Another Move for Nickelsville

The Discovery Park version of Nickelsville located adjacent to the Daybreak Star Center will pack up tomorrow morning and vacate the wooded parcel they've occupied for the past week. Though the United Indians of All Tribes was sympathetic to the Nickelodeons' plight, they also had to live with the fact that the city owns the property. They've asked the homeless to leave by noon Friday. Organizers say they'll comply with the United Indians' wishes, but that this isn't the end of Nickelsville— which has turned into more of a roaming encampment than the shantytown organizers initially envisioned. The Nickelodeons were out today, searching for a new place to pitch their pink tents. They wrote to 22 property owners late last month seeking help, but have yet to receive any takers. The city's notice to Nickelsville in Discovery Park is a "final" one that applies to all future encampments within city limits. It says that no notice will be required for future campsite removals. In addition to encampment residents, the notice names a number of advocacy groups— the Interfaith Taskforce on Homelessness, SHARE/WHEEL, Veterans for Peace— that will be fined (up to $150 per day) if Nickelsville resurfaces on city property.

Topics: City of Seattle

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South Lake Union: The Perfect Home for Nickelsville

Soon to be forced out of Magnolia, Nickelsville’s “Nickelodeons” are petitioning private property owners for access to a plot of land. Nevertheless, the best location remains untapped and, seemingly, unconsidered. A little unsolicited advice to the Nickelodeons: go to South Lake Union.

The whole purpose of using the name Nickelsville is to call out the mayor for his failure to prioritize basic services and shelter and provide what he promised. What better place to do this then his favorite neighborhood, his top priority, the little magic-land with the King Friday trolley? Why continue to strand yourselves in the far corners of the city? South Lake Union Park is a prime piece of real estate and there are several empty lots in the area that might also work nicely.

Reasons to choose South Lake Union are almost too numerous to list. Here are the top ten:

10. Exposure: Twice a day, you’ll have a captive audience in Mercer Mess-mired commuters.

9. Ride the SLUT: Honor system streetcar essentially doubles the size of the ride-free zone. It drops you off three blocks from the Red Lion Hotel and its nightly free taco bar.

8. Get Comped: The city’s looking to spend about $190 million widening Mercer street. Some of that money will go towards compensating owners of condemned property. Plant your flag, get condemned, and demand your compensation. No more getting kicked out for free.

7. Growth Plan: The mayor’s made clear he wants to direct population growth into a few urban centers, one of which is South Lake Union. You’re just doing your part.

6. It’s “a city within a city, where LIVELY workplaces, shops, restaurants, schools, parks, entertainment and recreation are located in a dynamic, emerging neighborhood.” –Vulcan Real Estate

5. Corporate Neighbors: Abundance of camping supplies available at nearby REI, and overstock books in Amazon recycling bins provide excellent kindling for barrel fires.

4. Air Traffic Safety: Mass of pink tents at water’s edge provides helpful landmark to seaplanes landing in inclement weather.

3. Johnny Law in a Bind: Vulcan regularly holds outdoor tent parties in the neighborhood; if cops crack down on you, claim selective enforcement.

2. Paul Allen: Nickelsville could use a high-powered friend. Ply or threaten him with potential name-change to Allentown.

1. Photo-Op: Pink tents and purple and red SLUTs make perfect valentine to the mayor.

Topics: City of Seattle

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City Council Approves Sidewalk Cafe Bill

Streamlines requirements for putting tables outside. Makes us more like that World Class city to the south. Too bad it happened just about the time when it starts to seem like it will be eons before we'll ever eat outdoors again.

Topics: City of Seattle

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Noon Monday Deadline for Nickelsville

Nickelsville, in its most recent incarnation near Daybreak Star Center in Discovery Park, has been given until noon Monday by the city to depart. (The encampment is on land the United Indians of all Tribes leases from the city Parks Department.) A few of the Nickelodeons, who are represented by the Northwest Justice Project, plan to meet with the city attorney Monday morning. If an agreement isn't reached at that time, they say they may pursue legal action to remain at Daybreak Star— at least in the near term. They'd still like to find a permanent location for the encampment.

Topics: City of Seattle

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Caught in the Middle

Nickelsville showing up at the Daybreak Star Center in Discovery Park last night presents and interesting conundrum for the United Indians of All Tribes, which is sympathetic to the group and its plight, but leases the property from the city's Parks Department. "Initially our response is to support them," says United Indians Executive Director Marty Bluewater. "If it was up to us we would probably accommodate them until they find a new place to go. Their track record of managing the camp is pretty good. We don't feel we have any real concerns at the moment. ...But we're a bit caught in the middle. The reality is the mayor's office will likely try and remove them as soon as possible."

