(The Center Square) – Councilmember Michael Cathcart hadn’t even finished opening the public safety town hall in downtown Spokane on Wednesday before police rushed outside to arrest someone peeing.
Cathcart was telling the audience that Tuxedo Gallery had invited him there, given the criminal activity in the area, just before Police Chief Kevin Hall and Downtown Precinct Captain Kurt Reese ran outside. They saw a woman through the window who had dropped her pants and started urinating on the corner.
Another officer then arrived shortly after to arrest the woman on a felony warrant and take her to jail.
The shop is situated within the downtown core, where a significant portion of the homeless population resides. Business owners frequently encounter this issue, but some no longer report it to the Spokane Police Department after feeling frustrated with a lack of progress and policies that prioritize services.
Much of the meeting focused on mitigating criminal activity perpetrated by high utilizers around town, referring to individuals who frequently interact with the justice and emergency systems. However, one business owner raised the question at the end of the meeting whether services attract homelessness.
“We’ve been here for 30 years,” said Gabriel Harrington, owner of Lotus Martial Arts Academy. “And I’m not trying to completely point the finger, but I will say there’s a dramatic change in the activity down here after Catholic Charities developed all this infrastructure down here to support all the homeless people.”
Another business owner just recently filed a $3.5 million lawsuit against Catholic Charities, alleging losses that she attributes to chronic nuisance properties downtown. Jonathan Mallahan, chief housing officer at Catholic Charities Eastern Washington, was also present on Wednesday and said developing those havens within close proximity to each other was “best practice” at the time in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mallahan said CCEW is trying to adapt its model toward offering individuals rooms for the night rather than congregate shelters capable of holding dozens of people. He noted that Catholic Charities has a good neighbor agreement in its leases, directing them to evict people who are arrested onsite or nearby.
“I mean no disrespect to anybody in this room, but how many more excuses can we hear before we see something different?” Councilmember Jonthan Bingle asked everyone earlier in the meeting.
Bingle said the 2021 Blake decision is no longer an excuse, and neither is the lower court ruling that once prevented SPD from enforcing Proposition 1, which banned camping throughout much of the city.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Martin v Boise ruling in June 2024, clearing the way for SPD and other agencies to enforce the camping ban regardless of shelter availability. However, the Washington Supreme Court later invalidated Prop 1, the citizen initiative that nearly 75% of voters passed in 2023.
The court said elected officials could reinstate the law, but the Spokane City Council majority refused to support Bingle and Cathcart’s attempts. Both represent District 1 and the council’s conservative minority.
Council President Betsy Wilkerson, Councilmember Paul Dillon and interim Councilmember Shelby Lambdin didn’t attend the town hall on Wednesday, and Mayor Lisa Brown wasn’t there either.
Brown and the progressive majority drafted much of the overhaul to the city’s homelessness response that the council passed earlier this year, with Cathcart and Bingle in opposition. Critics argue that the polices haven’t helped much, pointing to low enforcement numbers and calling on them to pass Prop 1.
Spokane’s new camping ban allows people to avoid enforcement if they accept services or relocate.
“We still have that ability today, and we’re not doing it,” Bingle told his peers and everyone else there. “As much collaboration as we can do, if the policies aren’t there, it’s not going to make a difference.”
