Next chance to help at Nickelsville: Camp cleanup this weekend

| How to help | Nickelsville encampment | West Seattle news

A break in the rain provides a chance for those interested in helping the encampment on West Seattle’s southeastern edge that calls itself Nickelsville. They’ve just issued an invitation for a volunteer cleanup this weekend:

NICKELSVILLE – EVENT – Nickelsville Clean-up Day!
Saturday AND Sunday 1/12 & 1/13 – from 9 am to 3 pm

Help clean-up our Eco Friendly Camp – Free Hot Meal for helping, Friendly Folks, Beautiful Weather, 2 very cute Goats!

*bring your work gloves, boots ‘n tools and come lend a hand*

Nickelsville is located at 7116 W. Marginal Way SW, between 2nd Ave SW and Highland Park Way SW

ADDED FRIDAY NIGHT: For those considering joining in, WSB Forums member and longtime Nickelsville volunteer JoB has elaborated on what needs to be done there – more than what you might assume a “cleanup” to be. Here’s her Forums post.

JoB January 11, 2013 (10:33 am)

they need to get all tents onto concrete based pallets at least 1 ft off of the ground so that if the pumps are unable to keep up with the amount of water that accumulates, residents don’t lose all of their possessions and personal papers again.

it’s my understanding that about half of the tents are still too close to the ground and that they don’t have the generator power to run the sump pumps continuously in the kind of rain we have been getting to keep water levels down low enough to prevent flooding.

Swamp Thing January 11, 2013 (11:07 am)

Are there any supplies needed for the cleanup or this cold weather (coats, hand warmers, blankets)? Are they still in need on concrete blocks to raise tents?

Pete January 11, 2013 (11:27 am)

any saps willing to do this can also stop by and clean up my yard.

Since we’re asking, you know.

Aaron January 11, 2013 (12:00 pm)

I will help. Can I buy all of them bus tickets to San Francisco? I am so sick of their camp and the sketchy people loitering and dealing in our street. I’ve called the cops and they do nothing.

westcoastdeb January 11, 2013 (12:29 pm)

Swamp Thing – JoB started a thread in the forum about what was needed, but I know hand warmers are on the list.

Here’s the link: https://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/help-keep-nickelsville-high-and-dry

Jeff Welch January 11, 2013 (2:47 pm)

Isn’t it time to call these McGinnvilles now?

pete January 11, 2013 (3:17 pm)

they dont work (hence living in a homeless). seems they could find the time to clean up their own mess?? unbelievable, what a waste of resources.

A. January 11, 2013 (3:18 pm)

If they are so self sufficient and able to hold jobs, etc. then they should be able to attend to their own needs and do the work themselves. This is getting ridiculous.

S January 11, 2013 (3:45 pm)

I agree with Jeff, it is time to stop calling it that and call it what it is Tent City or McGinnville.

cj January 11, 2013 (4:00 pm)

I kind of agree with pete and A, they are making a living off hand outs that for some odd reason have been streamlined to funnel into their camp. I do not know if any of the more hostile homeless I see around West Seattle these days are associated with them but this is getting ridiculous and short sighted. They are people and citizens not pets, they need to be helped back into the system not rewarded for squatting on public land. Pretty sure there are folks trying to work and live in our over priced rentals around here who could use some of that help.

Pete January 11, 2013 (4:13 pm)

+1 to what Aaron says. I’m sick of seeing them stealing power to charge their cell phones across the street. Sick of seeing cars parked on the shoulder. If you’ve got money for a car and gas, you’ve got money to pay for your own place to live.

We’re not helping anyone by letting them squat like a pack of wild animals.

Mike January 11, 2013 (4:34 pm)

I clean up my own house and yard.

West Seattle Hipster January 11, 2013 (7:27 pm)

Is McGinnville a non-smoking encampment?

Do members of this encampment volunteer in the local commnuity? How are they giving back, or are they?

Heylady January 12, 2013 (7:14 am)

Wow,critics. Wow.

SrslyShrn January 12, 2013 (7:55 am)

It appears N-ville has used up their emotional credits in West Seattle. Not even the usual supporters have much to say here.