History also plays a role here. The tribes took control of the land surrounding the Daybreak Star Center— which they argued was rightfully theirs to begin with— through a high-profile battle more than 30 years ago. "We didn't get where we are without some major action that was outside the statute," says Bluewater. "We're certainly sympathetic to what they're trying to do."

For their part, Nickelsville organizers are happy to have made it across town together to another place to stay, even if it's just for a few days. Though they may have little choice in the matter depending on what action the city takes, they say that Discovery Park is only a temporary stop. They're still looking for a permanent site for the encampment. Odds are their new neighbors in Magnolia won't be as friendly as those in Highland Park, who sent a letter to the mayor on the Nickelodeons' behalf and often honked in support as they passed by the camp. Homeowners near Discovery Park have spent the past year fighting against housing for the homeless as part of the proposed redevelopment of nearby Fort Lawton.

UPDATE: Nickelsville residents are settling in, again. The kitchen is set up as are a couple dozen tents, and the front desk. A few people who were already living in the greenbelt surrounding Discovery Park have joined the encampment. Cliff (below) wanted his picture taken on his new front porch. He started living at Nickelsville when it moved to the WSDOT parking lot and says residents were promised a "room with a view" here. The wooden environs didn't disappoint. Though it is isolated and a haul for those who work to get to town, Cliff says, at least 40 minutes by bus.

Topics: City of Seattle

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Packing Nickelsville Video

Read Aimee's coverage here.

Topics: City of Seattle

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Packing Up Nickelsville, Again

The Nickelodeons, facing a deadline tonight to vacate the state-owned parking lot they moved to Friday, are packing up again, moving this time to another undisclosed location. They plan to be on their way sometime between 10 p.m. and midnight. (The city had threatened to fine the state up to $150 per day for maintenance of an illegal encampment beginning at 5 p.m. tonight.) In addition to the continued relocation, the camp is evolving into a more structured organization with members volunteering for security duty and setting up mediation when arguments arise. Residents say life on the parking lot, a much smaller space than the SDOT-owned field they'd originally inhabited, has been tense at times. "We've had team meetings and have asked people to leave," says Aaron Colyer, who's been in charge of security. "It's worked OK." They've also instituted a few basic rules including no smoking, or open flames, around the tents— and the Nickelsville Web site has been updated to accept donations and register users for announcements.

Meantime, the city today blasted a press release asking the county and the state for more help taking care of the homeless. According to numbers from the mayor's office, Seattle provides 94 percent of the region's shelter beds for single adults, while 54 percent of the people living in these shelters are coming from Seattle. About 20 percent are coming from the county or somewhere else in the state and nearly 27 percent of the city's homeless are coming from outside Washington, the mayor says. "City taxpayers should not shoulder the entire cost and impacts of the region's homeless population." Nickels' "compassionate" budget proposal for 2009-2010, released earlier this week includes, $2.1 million for shelter beds and services.

Residents of Nickelsville, still about 100 strong, say that's not enough. They remain resolved to make the encampment permanent.

Update: The camp has moved to United Indians of all Tribes' property in Discovery Park. Fitting, considering the tribes gained control of the land by occupying it, and a subsequent battle with the federal government, 38 years ago. More later.

Topics: City of Seattle

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Totally Awesome Bike Racks We'll Never Have

Man, New York gets all the cool stuff. The NYT here shows us the 10 final designs in some bike rack competition. Writers and riders in that city have often noted the lack of secure sidewalk racks for cyclists, just like in Seattle. In fact, thinking three years back, we wrote about SDOT's program to use the lopped-off pipes that once supported parking meter heads as bike racks. (This as the new green parking kiosks were taking over the city.) But it seems efforts to install these special add-on racks (such as the one pictured below) didn't get very far. Eleven were installed in 2005; plans were announced for another 150 in 2006. I'll ask SDOT about its installed numbers since then, but I don't think I've seen that many.

You know where the coolest Seattle bike racks are located? Right in front of the WaMu building on Second Avenue. Local firm NBBJ designed its building (back to back with SAM's shorter design by Portland's Brad Cloepfil, which faces First), so I'm guessing one of the NBBJ architects selected the parabolic, stainless-steel hoops.

