# Bellingham's Controversial Alley Closure Plan: Public Safety or Criminalization? ## Meeting Overview On a gray March afternoon in Bellingham City Hall, the Public Health, Safety, Justice, and Equity Committee convened to consider one of the most contentious public safety measures to reach the council in years. Chair Dan Hamill presided over the three-member committee — himself, Skip Williams, and Holly Huffman — as they deliberated an ordinance that would grant the Public Works Director authority to temporarily close downtown alleys on the recommendation of the police chief to combat entrenched drug activity. The proposal emerged from what city officials describe as a crisis in Bellingham's downtown core, where specific alleyways have become epicenters of drug dealing, overdoses, and criminal activity. With 108 incidents of violence, 342 drug-related calls, and 89 overdoses recorded in just a three-block section of alleys in 2025, city leaders argue they've reached a tipping point that threatens both public safety and the viability of downtown businesses. What unfolded was a careful balancing act between public health concerns, business community pressures, and fundamental questions about how cities should respond to addiction and homelessness in public spaces. ## The Alley Crisis: Data and Desperation Deputy Administrator Forest Longman opened the discussion with stark statistics that painted a picture of downtown alleys in distress. The city's bike patrol heat map, projected on screens in the council chambers, showed concentrated hot spots of criminal activity clustering around specific alleyways between Railroad and Cornwall, and Holly and Magnolia streets. "In 2025 there were 108 incidents of violence in a three-block section of alleyways and 342 drug-related calls and including 89 overdoses," Longman reported, his voice measured but urgent. The financial toll was equally staggering: of the $234,000 the city spent on downtown cleanup through its solid waste division, 80% — approximately $185,000 — went to cleaning just two sections of alleyway. "Year-to-date for those sections, the city spent over $40,000," Longman continued, noting that they weren't even through the first quarter of 2026. The presentation included testimonials from small business employees, delivery drivers, and sanitation workers who described encountering weapons, aggressive behavior, and biohazards as they tried to perform their daily work routines. Deputy Police Chief Jay Hart, a 26-year veteran of the department, provided law enforcement perspective on the persistent challenges. "I've been here for 26 years and in those 26 years, there are alleys downtown that have seen high rates of crime continuously and no matter what we've done to try to stop that from happening, it just continues," Hart testified. "We try to be visible and present in those areas and our bike patrol and our officers that work downtown do a very good job of preventing crime...the problem is that we can't be there all the time." ## The Proposal: Gates as Intervention The ordinance would create a framework for what city officials carefully described as "experimental, targeted, and temporary" alley closures. Under the proposal, the police chief could recommend specific alleys for closure, and the Public Works Director would have authority to install gates and signage restricting access. Critically, the ordinance includes provisions for continued access by businesses, property owners, vendors, utility workers, sanitation crews, and emergency personnel. "The gates would ideally, we are hopeful we'll just be able to leave them unlocked so that people that need to get in, workers or otherwise would just be able to get in without having to deal with a lock," Longman explained. The approach was modeled loosely on similar measures in Seattle, though officials acknowledged they had limited data on the effectiveness of that city's program. The proposal makes unauthorized entry a misdemeanor, but officials emphasized their hope that enforcement wouldn't be necessary. "This is not an intent to criminalize this explicitly," Longman said. "We're hopeful that this would result in zero citations once the gates are closed...ideally, we expect no one to be cited from this." The plan included extensive monitoring provisions. City staff committed to meeting every two weeks to assess impacts, gather feedback from businesses and outreach providers, and watch for unintended consequences. "If the outcome of this is not what we intended, or we're seeing too many unintended consequences, we may have to just change tac and open the gates back up and take them down," Longman acknowledged. ## The Human Dimension: Services vs. Enforcement Chair Hamill brought personal experience to the discussion, describing his own observations while riding with bike patrol and walking the alleys with outreach workers. He had texted a provider during the meeting to get real-time data on service utilization: "Their census right now is 20 people that actively use that for methadone and suboxone treatment and they have a higher census of 40 clients that periodically will access those services there." The committee grappled with fundamental questions about the relationship between enforcement and services. "I don't think it's one or the other. I think it's both," Hamill reflected. "We need to be doing provide as many opportunities for folks to depart from that physical location of the alleys because the drugs are very prevalent there." Council Member Holly Huffman inquired about communication with service providers, particularly Sanitation Service Company (SSC), which handles waste collection in the alleys. Longman reported positive feedback from SSC, whose drivers worried about people hiding in