ENCAMPMENTS: City crews at 26th/Juneau; gunfire at 26th/28th/Brandon; West Marginal Place plan

| Safety | West Seattle news

Updates on three encampments in eastern West Seattle:

26TH/JUNEAU: As reported here, the 26th/Juneau encampment – site of a deadly shooting in June – was posted Friday with notices it would be swept as soon as today.

The photo shows various city vehicles we saw there around midmorning; they were in the greenbelt, with entry taped off, so what they were doing wasn’t in view. We went back after 1 pm and all were gone. We’ll be following up tomorrow to see if that was the extent of what’s planned.

Meantime, the city confirms that other area encampments are on their radar.

26TH/28TH/BRANDON: Inquiries we made about this site last week were bounced between Parks, SDOT, and the mayor’s office. From that last stop, here’s what mayoral spokesperson Jamie Housen told WSB about the camping in the area of 26th/28th/Brandon:

The City is also aware of these sites and has conducted periodic inspections. … The general area of the south side of Greg Davis Park has a handful of sites that have been logged in our database over the course of several months. The Unified Care Team will continue to do trash mitigation in this area and keep an eye on the site.

We’ve also been CC’d on one neighbor’s ongoing correspondence with the city regarding that area, much of which has been handled through SDOT parking enforcement. Today, the neighbor noted that there’d been gunfire in the area just before midnight last night, and said police found two shell casings. The gunfire report is verified in the SPD weekend summaries, saying the evidence was found in the roadway on Brandon between 26th and 29th, but officers didn’t find anyone who saw what happened.

Then tonight, we received a note from another area resident who believes an encampment’s encroachment onto the road contributed to a hit-run she witnessed:

At about 5:45 tonight while traveling east at 30th and Brandon I noticed a young boy walking west on Brandon on the opposite side of the road. I then noticed a vehicle traveling west and watched in horror as it hit the little boy. He was thrown up onto the hood of the car and in spite of me honking. screaming and waving at the driver she glanced at me and kept right on going. The little boy got up from the ground and went running eastbound on Brandon but I was unable to determine what happened to him when he got to 26th. I think he was running because he was in shock.

Folks when traveling on Brandon please take care, especially near the newest homeless encampment which is where this happened. Drivers treat this stretch of roadway like it is a main arterial with plenty of room to pass in each direction past pedestrians. It is not and the encampment encroaches on the road way as well.

I hope that little boy is ok. I’ll be thinking about him and his poor parents tonight.

There were no medical calls to that area but there was one in that timeframe to the Louisa Boren STEM K-8 parking lot about a child hit by a vehicle. The call closed very quickly; SFD says a 10-year-old boy was evaluated and “did not require transport” but does not have information on whether the collision happened in the lot or might have been the one on Brandon.

WEST MARGINAL PLACE: This encampment is on a cul-de-sac that abuts the bicycle/foot path west of the low bridge. The reply to our inquiry about its status: “Yes, the City is aware of this site, and while we do not provide remediation dates in advance as the calendar changes frequently (…) it is scheduled for remediation in the next several weeks.” One neighbor says he was told that could happen as soon as this week; no-parking signs are up for tomorrow through August 30th, citing “work crew” as the reason, but no sweep-alert notices are in view in the area, as would usually precede a sweep.

Tracey August 1, 2022 (10:35 pm)

Brandon 26/28/30 is also the neighborhood greenway for cyclists and has speed bumps. My recreational rides through that area and up up up 30th are always frightening. I cycle on the sidewalk up 30th to save my life.

bolo August 1, 2022 (11:32 pm)

“…an encampment’s encroachment onto the road contributed to a hit-run…”

a) an encampment’s encroachment onto the road is no excuse for hitting a pedestrian.

and, especially:

b) no excuse for hitting a pedestrian AND RUNNING FROM THE SCENE.

WSB August 1, 2022 (11:38 pm)

I wasn’t suggesting it was, nor was the person who sent that report. Perhaps I worded it poorly in attempting the segue, sorry.
flimflam August 2, 2022 (6:45 am)

bolo, ok. So should encampments, or anything else, be permitted to encroach on roadways?
- bolo August 2, 2022 (10:50 am)
  
  NO.
  
  I just got rubbed the wrong way from apparently misunderstanding some possibly poorly worded segment there and wanted to emphasize that an encampment encroaching on the street is no excuse for a vehicular H&R to a pedestrian.
Delridge Neighbor August 2, 2022 (7:55 am)

This encampment is blocking the only safe place to walk along that stretch of Brandon Street. Brandon should have sidewalks, but it doesn’t. Instead, it has stretch of gravel on its south edge that used to help make walking slightly safer. Now that portion of the right of way is taken by RVs, boats, trailers and other vehicles, forcing pedestrians to walk in the roadway.
- Jenava Sexton August 2, 2022 (11:24 am)
  
  Even the small strip that’s there doesn’t go along the entire stretch of road. The rvs are parked in a section where there is a trail through the trees that can be used. The section of Brandon where peds are forced in to the street is between 30th and the trail entrance at 29th.

Snake hill resident August 2, 2022 (9:04 am)

I am the person that reported the hit and run. Yes the location of the encampment is an issue, so is the fact that the grass on the other side of the street is very long and hasn’t been cut by the city. There is no where for pedestrians to walk but in the street.

Jenava Sexton August 2, 2022 (11:41 am)

It’s horrific what you witnessed! There is a trail beside the road in this section. I would encourage anyone walking this stretch to use it. However, pedestrians should still be able to walk safely on the road. Not everyone can use the trail. The trail runs between 29th and 26th.

