Homeless camp goes up

SEATTLE – More than 150 bright pink tents dot an empty, grassy property in an industrial area as homeless advocates begin setting up a modern-day Hooverville.

This time, though, it’s Nickelsville – named for Mayor Greg Nickels.

The homeless encampment was set up on an empty lot early Sunday by a loosely organized group of advocates to dramatize the lack of low-cost housing.

Their actions have rattled Highland Park neighbors who already were organizing to fight City Hall for making the same lot one of four possible sites for a jail.

City officials said they would post a 72-hour notice to vacate the property.

“The city is going to treat this like any other encampment,” said Karin Zaugg Black, a spokeswoman for Nickels. “The city protocol calls to send out staff and do outreach, talk to them about different services that are available to them, offer a shelter bed.”

She added: “They have 72 hours notice to leave or vacate city property.”

Organizers say the notice will have no effect.

“We’ll just be staying. We belong in Nickelsville. We’re not going to be moving,” said Ireke Suka, one of the organizers.

Suka, who is homeless, said the city’s high rent and real estate values make it difficult for down-and-outers to get on their feet. Nickelsville, she said, was established to make that point.

Black said the mayor respects political demonstrations and doesn’t mind having a homeless camp bearing his name.

Dan Mullins, who lives in Highland Park within a mile of the tents, said some in the neighborhood may be angry or fearful after being caught by surprise.

“I think that’s a first reaction anybody would have. Here are people who moved in, and we don’t know who they are,” Mullins said. “We’re a very sympathetic neighborhood. We’re open-minded. We want to see who is there and see how it’s going to be organized before we decide if we’re for or against them.”

The Puget Sound area is no stranger to fights over homeless encampments. Several tent cities circulate from site to site through the city, its suburbs and as far away as Olympia at the south end of the sound. Several times legal action has been taken by wary neighbors.

When the newest, Tent City 4, went up at a church parking lot on well-to-do Mercer Island east of the city and won approval from the suburb’s City Council, angry neighbors filed a lawsuit.

In January an annual one-night survey by a coalition of homeless advocacy groups found nearly 8,500 homeless people in King County, which includes Seattle.

Hoovervilles, named for President Herbert Hoover, were shanty towns built by the homeless during the Depression of the 1930s.

Following that lead, Nickelsville residents and volunteers have been carrying pieces of wood to the camp, planning to expand from tents to a full-blown shanty town. As news of the encampment spread, homeless people trickled in from around the city.

Only a section of the more than 10-acre site has been filled.

One of the owners of a plumbing company across the street walked over for a closer look at Nickelsville on Monday. He declined to comment to reporters or give his name, saying only that he had his concerns.

Geraldine Schwarz, a resident of Highland Park, came to talk to the camp’s organizers. Visibly upset, she told them a community meeting that already had been scheduled for Monday night to discuss the jail proposal would be devoted to the encampment instead.

Earlier, Marion Marshall, 51, was settling into her tent. She said she had been homeless off and on for 10 years, had been addicted to cocaine and was a victim of domestic violence. She sells Real Change, a weekly newspaper hawked by the homeless around the city.

After sleeping in parks, buses, shelters and motels, Marshall said she’s happy to be in a place where she can leave her possessions without worrying.

“People here, working together, can help each other,” she said.