Eastside Brick residents raise concerns about new tenant

Some Kalispell residents at the Eastside Brick building have an uneasy feeling about the Office of the State Public Defender moving into the building in January.

The renovated hospital on Fifth Avenue East was converted into a mix-use building with residential and business offices. Doors remain open during business hours, providing access for residents, business owners and their clients to move about the four-floor complex.

Several lounge areas with couches and tables provide common areas for residents and business clients. Artwork adorns the walls along the hallway. Residents have access to a fitness center, community room, kitchen and shower.

The businesses located on the first floor and basement are a mix of mostly counseling, therapy and art studios. There is also a law office on the first floor.

“We moved into the Brick three years ago with the understanding that it was a very secure, safe building that contained both residences and businesses,” said Eastside Brick resident Amy Rojo. “But specifically, the majority of the businesses were, and have continued to be of therapy nature — which resonates very well with our desire to live in a 24/7 safe environment.”

Rojo said when she saw a sign from the public defender office informing residents they would be moving into the building, her first thought was surprise. Then she felt worry.

“Whoa, why are they moving here? It seemed like a weird fit,” she said. “We don’t see a huge immediate threat, but the potential is there. And if the potential is there you have to be on heightened alert.”

Eastside Brick Homeowner Association leader Gary Yee said he’s also not happy about the move.

“We value the work they do, but it seems like this wasn’t well thought out,” he said. “We are trying to get them to reconsider the appropriateness of being in the building.”

Nick Aemisegger, regional deputy public defender, said his staff decided to lease the office space at Eastside Brick because their current lease on Main Street is coming to an end. There is a lot of separation between staff at the current office, he said.

“The office at East Brick was specifically designed to be a law office and is more cohesive with the work we do,” he said.

Aemisegger has been open to listening to and responding to concerns, and participated in a meeting with resident and business owners in October.

“I think there is a perception that is different from reality when it comes to the people who we serve in this office,” Aemisegger said.

While the clients the office serves have been accused of a crime, it’s important to remember they are innocent until proven guilty, he said.

Aemisegger said people who commit serious crimes stay in jail until their trial date. And each of the clients are cleared by a judge individually as to whether they are safe to be in the community.

He said the traffic into the office is relatively low.

In his experience, Aemisegger said his clients haven’t created a disturbance or committed a crime while visiting the office. Kalispell police investigated and reported no spikes of crime in the vicinity of the office, he added.

But some residents at Eastside Brick said having people accused of crimes coming in and out of the building is literally too close to home.

“Would [the public defender office] invite their clients into their home?” Yee asked.

Rojo has a son who is home-schooled. She said the presence of the public defender office would change the way she and her family moves around the building.

“I can’t imagine any parent not feeling extremely concerned about the potentially dangerous individuals of varying criminal nature, including violent, sexual and child-related, entering the Brick building,” Rojo wrote in a letter to Aemisegger.

Hedges Elementary School included a short entry about the public defender office’s move to the Eastside Brick building in their October newsletter. The school is across the street from the building.

It stated: “If you don’t feel comfortable with your kids walking past that building, you may want to discuss an alternate route for them to walk or ride their bike home.”

Aemisegger said he didn’t anticipate any backlash associated with the move. He just saw it as one law office replacing another.

“We want to be good neighbors and I think we always have been to our neighbors in Kalispell,” Aemisegger said.

Reporter Breeana Laughlin can be reached at 758-4441 or blaughlin@dailyinterlake.com.