Seattle's homeless crisis episode 14: Occupy public space

mainestategop ^

[mainestategop]

The squatters continue to loiter at the county administration building raising a stink demanding more and more of other people's money. We have obtained word from Seattle councilman Burgess about a new law that would not only legitimize the SHARE squatters at county Admin but make it legal to camp in any public area!

This means that parks, sidewalks, government buildings, open lots ETC could turn into outdoor homeless shelters!

 

Homeless Encampments:
An Update

It has been four weeks since my colleagues’ introduced legislation that would create a right to camp on public property throughout the city. I opposed introduction of this legislation.

In this update, I want tell you what’s happened since, why it is so important for the people of Seattle to remain keenly engaged in the discussion, and efforts to change this legislation. This update gives my perspective on three important issues surrounding this proposed new law.

1. How this legislation will impact you, your family, and neighbors.
    
2. The elephant in the room that’s being ignored.
    
3. A much better solution.

The Impact on You, Your Family and Neighbors

As introduced on September 6, the proposed law establishes a new right to camp on public property across Seattle, including in our parks and greenbelts, and on sidewalks and planting strips. The law mandates that city government make public spaces available for camping in tents or vehicles. It creates complicated rules and processes that must be followed before anyone can be removed from a camping site. If anyone is removed, the city government must provide “adequate and accessible” long-term housing. Finally, if any of this process is violated, the proposed law establishes a $250 penalty per violation to be paid to the individual camper by city taxpayers.

Needless to say, this new law is not the balanced approach we all deserve, an approach that weighs and balances compassion with our public health and safety obligations. This proposed law is not balanced and will do absolutely nothing to move people from homelessness to safe and appropriate housing. Nothing.

Look around our great city and ask yourself whether you like what’s been happening even before this new right to camp has been established. Tents along our roadways and in our parks. Trash piling high in our greenbelts, in our neighborhoods and along Interstate 5. It seems as if city government has been paralyzed by the confusion and conflict around homelessness. Just look at the evidence.

Trash and other debris piled up at University Playground on Northeast 50th Street in a photo taken last Friday morning. University Playground includes a sports field, tennis court, and a children’s play area. The University branch of the Seattle Public Library is across the street to the north.

Here is a KIRO-TV news report from last Thursday night. Watch it. It broke my heart in two ways. First, how unfortunate that the individual or individuals living in the end-zone tent haven’t taken advantage of the multiple services Seattle has for them and will spend nearly $50 million on this year. Second, how tragic that we have become so confused and conflicted that our park’s staff and police officials failed to remove the tent for our kids’ sake the moment it appeared. Listen carefully to the coach, too. He describes an ongoing high-risk mess at Interbay that, frankly, city officials have allowed to fester.

Last Friday afternoon, after the KIRO report was broadcast, the city finally acted and the end-zone tent was removed. But, had this new right to camp law that my colleagues are advancing been in place that removal would have been blocked for a minimum of 48 hours, perhaps as long as a week or even longer, until we found another location for the camper(s) and complied with the onerous rules the law establishes. This new law will increase public safety problems and make our neighborhoods less safe. The same night KIRO-TV broadcast their Interbay playfield report, a Good Samaritan was stabbed in the abdomen when he went to the aid of a woman who was being assaulted in a tent in Woodland Park. Witnesses described the suspect to police; he was later arrested. The Good Samaritan was taken to Harborview Medical Center. This isn’t an isolated incident. Living on the street or in our parks is dangerous. The Elephant in the Room That’s Being Ignored Read the proposed new camping legislation carefully. It contains a few key phrases that require the city government to allow camping on public property for at least 30 days per location.  In addition, even when an encampment is in an unsafe or unsuitable location, the City cannot remove it until the City has provided 48 hours’ notice, and must offer the individuals alternative locations in which to camp. This is the elephant in the room that’s not being discussed. The advocates of this proposed legislation believe people should be allowed to camp in tents and vehicles on public property for at least 30 days and more, if the City does not have an available stock of “adequate and accessible” long-term housing, and must allow persons who decline services and housing the right to camp in alternative locations, again for a minimum of 30 days in locations that are not “unsafe” or “unsuitable.” Really? Forget homelessness for a moment. This new legal right to camp in the city cuts across decades of land use policy and zoning requirements designed to minimize use impacts. This new law sweeps those protections away and creates a high impact use—camping on public property as an individual right. For me, this is going too far. A Better Solution If this legislation is adopted by the City Council it won’t move one person to housing. It won’t address drug addiction or mental illness for anyone. And it certainly won’t clean up the piles of garbage we see around Seattle left by urban campers. (These piles of garbage are so contaminated and hazardous that we have trouble finding contractors to do the necessary cleanups.) But this legislation does do one major thing quite well; it distracts us from measures that will make a difference for people experiencing homelessness. Those measures are called Pathways Home, a series of steps Mayor Murray has proposed to retool our response to homelessness and create increased efficiencies and effectiveness based on an in-depth analysis of what we are doing—or not doing—today. Pathways Home is an integrated effort with King County, All Home, and United Way to move people from unsheltered living on the street to permanent homes. It is centered on evidence-based practices that have been proven to work in other cities. This is where we should be spending our time and energy. This is the complex work we should be focused on, not on a new law that perpetuates homelessness and makes our neighborhoods less safe.  The national experts who counseled the city on Pathways Home tell us that all of the unsheltered people in Seattle could be sheltered by the end of 2017. That’s a bold claim based on the experience of other cities, but it is certainly worth pursuing. Why wouldn’t we work hard and urgently to achieve this goal? Some of my colleagues are working on amendments to the camping law. The suggested amendments I have seen so far don’t cure the core problems with the legislation. I will keep you posted as I continue to advocate for solutions that have been proven to actually end homelessness. Here’s an interesting discussion of this legislation on the Seattle Growth Podcast. Stay engaged. Make sure your voice is heard at City Hall regardless of your position on this legislation. Your opinion matters.

