EVERETT, OCT. 10: Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin announced a temporary no-fare bus route along Casino Road to better serve community members impacted by the closure of the Evergreen Way Fred Meyer during the Wednesday, Oct. 8 City Council meeting.
The council will also consider an extension of the “no sit, no lie” law.
Mayor’s Comments
Mayor Franklin announced that a bus route along Casino Road will be free for community members to help support access to groceries during the impending closure of Fred Meyer in South Everett.
Bus route 12 will temporarily be free for riders and will connect Casino Road and Westmont Holy residents to Everett Mall Way. An additional shuttle will be provided to bring riders directly to grocery outlets from the Everett Mall station.
The free bus route will be available for six months.
“No sit, no lie”
The Everett City Council is considering extending the allowance of the “no sit, no lie” law, which is scheduled to sunset later this year. The law prohibits people from sitting or lying in service or high-impact areas designated as buffer zones in downtown Everett.
The law was implemented in 2021 to improve community safety and address homeless encampments. The law additionally prohibits services and products from being given to individuals within buffer zones without a permit.
The law has received criticism with some arguing that the law doesn’t address the homelessness issue. While others have approved buffer zones, saying that it helps address overall safety in downtown.
The ordinance submitted for council approval on Wednesday would extend the allowance of buffer zones until the end of 2027 and includes new reporting requirements.
Locations with buffer zones include Everett Gospel Mission, Imagine Children’s Museum, Compass Health and the soon to be closed Fred Meyer. Each zone has a two-mile radius.
Assistant City Attorney Lacey Offutt addressed how effective the law has been over the past two years during the meeting.
Overall, calls for service around high-impact areas have decreased. At the United Church of Christ, located on Rockefeller Ave, it has seen a net decrease of 45% in service calls since July 2023.
As for the contacts made by police and social workers, Offutt said that the numbers are encouraging.
“The numbers are overwhelmingly supportive that this [buffer zones] is being used by police in addition to our social workers as a means of education and contact with the hope of getting people in touch with goods and services…,” Offutt said.
Since the implementation of the ordinance, police have given 156 formal warnings in buffer zones for violating the no sit, no lie law. There have been no convictions for violating the law.
Councilmember Liz Vogeli expressed her opposition to the law, arguing that it targets homeless individuals.
“Buffer zones are legislation used to target our most vulnerable. I will not vote for them and will not agree that they are the right way to deal with societal failure…” Vogeli said. “Buffer zones are a band-aid on a puncture wound.”
Councilmember Paula Rhyne also expressed concerns about the law’s effectiveness in addressing homelessness.
“One of the original concerns that Alvaro had mentioned was that this approach doesn’t solve homelessness, it just moves it around,” Rhyne said. “While we’re seeing visual improvements in these zones, we’re not seeing that homelessness overall is being solved in Everett.”
Mayor Franklin later said that buffer zones were never designed to address homelessness, but rather to solve nuisance crimes around areas that see an increase in disruptions.
“It’s really a tool to provide our social workers and our police department to engage with the population that is very service resistant, that is typically causing a lot of harm or perceived harm to our community…,” Franklin said.
Council will vote on the extension on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
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