dumpsters during collection. "A big concern for SSC is, you know, is there someone in the dumpster when they're trying to empty it out? Worried someone's going to dart out and they're going to run somebody over," he explained. ## Committee Deliberation: Competing Values Council Member Lisa Anderson raised the concern that dominated much public discussion: displacement. "The assumption that I've heard from some of the public is that it's just going to move over a block or another location. Do you have a plan in place in order to just not move this to another section that other businesses will then have the same outcome?" Longman's response was refreshingly honest about uncertainty: "So, we don't know what's going to happen and we're very open about that." He explained that the specific alleys had become so well-known as drug markets that disrupting them might change established patterns. "We think if we just disrupt that for a period of time it may change some habits in terms of where people go for that and we don't know where that might be." Council Member Hannah Stone pressed on what alternatives had been explored before reaching this point. "You would hope that law enforcement has tools that they're utilizing to do that work. And so I think maybe we haven't been brought along on that journey if there are other things that have been explored prior to getting to this point." Stone's follow-up questions revealed tensions about whether infrastructure improvements like lighting and cameras could be implemented without closures. Mayor Kim Lund responded with emphasis on listening to affected businesses: "When we listen to the businesses and the employees that need by necessity to receive deliveries, to open up their place of work, to take out trash or composting during a shift, the closure is necessary for them to disrupt that entrenched behavior." ## Personal Stakes and Public Philosophy The discussion took on deeper dimensions when Council Member Williams shared his personal connection to addiction issues. "Being a person that has experienced this in my family, I also know that disrupting the behavior and being consistent so that the person that is abusing drugs or using drugs can go to somewhere to get the help they need is very very important." Williams drew comparisons to the city's fentanyl ordinance passed several years earlier, emphasizing that the goal was behavioral disruption rather than mass incarceration. "All this is is a disruption of the behavior. This isn't we're going to put people in jail unless that is totally necessary or arrest them." Council Member Huffman provided the meeting's most comprehensive defense of the proposal, contextualizing it within broader city investments in addressing addiction and homelessness. "Like DC Hart, I've been witnessing those spots downtown for about 25 years as a frequent downtown person," she began, acknowledging the area's long-standing challenges while noting the recent deterioration. Huffman had spoken directly with affected employees: "I have talked to quite a few employees that work in the businesses along that alley and I've heard some pretty horrific stories. Weapons, aggressive behavior, biohazards, really nothing that people who are working in a food and beverage or downtown retail store should be encountering." ## The Broader Context: Investment and Philosophy Mayor Lund framed the proposal within the city's broader downtown vision. "A lot of our investments downtown, those activation grants that have gone into Sunset Alley and our partnerships with Setting Sun Productions and Paper Whale there...that is because of our fundamental belief in downtown and our commitment to it as being everyone's neighborhood." She emphasized that the targeted alleys were not currently accessible to all residents: "That is not a space that's accessible for all right now. And so part of our goal is bigger and in that alignment about our belief in wanting to make sure that downtown feels like it's everyone's neighborhood." The mayor was explicit about the focus on drug dealing rather than drug use: "Our focus when we talk about enforcement, it's enforcement on predatory drug dealing. I want to be clear. This is not about people that are navigating the challenges of substance use disorder. This is not about people who are unhoused." She described the alleys as "the epicenter of illegal and illicit criminal drug dealing in our community" and noted their role in introducing new users to harmful substances: "It's also where we know that people are accessing these illegal very harmful substances for the first time. It's clear where you would go if you wanted to be a customer for the first time in our community." ## The Comprehensive Response: Beyond Enforcement Council Member Huffman provided the meeting's most detailed accounting of the city's multifaceted approach to addiction and homelessness, pushing back against characterizations of the alley closure as an isolated punitive measure. Her litany of investments included: Two Portland Loo public restrooms downtown, the Whatcom County Way Station with hygiene facilities and services, partnerships with the Dualing Wellness Center for mobile medical units, creation of a community court as a therapeutic alternative, the annual All Hands on Deck opioid summit through the Chickahet Health Foundation, and an upcoming million-dollar day shelter funded by the state. "This not to mention all of the $15 million of funding that we spend on housing services and all of the work as outlined in the executive order on housing," Huffman noted. "So this is one part of that bigger picture. We can do short-term, we can do long-term at the same time." She concluded with a cost-benefit analysis: "$10,000 sounds like a lot to you and