Friday, June 27, 2014 | North Kitsap Herald
Homeless
Continued from page A1 to be nice and say that the biggest problem is that it’s against the law and also they are gonna leave trash there that I’m gonna pick up,” Kennedy said. “It’s a sanitation issue. Where are they going to use the bathroom? Things like that. They are also building campfires too, which can be scary this time of year.” He added, “One thing I try to do, if they are receptive, is not say, ‘Hey, get out of there.’” Kennedy notes that if residents come across a campsite, they should not approach it, but rather call police to handle the situation. This is mainly because Kennedy has resources to offer those experiencing homelessness. “From the chief on down, we want to work with these people,” Kennedy said. “When I talk to them, I try to find out whey they are there. Is it drugs? And I try to line up some services for them. I got numbers for them.”
Stores
Continued from page A1 career as a civilian engineer in Keyport. But he always looked back fondly on that first job at Safeway. When he got his first job at age 12, he lived six blocks from Safeway. Today, he lives six blocks from the Poulsbo Safeway. Poulsbo Safeway was scheduled to open its doors to the public on June 27 at 8 a.m. The store is located at 19245 10th Ave. NE. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and employs 160, according to Tairsa Swenson, Safeway public affairs manager.
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Numbers for resources such as shelters or other help. Kitsap has a handful of shelters. Georgia’s House in Bremerton provides overnight shelter for low-income and homeless women and children. Catholic Community Services operates Benedict House for homeless men and men with children; services include emergency shelter and transitional housing. Bremerton is also home to the Kitsap Rescue Mission, which offers a range of programs for homeless residents. Kitsap Community Resources, also based in Bremerton, offers people assistance in finding housing and emergency shelter. In North Kitsap, there is Fishline. Working with local motels, it offers homeless housing for up to five nights. Fishline also operates a safe park program for single women living in their cars. The program provides a safe place to park and stay. Fishline also offers other assistance such as home
share programs and eviction prevention. “How a lot of it works is demographics,” Wischoff said about the various shelters. “If a woman comes in and needs housing because her boyfriend is beating her up, I would look to the battered women’s shelter. If a guy comes in and he’s over the age for Oasis, I’d call the Benedict House.” Coffee Oasis’ shelter has a total of eight beds for ages 16- to 21- years old. There is a waiting list for the shelter, and youth must pass a background check to get in. “When a youth comes in they have to have a clean record, no sex offenses or outstanding warrants [or] a history of violent crimes, stuff like that,” Wischoff said. When Coffee Oasis takes a youth into its shelter, the goal is to enroll them in one of its programs and ultimately into a job and permanent housing. But the shelter, with eight beds, has a waiting list. “We’ve been consistently full for months on end,” Wischoff said. “We have a
The store is 59,000 square feet and has the following features: fish and meat, organic and natural products, organic and locally-grown produce, a floral kiosk with staff who custom-create arrangements, a fresh scratch bakery, deli, Starbucks kiosk, pharmacy and wellness center, wine department with steward and local selection, and an in-store branch of US Bank. Customers can relax with a meal or cup of coffee in the deli seating area with picture windows and an indoor fireplace, or outside in front of the store. There is parking above and below ground. The underground parking lot is accessible to traffic
traveling northbound on Highway 305 or via the 10th Avenue ingress (furthest to the north). Customers will exit this lot via Highway 305 northbound or 10th Avenue. A surface parking lot provides for a right-in/right-out turn along Lincoln Road, and can also be accessed by traffic traveling north/ south along 10th Avenue. The Poulsbo Safeway is managed by Ryan Helton, who hired 120 local residents for his 160-employee team. Helton was expected to be joined at the grand opening by Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson, Chamber of Commerce director Jan Harrison, Fishline execu-
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waiting list of youth; once someone leaves, we have another one come in.” It’s not uncommon, according to Donna Pledger, case manager from Coffee Oasis in Poulsbo. Other shelters often have waiting lists and run out of beds quickly, Pledger said. Location is another hurdle for homeless youths, Pledger noted. For those in North Kitsap, she said, making the trip down to Bremerton isn’t an option. “Most youths don’t want to go down into Bremerton,” Pledger said. “Bremerton feels like a whole world way.”
Reasons Homelessness is a nexus for a range of causes, and in turn it produces a variety of outcomes, from living in cars to couch surfing. For Kennedy and Wischoff, it is difficult to pinpoint one exact reason for homelessness. But common causes are observed. “The issue of homelessness is caused by poor economic conditions, inabil-
tive director Mary Nader, and Miss Poulsbo Emily Ward.
CVS project begins Demolition of the former Northwest Design Center on the corner of Highway 305 and Hostmark Street has begun. Demolition crews steadily tore down the 38,172-square-foot structure over the course of the week, starting on June 25. The 2.38-acre property will be cleared to make way for a CVS Pharmacy. It will be the second location for the pharmacy chain in Washington. The City of Poulsbo approved site plans for the new CVS Pharmacy in
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ity to get a job, [and is] sometimes is exacerbated by health issues or drugrelated issues,” Pledger said. “It’s not necessarily a choice. There is a small population that it’s the lifestyle they choose, but it’s not a deliberate choice for a majority of people.” For others, homelessness could be the result of drug addiction, mental health issues, or simply being at the lower end of the economic scale. “The ones that are [camping] in groups, more often than not had serious drug problems,” said Ian Woodson, who writes a column centered on homeless issues for the North Kitsap Herald. Woodson spent his late teens homeless, sometimes living in North Kitsap forests. At times, he would cross paths with others setting up camp in the unwatched forests. “They would panhandle and get booze, weed or drugs,” he said. “They are just trying to forget something or be numb. “Drug addiction is a big part of it,” he said. “Mental
illness is second to that.” Kennedy agrees with that assessment. “Almost all of [the camps] have had some sort of hypodermic needles or something in there. It’s pretty prevalent,” Kennedy said. “I think it plays a lot to these people’s situation. I’d say at least 70 percent of [camps] have some sort of drug paraphernalia in them.” Kennedy added, “A lot of this also has to do with mental health. It’s usually drugs or mental health issues.” Pledger said drugs and mental health play a factor in what she’s seen too. But often, home life is also a cause. “A common scenario that I’ve seen is that kids turn 18 and get kicked out of their house,” she said. “I would say an overwhelming majority of all the kids I deal with just have general lack of stability in their home life, if they even have a home life. These aren’t kids that are necessarily rebellious.”
March. Construction of the new 14,500-square-foot pharmacy is expected to be finished by the end of 2014. The pharmacy will include health and beauty departments, general merchandise, food, and digital photo processing. The store is expected to be open 24 hours a day. A yet-to-be-named fast food restaurant will also be constructed on the site. The restaurant will be 3,995-square-feet and include 40 parking spaces. Before the first swing was taken at the building, the Poulsbo Fire Department seized the opportunity to use the vacant structure for a little practice over the
June 20 weekend. The training involved smoke ventilation as well as search and rescue. “In a fire, many people don’t realize how quickly an area can turn black, making visibility virtually impossible,” Battalion Chief Jim Gillard said. “It’s much safer for victims trapped in a fire, as well as for firefighters, if the roof top can be cut open so the thick smoke can be channeled up and out of the structure.” He added, “We really appreciate CVS Pharmacy, the new property owners, for giving us this great opportunity to train in a large commercial building.”
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