The Centralia City Council convened Tuesday night to conduct regular business, but the majority of discussion focused on an update from the city’s housing committee and approving the installation of a donated plaque from the International Workers of the World (IWW) commemorated to the union victims of the 1919 Centralia Tragedy.
Housing Committee Talks
Created last year to help address affordable housing issues beginning to surface, the housing committee finished a needs analysis last month and is continuing to gather public input on matters involving housing.
The committee is currently focusing on fostering the creation of more “new urbanism” developments, which involve having a diverse range of housing options within the same area. Its plan is to create a housing continuum system, which will allow people to steadily progress to better housing.
Housing continuums are broken down into two parts — market and non-market housing. Market housing is private rentals and home ownership.
The non-market part focuses on below-market rentals and ownership, community housing, supportive housing, transitional housing, emergency shelters and homeless shelters.
Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston explained why the committee is focusing on non-market housing more and what strategy is being used.
“What functional-zero means, the terminology is interesting, what it is saying is that it’s unrealistic to think that you will ever have zero people who are unsheltered at all times,” Smith Johnston said.
She hoped to focus the city’s housing efforts instead on helping people quickly transition from being unsheltered to having a home by creating a coalition of both government and private entities focused on finding affordable housing. Citizens will be able to sign up for help on a list.
The strategy won’t just be for the homeless, though, as Smith Johnston further explained.
“You might have a parent who’s a single parent and has a job but his or her rent has gone up and they are on the verge of being homeless. Their name can go on the list. That coalition would explore what the options are for that, most likely preventative money to make sure they can stay in their apartment or home. The second person on the list could be somebody with a substance abuse disorder or mental challenges who is on the street and being violent and threatening to other people. They would have a whole different set of resources,” Smith Johnston said.
The functional-zero approach allows for people to be treated as individuals and helps them find their own solutions, city officials said.
“We believe this issue is complex and can’t be reduced to a single strategy,” added Smith Johnston.
She also stated that the success of this program will depend on the number of people who are homeless being reduced.
While the county has approved the development of an overnight shelter, Johnston stressed that more transitional housing is still needed.
Some of the other housing development projects being worked on or considered include placing townhomes on the old golf course property, annexing land on Reynolds Avenue for multi-family housing, converting the old Motel 6 into permanent supportive housing and a new 100-plus bed dormitory at Centralia College.
Community Development Director Emil Pierson said Centralia is also growing, and aside from housing issues, will be facing traffic and congestion problems as well.
“Especially on Harrison, Mellen Street, I-5 and its interchange, there are some issues there,” Pierson said.
He hopes to foster more “nestled neighborhood hubs,” meaning that shops and services people commute for now would be within their own neighborhoods, eliminating the need to drive to them.
The committee is now focusing on continuing to gather public input while evaluating possible policies and tools. The committee is working with BERK Consulting.
IWW Plaque to Be Placed in Washington Park
Aside from discussing housing issues, the council also approved the placement of a donated plaque dedicated to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union victims of the 1919 Centralia Tragedy, including Westly Everest, who was lynched.
The brass plaque, together with its installation, cost about $5,000, according to IWW member Michael Garrison, who said it is already fully funded. Once installed, the plaque will sit in George Washington Park east of the flagpole and west of The Sentinel statue.
Some discussion was held among council members on whether to remove the IWW logo from the plaque, but the decision was made to leave it so as not to give the impression that the city itself sanctioned the plaque and due to the fact that The Sentinel bears the American Legion’s logo.
Garrison was present but due to being in recovery from a stroke, his wife, Mary, spoke for him.
“For almost 100 years, one side of the tragedy has been told. The Industrial Workers of the World are asking for permission to place a plaque in the park honoring the union victims of the Centralia Tragedy. Like the American Legion logo which appears twice on The Sentinel, ours will be identified by our logo to ensure that our sponsorship is clear,” Mary Garrison said.
Council Member Max Vogt added that he supported placing the plaque in the park in hopes of clarifying the controversy surrounding the Centralia Tragedy to park visitors.
“In this tragedy, both sides lost, there was no winner. There was no winning side. It was a tragedy all around. People were murdered. People were imprisoned. No one got their father back, their brother back, their uncle, their son who died in this horrible tragedy. By today’s standards, pretty much all of these people on both sides would be in prison. There were bad things done on both sides and possibly good and heroic things done on both sides,” Vogt said.