Highland Park Resident January 12, 2013 (9:15 am)

Some of the residents have been working a really creative job — they charge teenagers a premium for alcohol and then go to the stores and buy it for them. Really nice to have these folks in the neighborhood.

Watch your kids.

JoB January 12, 2013 (10:19 am)

This regular is simply not acknowledging meanness.. no matter how righteously it is disguised.

I spoke with someone at camp this morning. If they are going to reach their goal of getting the tents raised above the persistent flooding they still need 2x4s, plywood, large tarps, duct tape, bungie cords and nails.

Handwarmers and thermacare style heating pads to restore cold muscles to working conditions would also be helpful.

Really guys… blaming people for not being able to seize the opportunities they don’t have is a cheap sport. Anyone can take cheap shots but you don’t gain much credibility shooting ducks in a barrel.

Here is the perfect opportunity to help people help themselves… and you sit on the sidelines making allegations and name Calling.

That says a whole lot more about you than about them.

miws January 12, 2013 (10:33 am)

This regular is simply not acknowledging meanness.. no matter how righteously it is disguised.

Same here.

I thought about replying last night, but am damn sick and tired of arguing with people that come across as non-compassionate, and whose minds will likely never be changed. I’ve recently stopped doing so with a regular on the WSB Forums, that repeats his “complaints” ad nauseum.

I’d be down helping at NV myself, but in this cold weather, with my COPD, even walking less than a block from the bus stop, with a 10 lb bag of groceries is tough.

Even though those of us that speak up for the less fortunate should continue to do so, to educate others, and counter what the naysayers spew, I am simply burned out on talking to brick walls, and need to take a break, for the sake of my own sanity….

Mike

Highland Park Resident January 12, 2013 (11:02 am)

I am not a regular, and I am sure that there are decent people in Tent City. I have been a silent watcher for the last couple of years as the site has grown, and I have tried to avoid the sort of NIMBYism that would present itself in more affluent neighborhoods.

But there are people there who are hurting our community, and enabling them is not helping. This high-minded “compassion” of which you speak is naive. I know that there are people there buying booze for kids. Don’t kid yourselves that people in need won’t do what they feel they must to make some money. You might argue that society, or the system, or whatever, has forced them into this position, and they can’t help it.

But we can help it, and not by continuing to enable it, but to force the city to do something about homelessness other than relegate it to a working class community that has no skill, nor services, to deal adequately with it. Tent City is not good for Highland Park, and it is not good for the homeless.

Sure, we don’t want people to be cold. I get that, but we don’t want to make it so easy for nefarious individuals to take advantage, and some do and will, regardless of what your compassion or guilt tell you.

Kris January 12, 2013 (3:30 pm)

The reason you’re not hearing from supporters is that they are busy helping others and not whining on the blog all the time.

JoB January 12, 2013 (4:35 pm)

Highland park don’t deny that there are people at Nickelsville who engage in illegal behavior… I imagine there more than a few in your neighborhood too…

But lumping all of the people at Nickelsville I in the those bums don’t deserve help from decent folks category only makes it harder for those residents who want to clean the camp up to do so.

miws January 12, 2013 (5:08 pm)

The reason you’re not hearing from supporters is that they are busy helping others and not whining on the blog all the time.

For.

The.

Win.

Mike

pete January 12, 2013 (8:09 pm)

hey JoB, guess where it doesnt flood? -east of the pass. why dont you help them move over there? i drive by that dump everyday, and there is nothing good coming out of that place. im sure not everyone in there is an arch-criminal, but everyone in there needs to find another place to “reside”. by the way, the request is to “clean up”, not build more semi-permanent structures that will inevitably be left in a pile of debris when they move out. they ought to be able to clean up their own mess, i do, and i presume you do (unless you are the guy at the end of my street with all the garbage in front of his house). and why the hell do they have goats?? if you cant take care of yourself, why do you have farm animals? im sure that improves the sanitation of the environment.

JoB January 12, 2013 (10:37 pm)

Pete..
I don’t just drive by..I walk in and stop to talk with the people living there. It’s amazing how much that changes your perspective.

JoB January 12, 2013 (10:41 pm)

Speaking of talking with campers…
They managed to use all of the concrete blocks the city provided today and won’t be able to build more raised platforms until more blocks are delivered this week.
Tomorrow will be strictly clean-,up.