In Burien, 'the soap opera continues' as quarrels grow over city's camping ban

In Burien, the debate about how to handle homeless encampments has reached a new fever pitch. It started with a city ordinance in March that prohibits people from camping across much of the city. The King County Sheriff’s refusal to enforce the ordinance led to lawsuits.

Meanwhile, people are waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on this issue in coming weeks. On the ground in Burien, people on all sides lament what they see as a lack of progress.

T

his week on Southwest 152nd Street, Burien’s main drag, police officer Mark Hayden spreads the word about upcoming events like the Pride Weekend and Strawberry Festival. The events will require people living in about a dozen tents in front of City Hall and Burien Library to move, at least temporarily.

A passing pedestrian complains to Officer Hayden that tents and belongings were blocking the sidewalk.

“That’s why I’m here," Hayden says. "We’re going to try to clear the walkway," by asking people to move their belongings voluntarily.

RELATED: 'It's hard not to give up.' The homeless scatter across Washington state as cities ban them from public spaces

Hayden works for the King County Sheriff’s Office. The city of Burien contracts with the sheriff to provide law enforcement services, using Burien-branded police vehicles and uniforms. But the sheriff’s office has declined to enforce Burien’s latest camping restrictions, which prohibit camping within 500 feet of schools, parks, and libraries, thus banning the tents that currently line this street.

As Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall explained at a panel in Burien this week, her office filed a federal lawsuit March 11, days after Burien passed the ordinance. Burien has since countersued.

“I have issues with that ordinance, I’m not sure it’s constitutional," Cole-Tindall said during the panel. "Because I don’t know if it is or not, that’s why we went to a federal judge to tell us.”

RELATED: King County Sheriff questions constitutionality of Burien's camping ban

Meanwhile, people await an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a case filed by Grants Pass, Oregon, on whether camping bans violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment when they don't come with offers of available shelter.

F

ormer Burien City Council member Cydney Moore, in her trademark neon-green glasses, seems to know most of the people living in the tents in front of the library. Moore, head of the nonprofit Burien Community Support Coalition and a self-described "contentious figure," has scrambled to find places for unsheltered people to camp in Burien.

She says it’s discouraging that after a series of moves over the past several months, including a sanctioned encampment she helped run at a local church, people are once again living in front of the city plaza.

“They ended up literally right back where they started a year later, no progress being made,” Moore says. “A whole bunch of money [is] being lost and Burien [is] all the worse for it because people are at each other’s throats.”

Moore says King County has offered the city $1 million to support a new tiny house village that could house up to 70 people.

“That would make a difference,” she says, but the City Council is now considering zoning restrictions that could jeopardize it.

Moore points to past encampment sites downtown — one is now a fenced-off dog park. Businesses filled other sites with rocks to prevent camping. But a woman named Stephanie living in the cluster of downtown tents says she won’t be deterred from staying there.

“It sounds really picky or selfish or whatever, but I grew up pretty much in Burien off and on and me not having transportation and stuff – I know where everything is around here, so I’m just...at comfort right here,” she says.

RELATED: People experiencing homelessness in Burien sue city over camping ban

In contrast, one business owner nearby has announced her departure. Robyn Desimone owns the Iris and Peony flower shop across main street from City Hall, but plans to move her business to the city of Des Moines this summer.

“Not only are we back to where we started, actually it’s worse,” she says, noting that her sales are down and she believes Burien has a negative reputation that keeps customers away.

For years, Desimone has criticized what she calls a lack of response by Burien Police and Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion to drug use and property crimes. In response to a question about crime in her neighborhood, she sets a handgun down on the table beside her.

“I conceal carry every day,” Desimone says. “I don’t work at a bar, I don’t work in downtown Seattle. It’s a flower shop on main street in a small town. I should not need to go to those lengths to feel safe in my business.”

Meanwhile, each day in Burien seems to bring a new uproar between city officials and the King County Sheriff’s Office. There have been lawsuits and countersuits, contracts pulled, and votes of no confidence.

Scott Schaefer has chronicled these developments as the editor and publisher of the B-Town Blog.

“It seems like we’re in a waiting game, but in the meantime, the soap opera continues,” he says, adding that the turmoil seems driven by intractable issues augmented by personality clashes. “Because of emotions or other reasons, nothing is getting done. There’s no progress. And it’s sad to be here — we’re right next to the camp.”

D

own on Southwest 152nd Street, the road becomes crowded with emergency vehicles. Officer Hayden is back, this time alongside paramedics. They work to revive a man who has reportedly overdosed and take him to the hospital.

City councilmember Linda Akey, who unseated Moore on the council last fall, exits City Hall soon after. Akey was among the council majority that passed the new camping restrictions in March.

Akey says there have been four overdose deaths in the encampment this year.

RELATED: Burien group protests city’s new camping ban by sleeping outside

“It is difficult for the community and it needs to end,” she says. “And the way to end that is to get people into treatment and care.”

City leaders have recently sought to oust Burien Police Chief Ted Boe, saying they want a chief who will enforce their laws. In response, police officers signed a petition saying if Boe leaves, they’ll seek transfers too.

The sheriff’s office continues to provide law enforcement in Burien. The city has threatened to stop paying for these services, though Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon and a spokesperson for KCSO confirmed that the sheriff's office has not yet issued an invoice to the city for services so far this year. "The City of Burien has not missed a payment," Bailon told KUOW in an email. Sheriff Cole-Tindall said if Burien does refuse to pay for those services, King County could consider another lawsuit to recover those costs.

CORRECTION - 5/13/2024, 4:15 p.m.: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Burien had already stopped paying the sheriff's office for law enforcement services. According to KCSO, the city has not yet received an invoice in its most recent billing cycle.