Seattle group sends postcards seeking help for camp cleanup

SEATTLE – A Seattle neighborhood organization is using postcards to try to send city officials a message.

Instead of scenic views, however, the cards show photos of trash accumulated at homeless camps.

Rebecca Adrian with the Jackson Place Community Council told Seattle television station KING that she and other volunteers have sent hundreds of the postcards to the City of Seattle asking for help cleaning up the camps.

Each week since September volunteers have been cleaning up the Dean Street encampment near Interstate 90. The city is picking up bagged trash on Mondays, but Mark Lloyd with Seattle Camp Stewards said he hopes the city will do more.

Lloyd said he wants a place where homeless campers can have basic human cleanliness and the dignity that goes with that.

Tatum Kimble has lived at the camp for more than a year. He said the trash is noticeable, but an even bigger improvement than cleaning up would be having portable restrooms available at the site.