Yakima Neighborhood Health Says Depot Drop Off Neighbors Are Lying

I

Don Hinman is the chairman of the board of directors for Yakima Neighborhood Health(YNH). In a phone call on Friday to the Morning News he indicated he was calling about a couple of posts on the KIT website. He said he was directed to our site by Bruce Smith. You remember Bruce of course. You don’t? Me neither, but anyway I’m sure he just meant to help ‘cuz he’s polite and nice like that. WHATEVER- Smith directed Mr. Hinman to check out posts on the growing number of complaints about the unacceptable behavior by some of the homeless people who gather and hangout at the old Greyhound bus depot on Yakima Ave. The problems occur when the homeless drift off the YNH property and go on to nearby businesses The actual address is 602 East Yakima Avenue.

In recent days we have heard from neighboring businesses, the chamber of commerce, city codes division and the YPD –all concerned about the behavior of the homeless people who gather at the depot to catch a ride to one of the city approved cold weather shelters. Local TV, The Yakima Herald and KIT have presented reports on the neighborhood concerns including harassing customers, public nuisance and even using private property for outdoor bathrooms.

Neighborhood Health’s C.E.O. Anita Monoian’s response has been basically “we don’t have any ideas, you tell us.” Really? She is supposed to be the highly paid expert so thanks for nothing there.

What did board chairman Don Hinman have to add to the conversation? He says the city needs to change its priorities and all the complainers are lying. WHAT? That’s a serious charge against some quality people so I gave him a chance to clarify and asked if he really meant that. He reaffirmed his accusation. Wow. Hinman said “you just can’t run them off” but he did admit to running them off his own business property. HUH? That’s Huh, with an “H” as in Hypocrisy.

Hinman also asked, like Ms Monoian, “where else are they supposed to go?” Well, with the experts so devoid of possibilities, with absolutely NO ideas, it makes you wonder how the YNH has managed to continue to survive!

Look, YNH has a number of properties that aren’t on Yakima Avenue and at the doorway to our downtown, and I suggested perhaps YNH could use one of those locations as the pickup and drop off point out of courtesy for the affected business and city at large. YNH shows no interest in that, in fact there are those who say that YNH is taking advantage of the problem as leverage to force public opinion in an attempt to secure authorization to build a mission type shelter of their own.

Monday on the Morning News we’ll talk to chamber president Verlyn Best about the situation. We’ll get her professional opinion as to how the problems at the depot might affect the city and business and we’ll see how she feel about being called a liar by the chairman of the board of Yakima Neighborhood Health.

The interview is scheduled for 7:45 Monday and we invite you to join us.