Well done, Jefferson County commissioners! 

Your planning commission considered the multitude of comments and concerns from your community over the past year and then with careful consideration voted to stifle any burdens you encountered in regards to installing homeless tent encampments into any neighborhood of your choosing. 

This proposed temporary homeless encampment ordinance repeals and replaces any sanity that currently exists with bad ideas and absolute power to the DCD director to act at their discretion. The proposed ordinance lowers the bar by welcoming criminals with warrants and/or sex offenders to the encampments, removing fire restrictions or setbacks and buffers from neighboring communities then ignoring any reasonable limitations on the number of homeless occupant populations for the sponsored camps. 

This sets a dangerous precedent for any neighborhood in Jefferson County. 

Your short-sighted decisions are paving the way for Port Townsend and Jefferson County to become a new homeless hub for hire where the mentally ill, addicts and criminals are farmed out for more state funds while other communities are looking to clean up their towns and offload their own burdens. A fantastic motherload of revenue for these nonprofits at our greater community’s expense.

Welcome to the future of Port Townsend: a picturesque Gotham Victorian Seaport of poverty, crime, abuse and waste.

You — the Jeff County planners and commissioners — ignore your constituents, sacrifice your neighborhoods and represent nothing for a safe and sane community; just another reckless and shameful abuse of power.

Dave Dreary
PORT TOWNSEND