PORT TOWNSEND — The City Council has approved a $20,000 allocation to support the operations of the Boiler Room, a meeting place for at-risk youth, but with no promises that the subsidy will continue the next fiscal year.
Additionally, the Port Townsend City Council wants to hear regular progress reports to ensure that noise and nuisance complaints from a group called the Quincy Street Neighbors are properly addressed.
“This is a good step for today,” said Council member Mark Welch.
“We will need to cut funds in the future, so next year could be a different story,”
Five members of the council — David King, Kris Nelson, George Randals, Catharine Robinson and Welch — voted in favor of the motion, while Council member Laurie Medlicott was opposed.
Mayor Michelle Sandoval recused herself from the discussion and left the meeting because of involvement with the Boiler Room.
Sandoval, a real estate agent, acted as broker in the building’s purchase in 2005 and forfeited her commission, according to news reports at the time. She is also married to Boiler Room Executive Director Marty Gay.
Safe place for youth
The Boiler Room began in 1993 as a way to provide a safe place for youngsters who have no other place to go. The city’s allocation is approximately 20 percent of the Boiler Room’s total budget, Gay said.
It has been in its current location, a 1,078 square-foot building at 711 Water St., which it owns, for five years.
“If we didn’t have this place, we would be trying to create it,” Gay said at Monday’s meeting. “It is a hangout, a sanctuary, a safe place to be creative.”
But it is also, according to some who spoke at the council meeting, an unrestricted environment that disturbs its neighbors.
“There is something wrong when a roomful of people are paying a lot of money to live in downtown Port Townsend can’t sleep at night,” said RE/MAX agent Joe Daubenberger.
“We all want to help disadvantaged kids and put them on the right path,” said Brent Greene, who lives in condominiums adjacent to the center. “But there are no rules in place.”
Fewer restrictions
“We moved downtown because there were less restrictions than uptown,” said Boiler Room Board Member Bruce Marston.
“When we moved downtown, the city [office] was in the neighboring building so there was no need to stay quiet at night,” he said.
“Now that it has turned into condos, we need to be good neighbors, which means staying quiet at all times.
“But we are within our guidelines that we originally agreed to.”
The Quincy Street Neighbors, who are residents of the Waterman-Katz building hired attorney Jennifer Forbes, who presented a list of suggestions to the council.
She asked for adult supervision at all times, control of young people outside of the establishment, limit of the capacity, protection of children from outside predators, defined hours and community policing.
Call me
One frequent complaint, that tenants had no place to call when the noise was out of hand, was addressed when Gay distributed his cell phone number and said “you can call me at any time of the day or night if there’s a problem.”
Gay is scheduled to give the council a progress report in October.
Some said they had heard the Boiler Room was housing homeless people.
Boiler Room Manager Tiffany Whiteford said that the homeless are not allowed to sleep on the premises, but that non-threatening interaction is encouraged, she said, and several adults are regular attendees.
Said Medlicott: “I don’t think that at-risk kids should be exposed to homeless people, as they are themselves an at-risk group.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
