To the Editor:
Thank you for publishing the list of 82 people who died last year on the streets of Snohomish County (Jan. 8 Tribune). I first met Taz some 15 to 20 years ago in Everett when she was attending Christine Larson’s outreach to street kids. I last saw Taz a year or two ago as she was working as a cashier in Snohomish.
About the time I last saw Taz I met a man at an outreach community dinner at St. John’s Church in Snohomish who was wanting help trying to find his son, a heroin addict lost on the streets of Everett. I gave him a few contacts. The next time I saw the man he told me his son had died on the streets of Everett.
No parent should walk the streets of Everett alone looking for their wayward addicted child. One such helpful group I was not familiar with at the time was the drop-in center in Everett named Hope N’ Wellness now facing closure due to a recent zoning law.
Snohomish County misspent $20 million of Federal COVID recovery money intended for the homeless and under-resourced over the strong protest of the homeless and under-resourced because of fears of drug contamination in the air ducts forcing the demolition of the motels which is what happened. Nothing is to show for spending $20 million.
The City of Everett is spending $600,000 of part of their COVID money to restart their chamber of commerce after many years of inactivity. If anyone would have asked the homeless and under-resourced what to spend COVID recovery money on it would include front-line outreaches like Hope N’ Wellness. Keeping these front-line outreaches open saves lives.
Les Fetchko
Homeless in Snohomish County
