CEO of Yakima Chamber Says Homeless Issues Continue Downtown

In 2016 Verlynn Best sounded an alarm about local homeless people and the problems they were causing in downtown Yakima. Today The CEO of the Greater Yakima Chamber of Commerce says nothing has changed.  In fact Best says things haven't improved at all or in some areas it's gotten worse. In 2016 business owners were telling the chamber they had to deal with aggressive panhandlers and people using business entrances as bathrooms. Today Best says she's hearing from people who are closing businesses and moving out of the downtown area. In 2016 the city vowed to create a plan to deal with homelessness in downtown Yakima but Best says the sanitary and aggressiveness issues continue. Best and several business owners will talk about the ongoing problem of homelessness during an appearance on The Morning News Thursday at 7:40 a.m. on KIT.