For the time being, SDOT will install bike racks "at the request of citizens and business or property owners or managers" through its Bicycle Spot Improvement Program. That means you essentially have to email SDOT to get on the wait list. Again, I'll ask SDOT how long the process takes. It's my understanding, subject to confirmation, that the racks are installed gratis. But, of course, we the taxpayers underwrite the cost.

Where should we have more racks? I'd love to hear from readers who ride. Some sore spots of mine are outside movie theaters, where there never seem to be enough (e.g., the Seven Gables, Northwest Film Forum, and Egyptian). And I hate that stretch of Fourth Avenue in front of Century Square (between Pike and Pine), across Fourth from Westlake Plaza, where there are those hideous concrete anti-terrorist bollards (this in front of a building erected long before 9/11) and absolutely no bike racks.

Do I hear any other nominations for SDOT?

Topics: City of Seattle and Transportation

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Your Bomb Squad at Work

Pictures of today's bank robbery/bomb scare, sent in by an anonymous tipper:

Topics: City of Seattle

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Real Pirates Available for Seafair, Cheap!

Not only have Somali pirates highjacked a Ukrainian freighter laden with Russian tanks, they give interviews with The New York Times. They're bringing piracy into the 21st century. They have cell phones and rocket launchers. They employ modern media techniques. They even have charities and environmental causes: As one spokes-pirate told the Times, “to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters.”

Give these fellows jobs! Our own Seafair pirates are getting long in the tooth, a little out of touch with the times. Parrots, cutlasses peg-legs, tricorner hats, flintlock pistols, and sailing vessels—that's so Johnny Depp. Meanwhile, the Atlantic coast off Somalia is plagued with high-tech pirates in swift Zodiac-style watercraft. According to the Times, 25 ships have been captured and ransomed this year, yielding millions of dollars in blackmail. Talk about return on pirate investment! By contrast, how much have our Seafair pirates earned this year? How many ships have they captured on Elliott Bay or Lake Washington? Can they really frighten anyone beyond children? It's time for the pirate retirement home.

The answer is obvious: We secure international waterways near the already volatile Persian Gulf by bringing the Somali pirates here to Seattle. We give our new replacement Seafair pirates health insurance, benefits, and more AK-47s. Coming from one of the poorest nations on Earth, one without a central government (in part due to U.S. foreign policy, but that's another story), they'd work cheap—like Somali grocers, cab drivers, and parking lot attendants. We could give them a small commission from each vessel seized and ransomed. Think how fat and easy those Paul Allen and McCaw brother yachts will be to board and commandeer! And we, during the coming state and municipal budget crunch, would gain a valuable new pirate revenue stream.

Also: let the new pirates run Washington State Ferries. There are no burdensome pirate union regulations to deal with, and they have ways of getting replacement vessels cheap. Free, in fact. And no one would dare cut in line at the dock.

And lastly: Those tolls we're talking about collecting on the Evergreen Point and I-90 bridges? I know just the fellows to make commuter payments swift and compulsory. You can either hand over your money at sword-point, or get an EZ Pirate Pass for the express lanes. But, please, no gold doubloons. They're not primitives.

Topics: City of Seattle

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Signs We're Officially Now in a Recession

Congress has failed to reach agreement on the proposed $700 billion bailout of banks with bad subprime mortgage loans on their books. The markets are tanking. Our retirement savings are doomed. The election is weeks away. Local real estate values are dropping in what looks to be a severe bubble deflation. WaMu has failed and will likely lay off hundreds if not thousands of Seattle-area workers. Prop. 1 will likely fail and Tim Eyman's I-985 likely pass. In an economically distressed autumn, with anti-tax sentiment rising, Dino Rossi could well knock Chris Gregoire out of the governor's mansion.

Folks, we're officially in a recession. And here are some other key indicators/harbingers of the hard times ahead:

• Sarah Palin now ideal leader for nation that replaces currency with caribou hides and moose antlers as units of barter
• Related: John McCain continues to dispense sage advice from cave, since he remembers the last Stone Age. (Also: Obama flees to Kenya, citing its higher standard of living)
• Viaduct-versus-tunnel debate now rendered moot, since there will be plenty of room for commuters, faced with $100 gallon gas, to walk to work on the elevated roadway
• Prius mileage that much better when towed by donkeys; yet Hummers harnessed to dog-teams are surprisingly cost effective
• Gregoire and legislators barricade themselves inside Olympia capital building, burn state constitution for warmth and to deter angry, marauding voters
• Empty WaMu headquarters to become anarchist squatter enclave for unemployed former bankers, Sonics, and Mariners
• City council divides up Seattle into rival warring feudal mini-states, leaving Mayor Nickels in control of downtown Subway franchises
• Related: Russia invades defenseless Fremont to protect Lenin statue, eventually annexing all territory north of Ship Canal
• Without electricity, useless Microsoft Vista discs are worn as amulets to ward off evil forest spirits (popularly referred to as SQL, Java, and Google in native folklore)
• Mad Max-style chaos engulfs a region ruled by violence, fear, and the leader of Mukilteo brigands known only as Lord Eymungus
• Feral children roam the post-apocalyptic wasteland once known as Seattle, waiting for their champion: a solitary nomad known only as the Road Warrior…

Topics: City of Seattle

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Seattle State Legislators on Nickelsville

Text in its entirety:

September 26, 2008 The Honorable Greg Nickels Mayor of Seattle Seattle City Hall

Dear Mayor Nickels,

As legislators representing districts in the Seattle area, we are calling on you today to enter into discussions with the Church Council of Greater Seattle, Real Change, Veterans for Peace Chapter 92 and other interested parties in order to craft a humane and productive path forward in regards to the real and urgent needs of the homeless and destitute people of Seattle.

The City of Seattle has been an important partner in the state goal to end homelessness. We know you share the desire to substantively address the complex and difficult issues affecting homeless people. As many of us discussed yesterday at the Legislative Breakfast for the King County Coalition to End Homelessness, you have put real resources on the ground to accomplish this goal, just as the state has.

In light of our shared commitment, we feel the positive path forward would be to negotiate with the Church Council for the removal of tents and to enter in to partnership discussions with these organizations to identify both short and long term solutions to help our homeless people, instead of the City of Seattle taking immediate action.

As we approach the winter months where homelessness becomes an even harsher and more difficult reality for many men, women and families, we hope you will quickly and urgently move to bring people together in partnership and dialogue.

We appreciate your immediate attention to this request and would be happy to participate in solution-oriented discussions.

Thank you and sincerely,

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, 36th District, Sen. Joe McDermott, 34th District, Rep. Eileen Cody, 34th District, Rep. Sharon Nelson, 34th District, Rep. Bob Hasegawa, 11th District, Rep. Ruth Kagi, 32nd District, Rep. Maralyn Chase, 32nd District, Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, 36th District, Rep. Helen Sommers, 36th District, Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, 37th District, Rep. Eric Pettigrew, 37th District, Rep. Frank Chopp, 43rd District, Rep. Phyllis Guiterrez Kenney, 46th District

Topics: City of Seattle

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Ron Sims on Nickelsville

It seems the only government agency without a dog in the Nickelsville fight is King County so SW asked Ron Sims via his Twitter page what he thought about the whole thing. He responds:

"The Governor's reprieve was a very good decision."

Topics: City of Seattle and County of King

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Chopp-Duct Revealed!

We're still learning more about House Speaker Frank Chopp's proposed new viaduct replacement. But in a preliminary rendering (above) exclusively obtained by Seattle Weekly, we can see the Chopp-Duct as viewed from downtown, looking west toward the Olympics and Elliott Bay.

And for those arriving by ferry or standing on the piers to look east at the city skyline, here's that perspective:

Nice going, Frank. We hope to have more details soon.

Topics: City of Seattle and Transportation

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Five More Days...

As I left the encampment a few moments ago, Seattle police were still making their way past the pink tents, arresting anyone who hadn't vacated the SDOT-owned property. The whole thing took a long time to get going. "Seattle process," joked Anitra Freeman (below) who was the first to be taken in. The interactions were peaceful. About 12 people had been arrested so far— with approximately a dozen more to go. But Nickelsville is far from through. Thanks to persistent calls from organizers, the Governor's office is now involved. Ron Judd, a senior Gregoire adviser, arrived as the SPD made the initial arrests. He says the city's honored the state's request to allow the Nickelodeons to stay on the adjacent WSDOT-owned parking lot for five days "until we can work through these issues and find a solution." Sure that news didn't sit well at City Hall.

Freeman, before she was hauled off, had this to say: "Until the mayor does the necessary things to end homelessness, there will be more Nickelsvilles, not less. He can't make it go away." The next five days should be interesting. The WSDOT property is a fraction of the size of the grassy area the Nickelodeons had been occupying, with no protection from the street.

Topics: City of Seattle

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