me, but in the larger scheme of things, that's not very much when we're talking about some of these much bigger programs and the money that's going towards those and other things that we spend money on in the city." ## Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Throughout the discussion, officials emphasized that the closures were not an end in themselves but would create space for longer-term improvements under the framework of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). Once alleys were cleared and secured, the city planned assessments for increased lighting, video cameras, and other environmental modifications designed to deter criminal activity. "We want to get them clear and safe so we can do that assessment without a bunch of disruption around that," Longman explained. The city had already invested in successful alley activation projects like Sunset Alley, with murals and improved lighting, but officials argued that current conditions in the problematic alleys prevented similar improvements. ## Committee Vote and Path Forward Despite the complex issues raised, the committee moved toward a decision with Williams making a motion to recommend the ordinance. The vote was preceded by final statements from committee members reiterating their rationale. Huffman's closing remarks emphasized the temporary nature of the proposal: "This is a very short-term band-aid solution. It's stated it's temporary. It is stated that it's experimental. It is stated that we know that the benefits to this are small." Mayor Lund expressed appreciation for Huffman's comprehensive overview of city services, emphasizing that "those investments and everything that you just identified remain and those will be in place while this temporary closure is in effect." When Hamill called for the vote, all three committee members — Williams, Huffman, and Hamill — voted in favor. The motion carried 3-0, sending the ordinance to the full City Council for consideration that evening. ## Looking Ahead: Uncertainty and Commitment As the committee meeting concluded, what emerged was a picture of city leadership grappling with complex urban challenges that defy simple solutions. The alley closure proposal represented both an acknowledgment of the limits of traditional approaches and a commitment to experimentation in the face of urgent community needs. The extensive discussion of monitoring and assessment provisions reflected genuine uncertainty about outcomes while demonstrating commitment to responsive governance. Officials' repeated emphasis on the experimental and temporary nature of the proposal suggested awareness that the measure could fail or create unintended consequences. The meeting revealed a city government trying to balance competing demands: business community calls for action, service provider concerns about criminalization, and broader questions about how urban spaces should accommodate society's most vulnerable populations. The committee's unanimous recommendation suggested confidence that the proposal struck an appropriate balance, while the extensive caveats and monitoring provisions indicated understanding that the balance might need adjustment. As the ordinance moved toward full council consideration, Bellingham found itself at the center of national debates about urban policy responses to addiction, homelessness, and public safety — with downtown alleyways serving as the unlikely focal point for fundamental questions about community values and municipal responsibility.

### Meeting Overview The Public Health, Safety, Justice, and Equity Committee met to consider an ordinance allowing temporary alley closures for public health and safety. The proposal would give the Public Works Director authority to close problematic downtown alleys at the request of the Police Chief to disrupt entrenched drug dealing and criminal activity. ### Key Terms and Concepts **CPTED:** Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design — strategies like improved lighting, cameras, and physical design changes to reduce criminal activity through better environmental conditions. **See, Click, Fix:** The city's public reporting system where residents can report issues like graffiti, trash, or maintenance problems that need attention. **Way Station:** A downtown facility providing hygiene services, restrooms, laundry, and showers for people experiencing homelessness or other challenges. **Mobile Opioid Treatment Center:** A mobile unit operated by Dequal Care (Unity Care) providing methadone and suboxone treatment for opioid addiction, currently serving 20 active clients and 40 periodic clients downtown. **Heat Map:** A visual representation showing concentrated areas of police calls and criminal activity, clearly highlighting problem spots in downtown alleys. **SSC:** Solid waste collection company that empties dumpsters in downtown alleys and has expressed safety concerns about people hiding in dumpsters. **Predatory Drug Dealing:** Criminal drug sales that specifically target and exploit vulnerable people, as distinguished from substance use disorder itself. **Bike Patrol:** Specialized police unit that monitors downtown areas, particularly effective in alleys and narrow spaces where patrol cars cannot easily access. