A recent increase in the number of transients in downtown Auburn has become pebbles in the shoes of the merchants and people who work there.

One waitress cited daily incidents of transients rooting through cigarette receptacles outside her place of employment. She recalled one man who walked into the business recently and for no reason began elbowing customers.

“One of our customers chased him out and the guy went to another business and did the same thing,” said the waitress, who asked that her name not be used.

“We see so many more homeless people just walking around,” said a downtown merchant, who also asked that her name not be used. “In B Plaza between us and Safeway, they’re congregating, sitting around. I love getting panhandled walking into Safeway. You see homeless people camping out in the flower beds across from Safeway.

“I grew up here, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” she added.

Both comments come on the cusp of Mayor Nancy Backus’ roundtable on homelessness, which City Officials say should begin meeting in October.

Brock Snyder, the lay minister from Enumclaw who this April suggested the City of Auburn support or even start a homeless encampment inside city limits, came to City Hall on Monday evening to take up the homeless cause once more, and to dispel what he said were common misconceptions about them.

“Please acknowledge there are homeless people in the city that can be helped,” Snyder began. “I know when you hear about a tent city or an encampment it freaks people out. … I know a lot of people think ‘drug users, abusers and criminals’, but actually a tent city encampment doesn’t allow that sort of activity to happen.”

No, Snyder said, anyone who lives in such an encampment has to survive a background check for warrants and to determine whether they are sexual offenders. No alcohol or drugs are allowed inside, though people can smoke cigarettes.

“A homeless encampment or tent city is not a handout; it’s a hand-up for these people,” Snyder said. “These are not people running from the law; they are wanting to change their lives. They need some sort of stability in their lives. They need a place to sleep safely, to leave their things, to go off to work, maybe go off to school to enrich their lives and change their lives and become citizens.”

Diana Sandusky told council members she has lived and worked in Auburn for 15 years, most of them happily. But she cited the rising number of homeless people as among the changes that have dampened her enthusiasm for being here.

“In the last few years I have noticed a change in the city, and I have concerns about them,” Sandusky said, singling out “homeless transient individuals,” and the proliferation of “graffiti on buildings and fences.

“This is where I live and work, so this is where I shop. … A lot of us have fear, concern, and we don’t know what to do by ourselves. I know it’s going to take everybody in the community together to make it a happy, safe community,” Sandusky said.