'Camp' stunt by Halvorson, Harvey was juvenile and pure partisan politics

These right-wingers blame Dems for park homelessness, while resisting constructive action to address the problem

The problem with some of this community’s right wingers is that they believe their own distorted propaganda — especially when it’s nasty.

On Wednesday, Longview Councilman Erik Halvorson and Kelso Councilman Keenan Harvey shared a Facebook post of themselves with a tent and sign at R.A. Long Park. The sign said “Civic Center Campground” and the post quipped “if you can’t beat them — join them.” It was a clear reference to the handful of homeless people who occupy parts of the park.

The stunt was as juvenile as it was insensitive. It drew a quick response from others, including the Democratic Party, for its mockery of the homeless. It led to calls for the two council members to step down from the Cowlitz County Homelessness-Housing Task Force and for their respective councils to censure them.

In a written response, the two right-wing council members defended what they called “satire,” according to a KLOG radio report.

“The community has largely been asking for something to be done about the homeless population.” It went on to say “the photo was also mocking the community members, like the Cowlitz Democrats, that continually enable a small minority of the homeless population to camp defecate and litter in our public parks.”

This is electoral politics, plain and simple. Halvorson and Harvey intended this as a campaign stunt to help defend incumbent Longview City Councilman/Mayor Spencer Boudreau in his re-election effort. If he gets voted out of office this year, the four-member conservative bloc will lose its majority on the council.

Boudreau, who has drawn two challengers, has hinted that he will soon release a plan to address homelessness. If he does, it would be about time.

This tasteless stunt aims to get voters to forget that Halvorson and his allies have done nothing to help combat the community’s homeless problem in the 17 months since coming to power in January 2024. They have instead wasted time and money on a dubious attempt to remove fluoride from city drinking water. They put the city and themselves in legal jeopardy for the unjustified, secretive and unexplained firing of city manager Kris Swanson. This list of misguided efforts could go on.

It was Longview Councilwoman Ruth Kendall, a progressive, who developed and championed the idea to establish Hope village, the city’s pallet home community to rehabilitate homeless people. It has found permanent housing for 110 people since its founding in 2022 — a year before the current conservative council majority was elected in 2023.

Rather than support Hope Village, the conservative majority has tried to roadblock it in many different ways. One of its first actions early last year, for example, was to move decisions over dedicated funding for homeless programs back to county control, knowing that the Cowlitz County commissioners would oppose financing Hope Village.

In more recent months, Halvorson has been advocating that Hope Village pay for itself. This is the main reason the council is seeking new operators who can bill Medicaid and private insurance for the cost of treating homeless clients. It’s an admirable goal, especially with the city facing a financial difficulties. Yet it’s likely impossible to achieve.

Conservative members of the council and their supporters have been very quick to criticize any problems or flaw at Hope Village. The project hasn’t been perfect and it hasn’t solved all the problems, but it certainly has been a major step forward. It still has a waiting list for admission.

For his part, Harvey has been no friend of the homeless. His opposition recently killed an effort by the Kelso Senior Association, which manages Catlin Hall, to allow the newly refurbished facility to be used by Food for Change (a local volunteer food bank) for its Sunday food distribution to the needy.

Citing “internal sources,” Harvey said in a Facebook post that Food for Change was asked to leave its former location at the Cowlitz Family Health Center on 14th Avenue in Longview “due to disrespect” for the site and “issues of cleanliness.” Kelso Councilman Jim Hill, who is on the Kelso Senior Association board, vehemently said Harvey’s report is false. Family Health Center CEO Jim Coffee did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday. However, Dian Cooper, who retired as CEO about 3 years ago, said Food for Change was asked to leave due to a recent revelation that it did not have insurance (a shortcoming Harvey also cited). Food for Change volunteers always cleaned up and never left a mess, she said.

Longview City Manager Jen Wills Thursday issued a press release called “Zero tolerance for crime” stating that police are “taking every legal action available to ensure public safety at R.A. Long Memorial Park. This includes daily patrols, covert surveillance, arrests for illegal activity, and the installation of a new security camera to aid in investigations.”

The camera was recommended by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board in April as part of the City’s public safety strategy, according to the press release.

“The Longview Police Department (LPD) and the Behavioral Health Unit (BHU) are in the park every day. They are offering services, making arrests for illegal activity, and conducting proactive and covert surveillance to identify and stop criminal behavior,” according to the press release.

I’m not going to oppose more policing, especially if it takes a holistic approach that recognizes that these people need help — not jail time or tickets for infractions. A hard-nosed law enforcement approach to homelessness alone will not work. The homeless will just move somewhere else in the community to evade scrutiny. As alone and apparently abandoned as many of them may seem, many have a reason for living here.

Certainly, making sport of their plight — as Halvorson and Harvey did — is not constructive, humane or Christian. And blaming the other party for a lack of action — while they themselves have resisted legitimate efforts to help the homeless — is pure political duplicity.

Harvey and Halvorson say they were acting for themselves and not their respective city governments. They are, of course, entitled to express their opinions, and that is why they should not be censured.

Yet they should know by now that they can’t separate themselves from their council positions, especially when they address one of the area’s central political preoccupations. Their behavior reflects poorly on their councils and cities. It is embarrassing to both.