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Dan Hammill | Committee Chair, City Council Member | | Holly Huffman | Committee Member, City Council Member | | Skip Williams | Committee Member, City Council Member | | Forrest Longman | Deputy City Administrator | | Jay Hart | Deputy Chief of Operations, Bellingham Police Department | | Kim Lund | Mayor | | Hannah Stone | Council President | ### Background Context Downtown Bellingham has been struggling with entrenched drug activity in specific alleyways between Railroad and Cornwall streets, and Holly and Magnolia streets. In 2025, these alleys saw 108 incidents of violence, 342 drug-related calls, and 89 overdoses in just a three-block section. The city spent $185,000 of its $234,000 downtown cleaning budget on just two alleyway sections. Police Deputy Chief Hart, with 26 years of experience, described current conditions as the worst he's seen. Business owners and employees report dangerous working conditions, with some considering closing their businesses due to safety concerns. The proposal represents one tool in a broader strategy that includes outreach services, treatment programs, and other support systems already in place downtown. ### What Happened — The Short Version Deputy Administrator Longman presented an experimental ordinance allowing temporary alley closures when recommended by the Police Chief to the Public Works Director. The closures would use gates and signage while maintaining access for businesses, utilities, and emergency services. The goal is to disrupt entrenched criminal activity and provide respite for downtown businesses and workers. Committee members asked about communication with service providers, displacement concerns, and what other enforcement options had been tried. Council Member Williams made a motion to recommend the ordinance, emphasizing it as behavioral disruption rather than criminalization. Council Member Huffman supported the motion, detailing how this fits within broader long-term solutions including public restrooms, treatment facilities, and housing services. The committee unanimously approved 3-0, advancing the ordinance to full Council consideration. ### What to Watch Next - Full City Council consideration of the ordinance at their evening meeting - Implementation timeline if the ordinance passes - Bi-weekly staff assessments of the program's impacts - Potential CPTED improvements to closed alleys during the closure period ---

**Q:** What does CPTED stand for and what is its purpose? **A:** Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design — strategies using lighting, cameras, and physical design changes to reduce criminal activity through better environmental conditions. **Q:** How much did the city spend cleaning just two downtown alley sections in 2025? **A:** $185,000 out of the total $234,000 downtown cleaning budget, representing 80% of all downtown cleaning costs. **Q:** What criminal activity statistics were reported for a three-block downtown alley section in 2025? **A:** 108 incidents of violence, 342 drug-related calls, and 89 overdoses in just that limited area. **Q:** Who has authority to request alley closures under this ordinance? **A:** The Chief of Police makes recommendations to the Public Works Director, who has the authority to actually close the alleys. **Q:** How many years of experience does Deputy Chief Jay Hart have with Bellingham Police? **A:** 26 years, and he described current alley conditions as the worst he's seen during his entire tenure. **Q:** What is the current census of the mobile opioid treatment center downtown? **A:** 20 active clients receiving methadone and suboxone treatment, with 40 additional periodic clients who access services. **Q:** How often does the city currently clean the most problematic downtown alleys? **A:** Daily response to See, Click, Fix issues plus planned deep cleaning weekly. **Q:** What was the committee vote on recommending the ordinance? **A:** Unanimous 3-0 approval to advance the ordinance to full City Council consideration. **Q:** What specific downtown area would be targeted for initial closures? **A:** Alleys between Railroad and Cornwall streets, and between Holly and Magnolia streets. **Q:** What is the goal regarding citations under this ordinance? **A:** Zero citations — the program aims to use education first and expects the physical barriers will deter activity without needing enforcement. **Q:** How often will staff assess the impacts of alley closures? **A:** Every two weeks, with ongoing monitoring of crime rates and feedback from businesses and service providers. **Q:** What services does the Way Station provide downtown? **A:** Hygiene facilities, restrooms, laundry, and showers for people experiencing homelessness or other challenges. **Q:** What makes these alleys particularly challenging for law enforcement? **A:** They are narrow, have limited access, and have various impediments to line of sight, making crime prevention difficult. **Q:** How much has the city spent this year to date on cleaning the problem alley sections? **A:** Over $40,000 already in the current year for those specific sections. **Q:** What concerns do sanitation workers have about the alleys? **A:** SSC (solid waste company) workers worry about people hiding in dumpsters and the risk of accidents during collection. **Q:** Who chairs the Public Health, Safety, Justice, and Equity Committee? **A:** Council Member Dan Hammill. **Q:** What is the experimental nature of this program? **A:** Staff acknowledge they don't know exactly what outcomes to expect and are prepared to remove gates and change course if needed. **Q:** What access will be maintained during alley closures? **A:** Access for businesses, property owners, vendors, utilities, sanitation workers, government personnel, and emergency services. **Q:** How long has Deputy Chief Hart observed criminal activity in these specific alleys? **A:** Throughout his 26-year career, though he notes current conditions are the worst he's experienced. **Q:** What makes this different from traditional enforcement approaches? **A:** This focuses on disrupting predatory drug dealing through environmental changes rather than just arresting people with substance use disorders. ---