Puyallup’s punitive homelessness plan has one city councilwoman contemplating leaving office

Puyallup City Councilwoman Robin Farris had her Howard Beale moment last week.

Farris is mad as hell, and she’s not going to take it anymore.

Admittedly, Farris’ public breaking point was less dramatic — and less coherent — than the cinematic climax to 1976’s “Network.” This is something even Farris would acknowledge.

“I present sort of as a dingbat to a lot of people,” said Farris, who says she’s been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and has a tendency to speak in a stilted, stream-of-consciousness style.

Still, Farris’ words and clear frustration, even if occasionally discombobulated, are worth paying attention to as Puyallup brazenly barrels forward with a shortsighted plan that would greatly restrict where homeless shelters and drop-in centers can be located in the city.

The problem is, no one in Puyallup government seems to be listening.

“I love this job,” Farris said in remarks delivered during the Aug. 21 Puyallup City Council meeting and emailed to reporters at The News Tribune. “Yet, if this community approach is not supported by council, I find myself with no other choice than to leave public service.

“I will no longer own the inaction that is sure to follow a one-sided ordinance that I believe will end up in litigation. Further, I will not remain a citizen in this current environment of neighbors pitting against neighbors and paying for senseless litigation that could be avoided with just some mutual respect and understanding.”

Farris, elected in 2015, is a 20-year Naval veteran. She has multiple degrees. Her family has lived in Puyallup for more than 100 years.

Why she is contemplating leaving the city she loves is worth examining, but the answer isn’t so mysterious.

It’s what happens when a city’s homeless agenda is increasingly dictated by an angry Facebook group — in this case, Clean Up Puyallup — while the city’s elected leaders either endorse the fear mongering or remain too feckless to stand up to it.

It’s on this precipice that Farris’ career in local politics now stands.

That shouldn’t be the case, because what Farris is proposing is far from outrageous.

In fact, it’s exactly the kind of alternative Puyallup needs, because the leading option at the moment is shunning responsibility and leaving homeless providers an area the size of a postage stamp to operate.

Rather than pushing forward with a punitive law that she fears will once again land the city in court — a legitimate misgiving, given the history — Farris is pushing for a community-centered attempt to finally bring some level of unity to a city that desperately needs it.

Farris’ vision — which she calls “Puyallup United” — would involve law enforcement, a broad section of local residents, business owners and homeless service providers all sitting, face to face, until they reach some semblance of common ground. It’s largely based on ideas promoted by former state Rep. Larry Seaquist, she says.

From there, with understanding and empathy, policy would emerge.

“We need to come together. We need to unite. And we need to come up with a collaborative process and solutions,” Farris says. “Right now, Puyallup is completely divided. We can’t legislate our way out of this. This has to be through dialogue and negotiations and coming together as a community to find a solution.”

Would it work? I haven’t the foggiest.

What I do know is it’s far better than the current plan.

All of this brings me back to Farris’ frustration, and the treatment it stems from.

Farris says feels unheard. She feels disregarded. She feels disrespected because of her style and mannerisms. She feels as if her calls for a better process and a better outcome are being ignored.

Spend any time at all watching the Puyallup City Council operate, with Councilman Jim Kastama playing the tough-talking, hard-charging lead on issues related to homelessness, and it’s easy to see why Farris feels the way she does.

Unfortunately, this is more than a messy personality conflict. It likely will have real ramifications, and soon, in the way Pierce County’s fourth largest city handles its role in the region’s growing homelessness crisis.

Next month, after years of inaction and a lengthy moratorium — set to expire in early October — Puyallup’s City Council sits poised to approve a reactionary, hardline law that will make Clean Up Puyallup happy but in the end will do far more harm than good.

Asked about Farris’ plan, Kastama said via email that he had never been personally approached about it.

In a follow-up, the former Democratic state legislator was seemingly dismissive of the idea of Farris being ignored.

“I think this a case of merit, not extraneous issues,” the former Democratic state legislator said. “This community has dedicated hundreds of hours to the homeless issue in the form of community meetings and thoughtful discourse.”

It’s true. Puyallup has spent plenty of time talking about homelessness in recent years.

The problem is, these meetings have rarely been “thoughtful,” and little understanding has been reached.

That’s exactly the issue Farris, for all her quirks, is trying to address.

“It’s not my first choice,” Farris acknowledged of the possibility of leaving public service and a city her family has called home for a century. “My first choice is to have a functioning government and a community that treats each other with respect.”

Hardly seems like too much to ask.

This story was originally published August 29, 2018 at 5:12 PM.