Yakima Council Parks Parking Idea for the Homeless

The Yakima City Council spoke out Tuesday against a plan to create a secure parking lot east of I-82 for homeless people living in vehicles. Council members Patricia Byers, Matt Brown and Danny Herrera, Janice Deccio and Holly Cousens vote to cancel the plan to open the parking lot.

The council decided to study the question in the future

Instead of moving forward on Tuesday, the board decided to discuss the issue further at a future study session.
The council’s decision not to open the lot is in line with city staff who have recommended that the city not go ahead with the idea at this time. They estimate the cost would be $600,000 to create the bundle, and then over $25,000 per month. Parking would have included security, fencing and surveillance.

There are plenty of parking lots and properties to consider

A recent city survey of available properties found there were “five city-owned properties with existing parking lots and two undeveloped city-owned properties east of I-82 that the council must examine”. Mike Kay, executive director of Camp Hope in Yakima, told the city that secure parking was already available at the camp, but he said the city had not expressed interest in the idea of ​​creating a parking lot. at the camp. He spoke at the meeting on Tuesday telling council that homeless people could park on the Camp Hope lot and take advantage of water, sewer hookups for RVs.
Other local authorities and concerned citizens spoke at Tuesday’s meeting. The council eventually acted to cancel plans to create the car park and continue to talk about the issue in the future.

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