Bellingham City Hall and library closed ‘in the name of health and safety for all’
Bellingham City Hall will be closed this week, and Bellingham Public Library has suspended its curbside pickups for a second time in response to recent incidents surrounding the downtown homeless encampment.
Protesters barricaded streets near City Hall Friday, Jan. 22, and later forced their way into the building, prompting city workers to leave. Later Friday, a confrontation between two groups of people at the Camp 210 homeless encampment left two people injured in a hatchet attack, police told The Bellingham Herald.
“We’re closing City Hall and the library will remain closed for the remainder of this week in the name of health and safety for all,” Mayor Seth Fleetwood said in an online meeting Monday, Jan. 25.
Friday’s actions were part of continuing incidents surrounding Camp 210, which includes a group of homeless campers and their supporters living in tents on the lawns of City Hall (210 Lottie St.) and the Bellingham Public Library (210 Central Ave.). It was set up in November to protest the lack of shelter in the area.
A notice at the library website said all scheduled pickups will be rescheduled.
Access to City Hall has been limited for nearly a year and many employees are telecommuting because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Library officials have been offering curbside pickup of materials reserved online or by phone since June, but the downtown building and its two neighborhood branches have been closed since March.
That curbside service was suspended for several days in early December, following a suspected arson that burned a tent and several reported harassment incidents.
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 1:11 PM.
