What can I do about homelessness/trash in the neighborhood?
What can I do about homelessness/trash in the neighborhood?
- Call the City of Tacoma AND the WSDOT
Yes, you can also email (click HERE for the email addresses). But savvy activists know that phone calls are much harder to ignore than emails. Call the city at 253-591-5000 and the Washington State Department of Transportation at 253-983-7550. Anything under I-705 is technically WSDOT's responsibility, although the city has been known to respond there as well.
- Call the BIA
The Downtown Tacoma Business Improvement Area is a semi-public agency, similar to the Foss Waterway Development Authority. They are responsible for the mini street-sweeper you see downtown, the downtown flower baskets, trash pickup downtown, and the BIA security team - the guys with bikes and yellow vests that you see patrolling downtown. See their website HERE. They are funded by private donations from downtown businesses and residents (currently, the Esplanade HOA does not contribute to the BIA). The BIA security team is very responsive, and will usually arrive on scene faster than the police. Their area does not cover the Esplanade, but does cover anything west of the railroad tracks. Call their security team at 253-383-1131.
- Start a once-a-week or once-a-month trash pickup group
Anyone wanting to participate in neighborhood trash pickup can get gloves and trash bags delivered from the city. Once you fill the bags, you can leave them for the city to come and pick them up. Contact Cindy at cindy.degrosse@cityoftacoma.org. To make the job even easier, "trash grabbers" can be purchased from Amazon HERE.
- Support local homeless shelters
Nativity House, for example, is a local shelter just up the hill a couple blocks, run by Catholic Community Services. Nativity House provides beds, mental health and chemical dependency assessments/referrals, and also helps the homeless transition back into stable housing. Their annual fundraiser, a gala evening and auction, is February 25 - tickets must be purchased by February 15. Click HERE for more information.
Meanwhile, with no trash can in the P1 foyer, people are leaving their garbage anyways. Gotta succeed at home first!
ReplyDeleteI would advise against picking up their trash. Do you realize how many dirty needles are up there, not to mention all human fecal matter? Absolutely disgusting. So many calls have been made to the City and it's only become worse. The City needs to lead the charge and collaborate with WSDOT and BNSF and assume some leadership and initiative to get this cleaned up. There are now 7 tents up there and they are absolute slobs. Throwing their garbage everywhere, open drug use, openly urinating and worse. What a wonderful enhancement to Esplanade living--Disgusting. Don't help them, don't enable them! This isn't about you feeling good about yourself so you can tell your neighbors what a great person you are! You are perpetuating the problem! Catch a clue and stop the madness!!
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