Seattle considering legalizing homeless camps

People remove a tent from in “Nickelsville,” a homeless encampment in West Seattle, on Friday. Photo: Dan DeLong/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

ERIKA SCHULTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Michael Keever, left, plays chess with Larry Washington near their tents at Nickelsville. “This place is not perfect, but we are doing the best we can to keep it clean and drug free,” Keever said. “We have families show up in the middle of the night as a last resort. We’re doing the best we can here.” Jason VanPlatt, 37, is behind.

SEATTLE — The city of Seattle wants to find a better solution for its homeless encampments, but the plan by city leaders to shut-down Nickelsville has homeless advocates making a last stand.

Photos by Steve Shay

BEFORE & AFTER: Leon Davis, originally from Harrison, Arkansas, has lived in the West Seattle homeless encampment, Nickelsville, for five months after getting laid off by Genie Industries, Inc., in Redmond. He receives a free haircut from Kim-Hoa Pham, Vietnamese Cultural Center in West Seattle. Members visited Nickelsville Thanksgiving and served food, supplied flu shots and cut hair for free. Kim-Hoa Pham is Chair, Vietnamese Women Association, Washington.

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by LINDA BRILL / KING 5 News

Posted on June 28, 2013 at 5:41 PM

Updated yesterday at 6:29 PM

 

Where should Seattle’s homeless go?  It’s a question that is coming to a head now that the illegal tent city called Nickelsville is being forced to close.

Some want to legalize up to three homeless encampments on public and private land. The camps would have about 100 people each and be strictly regulated.

But, what neighborhoods?  It will be a tough sell.

Seattle City Council Member Nick Licata sponsored the ordinance.

“As long as it’s not permanent, well managed, and doesn’t decrease public safety,” he said.

Tent cities are allowed at religious sites, like church parking lots. In the past decade, some 30 churches have hosted the homeless.

Read More and Watch Video   Here

Related articles

• Nickelsville’s days appear to be numbered
• Seattle homeless camp gets Sept. 1 eviction notice
• Seattle’s Largest Homeless Encampments Oppose Council Legislation on Encampments
• Seattle homeless camp receives eviction notice
• Seattle homeless camp gets Sept. 1 eviction notice
• Nickelsville residents balk at encampment proposal
• City Council earmarks $500,000 to move Nickelsville residents
• Seattle City Council wants Mayor to close Nickelsville homeless camp my September 1st
• Licata: Time for Nickelsville to move into permanent housing
• City Council wants Nickelsville shut down by Sept. 1

Power Outage : Seattle

Earth Watch Report – Power Outage

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Update: West Seattle power outage peaks at almost 1,000 homes, businesses

 

(35th/Barton 7-11 has power but its sign and nearby intersection do not. WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
7:25 PM: We’re getting multiple reports of a power outage in Westwood – 35th and Henderson is our most recent report – and at least as far south as 9800 block of 31st SW. More to come.

7:33 PM UPDATE: Fauntlee Hills is also affected, according to some we’ve heard from. This outage is NOT on the Seattle City Light map yet (lately, they seem to take a while to show up there) but we have a message out to SCL.

7:37 PM UPDATE: While waiting for word from SCL, we have a crew out checking on the extent of the outage. For starters – stoplights are out on 35th between Thistle and Barton, though the homes on both sides of the street seem to have power. Just got a call back from City Light – they say at least 600 customers (homes/businesses) are affected but they have no idea about the cause, yet.

7:47 PM UPDATE: The City Light outage map is starting to show the outage boundaries. Looks like part of Arbor Heights is affected too, and part of the unincorporated area east of 35th/south of Roxbury.

7:59 PM UPDATE: Our crew is just back from surveying the area and it’s as spotty as it looks on the City Light map – streets where one side is out and the other is not, for example. By the way – if you are reading this via a mobile device, WSB’er Jono reminded us recently that City Light has a mobile-optimized site – find it here.

8:37 PM UPDATE: City Light has now upped the total of affected homes/businesses to almost 1,000. But no update on the outage’s cause, yet.

8:57 PM UPDATE: And … just received a few messages about power coming back on (one was from 31st/Henderson). If after a while yours is still out, let us know.

9:04 PM UPDATE: John Gustafson at City Light says that almost everyone should be back on shortly if they’re not back on already. The outage was traced to “equipment failure,” a piece of overhead equipment called a “jumper,” though he says they’re not sure why it failed.

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Related articles

• Update: West Seattle power outage peaks at almost 1,000 homes, businesses (westseattleblog.com)
• UPDATE 2: Power outage affects more than 900 in sporadic fashion in West Seattle; Now restored (westseattleherald.com)
• UPDATE 2: Power outage affects 3265 West Seattle customers: It’s back on for some (westseattleherald.com)
• West Seattle power outage: 2 ‘customers,’ but one’s a school (westseattleblog.com)
• Power Outage – Businesses on West Side of Queen Anne Ave N, NW Queen Anne, and Surrounding Area (queenanneview.com)
• Early-morning power outage in parts of Boulevard Park, Burien, Seatac (whitecenternow.com)
• Power Outage Hits Nearly 2,900 in Burien, Boulevard Park Wed. Morning (b-townblog.com)
• Power Outage Strikes Wide Area of Burien Wednesday, Affecting Nearly 2,000 (b-townblog.com)