Local residents urge tougher response to street drug use, encampments and downtown safety

Shelton — During public comment at the Oct. 21 Shelton City Council meeting, multiple residents urged the council and staff to address what they described as rising drug use, overdoses and open encampments that are affecting downtown public spaces and businesses.

Nelly Peebles told the council she was speaking from personal experience and cited statewide overdose statistics. “Even 1 death is too many,” Peebles said, and described witnessing overdoses outside the library and concerns about an encampment across from the yacht club. She said the presence of treatment services near downtown — referenced in the comments as Evergreen Treatment Services — and other concentrations of people makes parts of town feel unsafe for families.

Dean Jewell, another commenter, pressed the council for more proactive enforcement and neighborhood upkeep rather than a complaint-based approach. He told the council he and others have tracked costs related to a COTA Street project and urged the city to coordinate with parks boards and law enforcement when camps are removed, noting repeat cleanups.

Those remarks were made during the meeting’s public-comment period; council members did not take immediate legislative action during that portion of the meeting. Mayor Nisco and council members later continued to discuss city maintenance, enforcement and service coordination during manager updates and public works briefings.

Provenance: public-comment remarks by Nelly Peebles (statements on overdoses, library, encampment and proximity of treatment services) and Dean Jewell (requests for proactive enforcement and park upkeep) were recorded in the meeting transcript.