Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson spoke on several topics in July 2018 at the Twin Cities Rotary.
A letter from the Washington state Attorney General's Office has restrained the city of Olympia's plans to force a community of vehicle residents on Ensign Road to relocate.
However, more than half of the vehicles had already left the area by Tuesday afternoon.
Tuesday was the deadline city officials had given vehicle residents parked along the corridor to move, as The Olympian has reported. But the letter, dated Oct. 26, states that the AG's Office believes the vacate notices the city gave are a violation of Gov. Inslee's eviction moratorium.
Now, the city has forestalled enforcing the notice.
"To allow time to evaluate the position taken by the Attorney General's Office in its letter, the city is pausing requiring people to vacate Ensign Road, but is encouraging people to move and is providing assistance to those who choose to do so," wrote Assistant City Manager Keith Stahley in an email to The Olympian.
The AG's letter
Multiple complaints were filed with the Attorney General's Office about the Ensign Road sweep, the AG's letter notes, including by residents themselves.
The governor's eviction moratorium order, which was first issued in March and has been extended and modified numerous times, prohibits the serving of notices to vacate by landlords, property owners, and property managers, and prohibits local law enforcement from enforcing such orders.
It was later amended to include "less traditional dwellings" where the person has been residing for more than 14 days, and specifically includes RVs and motor homes.
"Given that the Ensign Road residents have resided in that location for a period of months, these notices violate the Proclamation as to any resident not demonstrated by affidavit to be causing a significant and immediate risk to the health, safety, or property of others," wrote Colleen Melody, Division Chief for the Wing Luke Civil Rights Division of the Attorney General's Office.
While exceptions exist under the governor's order, they must be justified by an affidavit that proves a significant and immediate health and safety threat is being caused by the resident.
The city's provided reasons did not meet that standard, Melody's letter said.
"Depending on how long the City has been aware of these issues before taking action, the affidavit appears insufficient to justify the 'urgency' prerequisite to the sweep," Melody wrote.
Many residents have already left
Residents were geared up for a sweep Tuesday morning, as the city had previously announced and given notices that residents had until Oct. 27 to leave, or face removal by city law enforcement.
What happened instead was that the street was blocked off for several hours in the morning, while city staff helped people to clean the site or move if they so choose. That included with a front loader, a tractor-like vehicle used to dispose of large trash items, and a city gas truck that drove around filling up people's tanks.
According to Olympia's Homeless Response Coordinator Teal Russell, the city is now focused on assisting those who choose to leave voluntarily.
The message she's delivering to residents now is: "The city is still asking that you leave. You don't have to leave. We're not towing you, we have no intention of towing you, but this is still not a great place to park."
Russell said the city has replaced the car batteries for five vehicles, and is providing gas cards.
No parking signs have been posted at the site, though it's not clear how the city will be enforcing them.
On Tuesday afternoon, 21 vehicles remained of the more than 40 that were parked there in previous weeks. Most of them left in the past two days, Russell said.
___
(c)2020 The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.)
Visit The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.) at www.theolympian.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
