PORT TOWNSEND — A group of Port Townsend residents hope to help homeless people who have established an improvised tent city at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.
The Port Townsend Winter Shelter at the American Legion Hall in Port Townsend, which provided shelter each night for those who needed it, closed for the season Friday
Eight people traveled to the fairgrounds at 4907 Landes St., in Port Townsend and rented campsites at its edge, creating a small compound.
They will have to leave by March 23 because of the campground’s 10-day limit.
A group of residents are asking fairgrounds managers to suspend the limit and also provide space for less than the $17 per night, said Barbara Moray of Port Townsend.
The loosely-organized advocacy group is requesting that the camp be allowed until May 15, when the tourist season begins.
Bill McIntire, fair board president, said he is not inclined to make any concessions.
McIntire said that homeless encampments have caused trouble in the past.
“Sometimes they are just dropped off at the campground with no money and no support,” he said.
“They leave the campgrounds filthy and we have to clean it up.”
McIntire said he had not agreed to the tent city at the fairgrounds.
“Someone called me up and asked me to take these people and I told them no, I didn’t want them here,” he said.
“They went around me and did it anyway.”
While the 10-day limit is still in place, the camp’s occupants are hoping to convince McIntire and the remainder of the fair board to relax the rules.
The group will be “self policing” and clean up around the campground, even items for which it was not responsible, according to John Prentice, a homeless man who is acting as the camp’s first host.
Prentice said that one resident will always serve as a host — someone who keeps the peace, sees to campers’ needs and manages meals.
Hosts will be selected every few days from those within the group who are capable of performing such duties, he said.
Prentice, 35, has a fine arts background and has worked as a bouncer; this along with his service as an Eagle Scout qualifies him as host, he said.
Prentice said that he has imposed stricter rules on the campers than for the rest of the campground, establishing “quiet time” at 9 p.m. instead of the 10 p.m. required for other campers.
Unlike the winter shelter, alcohol is allowed but only as long as it does not lead to negative behavior, Prentice said.
The spaces are on the edge of the campground, a long walk to the bath and showers.
“This is more or less a way to point out the need in the community for affordable housing,” Prentice said of the camp.
“All homeless people are painted with the same brush and they are not all the same,” said Paul Sanow, 65, a retired substance abuse counselor living in the camp.
“If it weren’t for a simple twist of fate, a lot of people in this town who are now living in the big houses could be in the same situation.”
Several people testified at Monday’s meeting of the Jefferson County Commissioners about the tent city but the county isn’t yet sure about any potential involvement, according to County Administrator Philip Morley.
District 2 Commissioner David Sullivan said the goal should not be to keep the tent city going.
“We need to look at what we can do in the long term,” Sullivan said.
“The tent city is not the best answer,” he said.
“We need the shelter to open earlier and stay open later during the season and work on finding a permanent home for the shelter.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
