First clean up I-405, Zimmerman tells mayor

Councilor says Pearl shelter plan should include removal of current encampments underneath freeway

District 4 City Councilor Eric Zimmerman said he would like to see better enforcement near shelters.

District 4 City Councilor Eric Zimmerman expects no more homeless encampments under Interstate 405 if a city overnight shelter opens at Northwest 15th and Northrup as announced.

Zimmerman was responding to Mayor Keith Wilson at last week’s meeting City Council’s Homelessness and Housing Committee meeting last week. Wilson is pushing to open 1,500 shelter beds in the city by Dec. 1, but even then he would be reluctant to use law enforcement to get people off the streets.

Wilson told the committee that cold December weather will influence more campers to accept shelter.

“I don’t want to do it with law enforcement,” he said. “I want to do it with outreach workers.”

Zimmerman said he wants a firmer hand.

“What I’d love to hear you say is, because I’m opening a shelter next to 405, the underpasses are going to be clear under 405 for the first time in five years, but you won’t,” Zimmerman said.

While Wilson has promised heightened security and nuisance abatement within 1,000 feet of shelters, Zimmerman is skeptical those measures will be enough to protect neighborhood safety and livability.

“I wonder when we’re going to see the meat of what these enforcement zones look like,” the councilor said.

“You stopped the enforcement of time, place and manner,” Zimmerman said, referring to legal terminology regarding the city’s right to enforce its ban on camping in public.

“When a shelter exists, there is a contractual obligation among everybody in society in what is and is not acceptable. I’m trying to square this peg. … I’m still waiting for you to commit that 405 will be a livable area for the first time in five years.”