Tents for homeless moving to church lot
SEATTLE — After fierce opposition from local residents, King County officials on Friday moved the site of a proposed tent camp for the homeless to a Bothell church.
The camp was supposed to open Monday for 90 days at the Brickyard Road Park-and-Ride lot, on county land in Bothell, northeast of Seattle. Instead, it will open at St. Brendan’s Catholic Church, several miles from the parking lot, County Executive Ron Sims said.
Sims insisted he wasn’t bowing to public pressure, only that he didn’t want the case to jeopardize the homeless.
“We didn’t want to spend the next year in court while the homeless were without a location,” he said. “I’m not going to have vulnerable people put in a vulnerable position.
“Tent City is not a permanent solution. It is one that reflects the lack of affordable housing for everyone,” Sims said. “The important thing is that the homeless will be off the streets and in a safe, humane environment while we look for other short- and long-term options.”
About 200 people who live near the park-and-ride site complained vociferously about putting the tent camp there, and they sought a court order to block its opening. They argued that by approving the move, Sims violated an ordinance on sensitive areas, acted without due process and failed to perform an environmental analysis required by state law.
Both sides appeared briefly in Superior Court on Friday, but legal action was rendered moot in light of the location change. The residents had said they would not oppose locating the camp at St. Brendan’s.
“I think it sets the precedent that in order to use public land, you gotta go through the community,” Bothell resident Michele Mehl said after leaving the courtroom. The 31-year-old, who lives between the initial proposed site and St. Brendan’s, said the frustration among community members was not with the homeless, but with the community’s lack of input in the decision to site the tent city on public land.
Tent City 4 — the latest in a series organized by Seattle Housing and Resource Effort and the Women’s Housing, Equality and Enhancement League — is expected to have about 30 occupants.
Leo Rhodes, 39, a resident of Tent City 3 in Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood, said he was disappointed that the site had been moved to the church because it felt like the group had been rejected. Nevertheless, he said he was happy Tent City had a place to go.
“Homelessness is hard already, and to have another barrier in front of you is tough,” said Rhodes, who has been homeless off-and-on for the past 20 years. The homeless advocacy group will continue to push for a site on public land, he said.