Impact of the 2828 Martin Way Homeless Shelter on the Applehill Neighborhood.
Interfaith Works refuses to work with the community
The new shelter and permanent housing project at 2828 Martin Way had its ribbon cutting in December with a large public celebration. The neighbors were not invited.
Meg Martin, Director of Interfaith Works, had promised to work with the neighborhood and to stand up a Citizen Advisory Board to mitigate the impact on Applehill and to work to build good relations between the residents of the project and neighbors. She has not.
The project is fully operational and there has been zero outreach to Applehill from Interfaith Works or the City of Olympia. We were not invited to the ribbon cutting despite a summer of construction noise, traffic problems and ADA violations by the construction company that inconvenienced and impacted us. My house was filled with dust and vehicles parked on my lawn due to lack of parking. The second phase will soon begin and these issues will continue for another year. There is no consideration as to how we are affected.
No Citizen Advisory Board has been convened, nor is there a plan to do so. Spillover behavior from the project is already adversely impacting the neighborhood. I live in the single family dwelling closest to the shelter. I can see it out my window…
