Lawsuit challenges Burien's new ordinance banning homeless camping

Well, and this centers around whether or not the city can remove people who are camping at spots like this median here on Ambaum Boulevard. There was a huge encampment here that neighbors said was getting out of control, but now three people who lived in that encampment are suing, saying the city should have let them stay. This lawsuit alleges the city of Burien has effectively banished homeless people by making it illegal to camp overnight in public areas. This law, in addition to being extremely confusing and punitive, essentially means they're not allowed to be anywhere. Allison Isinger and the Seattle-King County Coalition on Homelessness are one of the plaintiffs of the lawsuit that asks a judge to prevent Burien's law from being enforced. But they have been forced to move themselves and whatever of their possessions they are able to, multiple times. Burien's camping law came after months of a bitter back and forth at City Hall over what to do with shuffling encampments that moved around the city. Advocates for the homeless argued there isn't enough shelter or housing for them, so they should be allowed to stay in public. But neighbors of the encampment said drug use and crime was out of control. That I just called it kind of the lawless drive-thru. Toni lives near the former Ambaum Boulevard encampment and asked us not to show her face. It just snowballed into drug activity, sex trafficking. She did want to share that she believes the camping law put an end to an encampment that posed a serious risk to her and her neighbors. If the law were to be found unconstitutional and couldn't be enforced, do you fear that the same situation is going to pop up next to your house? Absolutely, 100 percent. What do you say to those people who've raised the hand and said, we're having issues around the encampment? Yeah, thanks for asking that question. To be very clear, we're not bringing this lawsuit because we want people to be living outside on the side of the road in all kinds of weather. We're bringing this lawsuit because we want people to have housing, shelter, and the services they may need. Burien just took a million dollars from King County in order to build a pallet shelter community. We went to that site today, there's been no activity there that we can see, so no estimate on when that will open. For now, though, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are asking a judge to issue an injunction which would prohibit the city from enforcing this law while it goes through the court system. Reporting live in Burien, Jeremy Harris, KOMO News. Inside a stuffy hearing room, much of the talk was about the air outside. I'm not interested in going backwards when it comes to pollution. Yet Washington Governor Jay Inslee acknowledges the repeal of his signature Climate Commitment Act is a possibility. The 2023 legislatively approved Cap-and-Invest program dings businesses like fuel suppliers to reduce carbon emissions, and opponents argued it immediately raised gas prices to third highest of any state in the country, despite Inslee's pledge it would not. This bill is about pollution. It's about the ability of kids to have clean air. And people have forgotten what fundamentally it is about. But those same opponents have now submitted over 400,000 signatures for I-2117 to repeal the full bill, forcing the hand of state lawmakers. And it's because they're frustrated. Of course they care about climate change, but they also think in Washington we ought to be able to handle climate change in ways other than on the backs of working Washingtonians. And that's what CCA does. It's a highly regressive tax on the backs of working Washingtonians. I'm especially worried about the transportation budget if for some reason the CCA was repealed. Inslee, House and Senate Democrats say they're open to talking about utility bill rebates from CCA revenue, but have called a full repeal a non-starter in this shortened session, meaning if the signatures are verified, it could be up to voters to provide the final answer on another climate fight in the fall. In Olympia, Chris Daniels, Como News.