Bellingham moves forward with plans to end temporary tent encampment at City Hall
City officials will take steps to end a temporary tent encampment on the lawn of Bellingham City Hall and the Bellingham Public Library by the end of the month, according to Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood.
The encampment, known as Camp 210, is a group of homeless campers and advocates living in tents on the lawns of City Hall (210 Lottie St.) and the public library (210 Central Ave.). Camp 210 was set up in November to protest the lack of shelter in the area.
The city provided notice on Jan. 19 that people camping within 25 feet of City Hall would have to remove their belongings by Friday morning. In response, multiple people showed up to protest and protect the encampment. Protesters created a human barrier and later broke into City Hall, prompting city workers to leave, on Friday, Jan. 22, in order to stop city officials from attempting to clean up the encampment that day.
Later Friday, a confrontation between two groups of people at the encampment left two people injured in a hatchet attack, according to Bellingham police. There were no updates on the attack as of Monday morning, Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
City Hall will be closed this week and the library has suspended its curbside pickup service. The closure is for the health and safety for all, including the residents at Camp 210, the public, city staff and others doing essential work, Fleetwood said in an online meeting Monday, Jan. 25.
Fleetwood said he condemned the vandalism and assaults by protesters on Friday.
“There were a variety of serious things that happened, including some really horrible, deplorable crimes that evening. I just want to condemn all of that in the strongest terms,” Fleetwood said in the online meeting.
Fleetwood said it was announced several weeks ago that the city would be taking steps to end the encampment, while continuing to build shelter capacity at the same time. He said that is still the plan. The city won’t be announcing with precision when steps will be taken to bring an end to Camp 210, but that those efforts would be going into effect soon, Fleetwood said during the meeting.
Fleetwood said in addition to space available at Base Camp, a homeless shelter on Cornwall Avenue operated by Lighthouse Mission Ministries, and an overflow shelter at the former Drop-In Center on West Holly Street, the city is continuing to consider an additional site for tiny homes that could house up to 40 people.
“I don’t need to offer remarks on this situation we find ourselves in, not just in Bellingham, but nationwide. We are in a period where we’re seeing social unrest and agitation and change and demands of all kinds happening, and I’m sure it’s related to all sorts of things; inequity, COVID, but again, analysis and that sort can come for another day,” Fleetwood said.
“Obviously there are many people in Bellingham who are seeking to redeem a deplorable social condition, and we will continue to do our part as it relates to that. There aren’t any easy answers. There are people on both sides of this issue with strong opinions, very strong opinions, and we’ve been doing our best to navigate this in a way that takes into account a whole variety of legitimate concerns.”
Housing for all
In a statement posted to their Facebook and Instagram pages, BOP Mutual Aid (Bellingham Occupied Protest), said Camp 210 is a group of community members who are housed and unhoused that are organizing to support homeless people who seek resources and encampment at City Hall and the library.
BOP Mutual Aid said Camp 210 advocates for housing and services for all people, regardless of their history. The groups operate in a non-hierarchical structure and puts the needs of the campers at the forefront of their mission, according to the statement.
People gathered Friday to surround the perimeter of Camp 210 to stop city officials from entering the space and moving campers or their belongings after the city notified the encampment to remove belongings within 25 feet of City Hall, according to BOP Mutual Aid’s statement.
Campers did not remove their tents or belongings because moving 25 feet away from City Hall would remove over half of the lawn space, which would displace the campers living there or cause tents to be too close together, which is against health department guidelines, the statement said.
“We at Camp 210 saw this as an escalation towards a camp sweep that Mayor Seth Fleetwood has been alluding to since the end of December,” the statement read.
While there is space at Base Camp, BOP Mutual Aid’s statement said that is not an adequate alternative for some of the people residing at Camp 210. The shelter’s capacity is not large enough to house everyone staying at Camp 210, and some campers have been kicked out in the past or have had traumatic or disrespectful experiences and don’t feel safe to return, the statement said.
“The fact that the city repeatedly says to just ‘go to Base Camp’ shows that they don’t truly support shelter for all people, because they know that not everyone can go there,” the statement reads.
BOP Mutual Aid’s statement said Friday was “overwhelmingly uneventful” and that City Hall was not stormed. A group of people entered City Hall and walked into the lobby, and left when police were called. There was no damage and no arrests were made, according to Bellingham police. The rest of Friday included people holding signs, cleaning up trash and gathering piles of laundry, the statement said.
“Yes, there was graffiti, but graffiti exists as a form of expressing massive frustration from those whose voices so often go unheard. Graffiti can be cleaned, and graffiti is not violent. Withholding shelter from community members is violent,” the statement said.
BOP Mutual Aid’s statement said since Friday, there has been an uptick in hostility toward the encampment. Vehicles have been circling the camp and revving their engines or using their horns, and people have ridden through Camp 210 on bicycles using hurtful words and threats of violence.
“People are showing blatant disregard for the humanity of the residents at Camp 210 and it is deeply concerning,” the statement said.
The group also has seen a decrease in donations and had cancellations for its meal train, which the BOP Mutual Aid statement blamed on the rhetoric of the mayor and media,.
“Claims of ‘outside agitators’ and denouncement of graffiti only serve to erase the very real and very valid anger and frustration that many community members feel. No amount of ‘playing by the rules’ of this current system will result in housing for all, because the current system is exactly what enables 1500+ people in Whatcom county to live on the streets and in the forests in the first place,” the statement read.
The Bellingham Herald has reached out to advocates with Camp 210, including BOP Mutual Aid, for more information, but has not heard back.
