Saturday around 4:50 pm, in front of the Burien Town Hall/Library, a fourth person was pronounced dead “on the sidewalk, near or among several tents,” per KC Sheriff’s Office.
by Katie Kresly.County Executive Constantine and Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall, who continue to block law enforcement of Burien’s camping ordinance, are up to four deaths on the streets of Burien in less than two months. The sheriff claims Burien’s camping ordinance is “unconstitutional;” Deputy Mayor Stephanie Mora says that is not up to the sheriff to decide.Here is a X (Twitter) post from Deputy Mayor Mora this afternoon:
At about 4:30 an emergency call came if for someone unresponsive outside of Burien library. At about 4:50 paramedics stopped CPR. This is the 4th death on our streets since KC and KCSO stopped enforcing Burien Camping ordinance. Specifically the time restrictions. pic.twitter.com/UNMku8a5tr
— CmStephanieMora (@CmStephaniemora) April 28, 2024
On Thursday April 25, Mayor Schilling held a press conference to allow businesses and local community leaders to express their concerns over the tent encampments and lack of law enforcement. Uncontrolled lawlessness has caused untold damage to their businesses and to the community. They called for government leaders to work together to resolve it immediately.Later that day, Iris & Peony Floral Shop announced they will be exiting Burien and moving their business to Des Moines. They are fed up with the empty promises given by local leaders.Deputy Mayor Mora is also frustrated at the lack of communication from King County leaders. She sent us recent emails that have gone unanswered by Constantine and Cole-Tindall:
From: Stephanie Mora <StephanieM@burienwa.gov>Date: April 27, 2024 at 5:56:31 PM PDTTo: “Cole-Tindall, Patti” <Patti.Cole-Tindall@kingcounty.gov>, “Theodore Boe (Burien PD)” <Theodore.Boe@kingcounty.gov>, teresa.mosqueda@kingcounty.gov, dow.constantine@kingcounty.gov, Jesse.Anderson@kingcounty.govSubject: Re: Clarification to your press release
Still no response.
Meanwhile, we had another death on our streets today at 4:50pm.
This is the 4th death we have had. We had zero deaths by overdose while our ordinance was enforced.
Again, I ask why you would rather not enforce any part of our camping ordinance rather than continuing to enforce the part that allows camping only from 7 pm to 6 am, meaning tents have to come down at 6am.
Your continuing to ignore my email only solidifies that you indeed are not willing to work with us and are unbothered by the deaths on our streets.
From: Stephanie Mora <StephanieM@burienwa.gov>Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2024 4:26 PMTo: Cole-Tindall, Patti <Patti.Cole-Tindall@kingcounty.gov>; Theodore Boe (Burien PD) <Theodore.Boe@kingcounty.gov>Subject: Re: Clarification to your press release
Sheriff Cole-Tindall,
I have yet to get a response from you.
Stephanie Mora
Burien Deputy Mayor
From: Stephanie Mora <StephanieM@burienwa.gov>Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2024 7:08 PMTo: Cole-Tindall, Patti <Patti.Cole-Tindall@kingcounty.gov>; Theodore Boe (Burien PD) <Theodore.Boe@kingcounty.gov>Cc: jeremyharris@komonews.com<jeremyharris@komonews.com>Subject: Clarification to your press release
Hello Sheriff Cole-Tindall,
I appreciate the sentiments expressed in your earlier statement and have included a copy for reference. I’d like to clarify some points. The constitutionality of our recently amended camping ordinance is for a judge to determine, not you or your office. While I understand your concerns with our ordinance, I question why you’ve decided it would be best not to enforce the ordinance at all, rather than continuing to enforce only the time restrictions, which are the most critical aspect of both ordinances. Therefore, I respectfully request that you authorize our Burien Police Department to enforce the camping time limit for the safety of our community, business owners, employees, and ultimately, those camping outdoors. We’ve already experienced several overdoses, three of which resulted in deaths. We had zero deaths due to overdose when the time restrictions were enforced.
While linking the deaths by overdose to when your office determined it would be best to stop enforcing our camping ordinance is a short study, it’s worth noting. I believe that implementing time restrictions for camping outside in our public spaces provides more safety for everyone involved.
I’d also like you to recognize that many of our deputies have reported countless issues with the lack of presence and progress in helping connect our homeless community to services provided by REACH, the contractor we recently let go. Our contract ending with REACH to find a different service provider was done, in part, at the request of several deputies. Is it your position that we should continue wasting time, resources, and money on a service provider we believe wasn’t meeting our needs? I’d much rather reopen an RFP to see what other providers can offer us and reallocate the limited funds available to a new provider to better suit our needs, which is why I voted in favor of doing just that.
If your position is truly to work with the city of Burien and come to a quick resolution, again, I’m requesting that you allow the Burien Police Department to enforce the time limit on camping as it was previously being enforced while the remainder of our camping ordinance is being resolved in the court, in which you have brought a lawsuit against the city.
Thank you,
Stephanie MoraBurien Deputy Mayor
Burien-News will share more information as it becomes available.
