After homeless camp sweep, Olympia port commission explores lease for sanctioned site
The Port of Olympia commission Monday evening addressed their decision to have Thurston County Sheriff’s Office deputies sweep a homeless encampment on port-owned property in Tumwater earlier in the day, and put forward a plan to lease a different port property to the city or county to create a sanctioned campsite.
Three members of the public attended the meeting to express disappointment at the port’s handling of the situation. Others commented on the allegations of sexual harassment against commissioner E.J. Zita, but none spoke in support of the port’s actions related to the encampment.
Tye Gundel of Just Housing Olympia criticized what she described as an inadequate amount of notice provided to the campers.
“To my knowledge, not one person received written notice, and even if these police officers were coming out and telling people to expect to be moved eventually, not one person knew to expect police officers and dumpsters to arrive today,” Gundel said. “Going forward, we have two days to figure out where folks are going to go, and it would be great if the port was more at the table for that and take some responsibility, and they have not seemed to do that at this point.”
Commissioner Joe Downing said he supported Executive Director Sam Gibboney’s decision to have the campers removed by Sheriff’s deputies Monday morning.
“I think the port was correct and the executive director was correct in that that particular piece of land that the campers were on was not an appropriate piece of land, so action had to be taken there,” Downing said.
According to Commissioner Bill McGregor, both he and Downing approved the decision by Executive Director Sam Gibboney to have police remove the campers.
McGregor said that Tumwater police agreed to remove the campers, but then “backed away” in a letter sent to the port last Friday.
“Initially the city of Tumwater said that they would provide the police department to go in there and do that work,” McGregor said. “And then on the 11th, Friday, we get a letter that said that they will not do that now. So they had backed away from what they originally had agreed to do.”
Amid the litigating of the port’s decision to sweep the encampment, Downing proposed the port make a different parcel of land available to lease, either to Tumwater or Thurston County, to use as a sanctioned campsite.
According to the port’s legal counsel Heather Burgess, the port lacks the authority to administer a camp site, but they can lease land to a city or county for that purpose.
That motion was approved by all three commissioners. Before that could happen, though, Zita asked Downing a series of questions about the timing of when the sweep was approved by the other commissioners and argued that the port was sending mixed messages by ordering the campers removed by the Sheriff’s Office.
“I am also concerned about whether we are working with Tumwater in good faith,” Zita said. “Because on the one hand we are saying, yes we want to work with you to find an encampment place, and on the other hand, we are saying we want your police department to break down the camp, and if you don’t, we’ll have the sheriff do it.”
Zita proposed an amendment stipulating that the port staff identify a parcel for the campsite within two weeks, and pay for the lodging costs of the campers in the meantime.
That proposal was voted down 2-1.
Monday afternoon camp sweep
A group of at least 6-12 people were forced from port property near its New Market Industrial Campus, a Thurston County Sheriff’s Deputy confirmed at the scene Monday afternoon.
One advocate who had helped move people into the campsite was also arrested for trespassing, according to Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Casebolt.
The port on Friday filed a “Request to Remove Trespassers” form with the Sheriff’s Office, according to legal documents obtained by The Olympian.
Devin Boysen had been camped at the wooded area on Harper Street Southwest and 75th Avenue Southwest for about a week, but others have been there at least a month.
Sheriff’s Lt. Carla Carter said the campers have the rest of the day to vacate the area, which she described as private property, despite the port being a public agency.
Carter said the campers were given verbal notice by a port official on Friday and put in touch with social services organizations, including Family Support Services and Community Action Council, and were offered space at the mitigation site.
All of the campers were offered two nights at a hotel, and at least six ended up choosing that option, according to Keylee Marineau, Homeless Prevention and Affordable Housing Coordinator for Thurston County, who was on scene Monday.
None of the campers chose to go to the mitigation site.
At least a dozen advocates at the scene criticized Lt. Carter and the deputies for sweeping the camp, which the CDC has advised cities against doing, and argued that goes against the spirit of both the governor’s moratorium on evictions and the Martin v. Boise ruling, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that says cities cannot remove people sleeping on public property without offering adequate alternatives.
The argument hinged on whether what was happening should be described as an “eviction.”
“It’s not an eviction, we are removing a trespasser,” Carter said.
“It looks like an eviction to me,” an advocate replied.
Port spokesperson Jennie Foglia Jones said that the sweep was motivated by contractual obligations the port has to the developer Panattoni, which signed a lease option with the port to develop the land where the encampment now sits back in July.
Last Thursday, Jones told The Olympian that the port had no plans to remove the campers. Jones says she was not aware at that time of the Port’s legal department’s plans to file the trespass removal request.
City of Tumwater’s Involvement
Port officials have attempted to remove the campers before without success.
In an email dated August 25, Executive Director Sam Gibboney confirmed that the port had previously asked Tumwater Police to remove the campers.
“The current situation at 75th and Harper began when a TPD (Tumwater Police Department) officer observed the individual on Port property and contacted the Port to ask if removal was requested. Port staff confirmed removal was requested, and TPD initiated the notice process to the camper resulting in your email,” Gibboney wrote, in response to an inquiry from advocacy group Just Housing Olympia (JHO) questioning the legality of removing the campers.
However, that removal never happened.
At the port meeting on Monday, McGregor confirmed that Tumwater officials initially agreed to remove the campers but then sent a letter to the port on Sept. 11 where they “backed out.”
In an emailed statement on Monday, Tumwater city spokesperson Ann Cook wrote that the city does not support the Port’s actions of removing the campers.
“The city will not provide notice to vacate and Tumwater Police Officers will not remove people from Port property at this time,” Cook wrote. “Further, we do not believe police are the best resource to respond to those experiencing homelessness, and arresting people camped on this Port property is not appropriate.”
In response to follow up questions about Tumwater’s policy on sweeps, Cook did not say whether or not the city of Tumwater will participate in future sweeps, but wrote that the city is “committed to being a regional partner” in homeless response efforts.
“Our overarching belief, supported by Court decisions, that homelessness is not a crime guides our response,” Cook wrote on Tuesday morning.
Legal status of sweeps
In the email exchange with JHO, Gibboney also wrote that the port’s legal team reviewed the Martin case and does not believe it applies to them, although she did acknowledge that the port is a public entity.
“Following legal review, the Port respectfully disagrees that the Martin cases broadly preclude homeless individuals from being removed from Port properties simply because the Port is a public entity,” Gibboney wrote. “The Port’s Legal Counsel has consulted with and received the concurrence of the City Attorney as to the Port’s analysis of its legal rights and obligations with respect to trespassers on its properties.”
None of this was at all clear to Brenda Cisneros, who, along with her son James, had been camping on the port property for at least a month after being illegally evicted from the Olympia Inn Hotel back in August.
Cisneros, who who has lived in Tumwater most of her life, got on the phone and began calling anyone who would listen — the Attorney General, the Governor, the President of the U.S. — trying to get the sweep called off.
Then she turned to Carter and the deputies.
“I know you’re trying to be nice, but this is illegal,” Cisneros said.
After some more back and forth, Cisneros apologized to Carter for yelling.
“I’m sorry, I’m just upset,” Cisneros said. “I don’t understand why the port doesn’t follow the law.”
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 6:30 AM.
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