[Coffee... Black... No Sugar]

Coming soon...

HOMELESS DEMAND FREE TENTS & CAMPING GEAR

[mainestategop]

As a matter of fact they have.

[ASOC]

The good people of Seattle seem to have forgotten an immutable fact of nature..

Feed the rats and all you get is more rats.

[CedarDave]

At some point I would expect that the ivory tower liberals would become so upset with them, the trash, human feces, drug needles, etc. that they would take action by throwing out of office the radical city council members who propose and support this crap.

In my travels I’ve seen the same in Portland and many cities in California. I call them human pigeons as they have many of same characteristics - everywhere present and underfoot, always looking for free handouts, defecate any place, and impossible to avoid or remove.

[mouse1]

Actually, the Seattle homeless is a large majority of young from other states. Chasing the marijuana dream. I have a niece that ran there to grow. Now lives in a commune and depends on food pantry for help. But hey, “it’s all good, we get stoned”.

[NonValueAdded]

How can there be homeless when the minimum wage is $15!

[who_would_fardels_bear]

There's a simple response to this:

Tens of thousands of regular citizens should start camping around the city and overwhelm the system.

Basically a rightwing Cloward-Piven(sp?)

[minnesota_bound]

Bill Gates could house the homeless in his mega mansion. One of several he owns. Look at all the camping space he has.
http://homeadmire.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Pulling-In.jpg

[alexander_busek]

Tens of thousands of regular citizens should start camping around the city and overwhelm the system.

Exactly. And be sure to select sites generating as much nuisance to the officeholders as possible.

Regards,

[tbw2]

It reminds me of the liberal group whose solution for homelessness was designing ruggedized shopping carts for holding gear ...

[mainestategop]

THAT... is what Americans should be doing. I would also add, block the freeways and intersections into our major cities. Demand no more taxes, gun control and socialism and throw out the illegal aliens. At worst you’ll pay a small fine. Plead guilty and tell the judge were not leaving until you stop this crap!

[Organic Panic]

Freeloaders and illegals rule over taxpaying property owners. Though I find it hard to feel pity for the Seattle citizens.

[mainestategop]

You are no doubt refering to the EDAR tents in LA?

One of my former associates from Santa Barbara told me how they dumped a man into one of these "mobile homes" after the state gave his assets away to an conservator who was an abusive relative that squandered it and then to a state conservator based in Santa Clarita who stole it.

Never got it back.

The state's solution was to enroll in housiing and wait 2 to 3 years (thanks to immigrants) while waiting he was forced to go into one of these EDAR tents. Spent half a year living in one in skid row, got out and went to a winter shelter in El Monte.

My associate got him greyhound tickets to go to New Hampshire after the spring started and the winter shelters closed. We helped him out there better than CalstateUSSR did. He's now being cared for by a relative and is an free state activist.

[cherry]

why do ordinary citizens have to PAY to camp yet these sloths just get free permission....

if you haven't seen this homeless camps in Seattle, you would be shocked....

very dangerous...and they're right up against civilized people....

I want to see them on the football field at the UW...or the Seahawks...

[cherry]

if our society was blown to bits already, the legal pot will finish the job...

FOOLS!

[cherry]

when you think about it, how about just camping in your car in a public parking spot....no meter to feed...afterall, you’re “homeless”...