHOP, can at the very least provide harm reduction services to campers who are forced to move. I feel justified in saying that I don't trust the City of Olympia to effectively advocate for individuals transitioning from one campsite to another. It's not their job to be advocates, which is why they should seek out advice and help from those whose job that is. I should be very clear, however, that this is not a role I'm willing to fill over and over for years to come. I simply will not be a part of people being pushed around from one unsafe environ to the next. I think that viewpoint reflects the overall view of the homeless advocate community.

Being that there is going to come a point, likely sooner than later, where advocates are going to start refusing to aid the City in this capacity, the City should think long and hard on one question. 'Where can people go and be left alone?'

If Steve Hall, the Council, or Staff can quickly answer that question, then a lot of time can be saved on providing people with stability, which we've learned from Camp Quixote is therapeutic and empowering.

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To be accurate, this person is not a panhandler, he is a street performer. Go check him out most evenings along 4th Ave!

Name: Richard

Age: 29

Hobbies: Music and Cooking. "Soon I'll be in an apartment and I want to go to SPSCC to study music first, then cooking. I already have 6 months of community college from Seattle, so I have a head start."

Favorite Books: The Bible, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Hobbit, Grimms Fairy Tales and poetry by William Blake and Jim Morrison

Favorite Movies: Apocalypse Now, Young Guns, Maverick, Last of the Mohicans, Legend, The Princess Bride

I don't know about you, but I can't think of one single thing I can buy in Lacey that I can't buy somewhere else.

Not that it will, in the scheme of things, make any difference, but why don't those of us who support Camp Quixote and care about homeless people take a look at doing our shopping in those places that understand that a regional, even state approach is needed to providing social services, including a safe place to spend the night if your home is a tent.

Do we lose anything by doing this? Maybe some of our smaller, struggling, independently owned businesses have something to gain here.

Ah, the end of December, when the MSM starts using some secret, unquantifiable formula to determine the Top Ten this and that.

You know what I mean: Top Ten News Stories of the Year. Top Ten Celebrity Gaffs. Top Ten Weight-loss Programs. Top Ten You Name It.

So, here's a challenge to Olybloggers!

Instead of ranking events, can you tell the rest of us what thing, or things, changed your life in the past year? Good, or bad, what was a defining moment for you in 2007.

It can be personal, it can be community-related, it can be whatever you want it to be.

And, I'm asking folks to refrain from sass-back (in other words, please be respectful of others thoughts). This is a chance for all of us to relate what has been important in the past year, without passing judgment on what has been important to others. I

'll start:

Camp Quixote. You've seen in another post that the Camp has been nominated for Person of the Year. I concur with this nomination. What an amazing bunch of folks!

The camp has changed my life and certainly some notions I had about homelessness and homeless people. I have watched it move from its difficult birth downtown where it was the target of community misunderstanding and scorn, into an accepted part of our big-hearted community. Getting to know the residents; the people who support the camp in large and small ways; and working with the faith communities that have stepped forward, sometimes with few resources, to host the camp or be present to it in other ways, has been eye-opening and delightful.