Sasquatch August 2, 2022 (9:25 am)

Thank you for the reporting WSB. I’m curious about what the city is doing about drugs that campers are using? It seems like the elephant in the room is fentanyl. I know that there are recovery services available but a person usually has to bottom out before they want to recover. If it is not wanted it won’t be effective. A better course of action seems to be combating the flow of drugs. Having just been in Europe with an incredible influx of immigrants from Africa you still don’t see homeless encampments. They struggle with lack of affordable housing, conflicting policies and all of the things we struggle with but the major difference is availability of fentanyl.

Estebador August 2, 2022 (11:02 am)

We are still in the midst of a decades-long “war on drugs” with billions of dollars spent every year to reduce the supply. It has been an absolute failure, obviously. Europe has found success in reducing the number of addicts and deaths from addiction by implementing common sense drug laws, increasing resources for addiction treatment, and reinforcing safety nets for vulnerable people, thereby reducing demand.https://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/portugal-heroin-decriminalization/
bolo August 2, 2022 (11:03 am)

Fentanyl use is a major contributor to poor driving, I am now convinced from seeing it myself. I see fentanyl use out in the open several days a week. Along the bike trails, next to encampments, in front of my workplace. Crush the pills into a square of aluminum foil, hold the lighter underneath, inhale thru a straw. 4-5 hits and the user can barely walk.

Last week I was walking up the sidewalk in front of Lowman beach and noticed a car parked there a little more crooked than most , faded black Honda with the motor running and headlights on. The driver was hunched over the steering wheel. I stared because at first glance his look reminded me of Kurt Cobain. He was smoking fentanyl right there in the driver’s seat with the car running! Tinfoil, lighter, and straw! Tell me he’s not going to be a danger on the roads when he takes off!
- Jenava Sexton August 2, 2022 (11:29 am)
  
  I don’t think anyone will disagree that it’s a problem. Or even that it s the main problem, although I think that arguable. (Losing your house makes you depressed, you find cheap street drugs to self medicate. Don’t lose your house, you won’t self medicate). What the reply to your comment is taking issue with is that Europe addressed this as a supply problem. That’s actually not true. They addressed it as a social and mental health problem. Not approaches American values can typically get behind.

Juan August 2, 2022 (9:28 am)

Has the city provided an update on installing the sidewalk on Brandon or finishing the entrance of Camp Long on Brandon?

Jenava Sexton August 2, 2022 (10:50 am)

I emailed with the project manager to try to get a answer to the entrance being closed far longer than planned. He told me it was waiting on permits. I have responded asking why permits were not acquired prior to closing the entrance. I ccd Lisa Herbold (who I’ve found is mostly defensive and useless but she’s what we have). Feel free to email the PM for the entrance:Jacobo.Jimenez@seattle.gov The pathway (not sidewalk) is supposedly still planned, but the city decided to beautify the entrance first. Which is completely negligent in my opinion, however I think it was political (the description notes it is a long time employees wish and that there was private funding).
- Jenava Sexton August 2, 2022 (11:00 am)
  
  This is a link to the project information. There is also a link to download the entire plan for the area.https://www.seattle.gov/parks/about-us/projects/sw-brandon-and-sw-findlay-streets-trail-improvements-and-wayfinding
  - Jenava Sexton August 2, 2022 (11:32 am)
    
    The community placed the “Brandon street right of way – area B” as the first priority in about 50% of responses. This would make a path over the ditch between where the sidewalk ends on 30th to the trail entrance at 29th. That’s the top 1st place ranking of all the projects. For some reason the cost is listed as 230k. Pretty sure the neighbors could take out the weeds, put culverts in the ditch, cover, and make a path for far less.

Mj August 2, 2022 (9:35 am)

An encampment encroaching on a street is a Safety issue for all users of street. The City needs to aggressively remove all illegal parking and encampments, enough already!

Derek August 2, 2022 (10:34 am)

free housing is needed before any of this
- sarge August 2, 2022 (11:07 am)
  
  NO. Safety first. “Free housing” is a faraway dream. Things cost money, and money takes time.Meantime there are other places to park, live, that don’t cause imminent safety issues to all.
  - Kevin on Delridge August 2, 2022 (11:40 am)
    
    This is the flavor of conservatism that is holding us back. So many in Seattle want to delude themselves into believing they are progressive because they put up social justice signs and flags.
    
    You are enabling fascism.
  - Derek August 2, 2022 (11:42 am)
    
    So safety of the poor doesn’t matter? Only safety of those who are well off who ride by on e-bikes? Hmm okay.
- spooled August 2, 2022 (2:30 pm)
  
  You know, there’s a big empty parking lot at 20th & Roxbury. Flat, close to grocers, and transit. Some RV’s could fit there until the free housing comes along? Like a safe lot.
  - Neighbor August 3, 2022 (11:12 am)
    
    That “ empty” lot is owned by Holy Family church. (Look up the location on King County Parcel viewer.) My guess is that it would be up to them if they want to house an encampment there. Given the fact that the church often has their doors locked so that folks don’t come in there and use their bathrooms to do drugs and vandalize things, they may lean on the side of no way. I am not a parishioner there (although my MIL is), and I realize churches are often safe spaces for people of all walks of life, but offering up a privately owned parking lot as a solution just doesn’t make any sense. The housing and homeless struggles are a very real and sad state of affairs, with no solution in sight. I don’t know what the answer is, but suggesting that privately owned properties should be used because of the NIMBY attitudes on this site seems par for the course I guess…unless it happens in your neighborhood.

Jenava Sexton August 2, 2022 (10:51 am)

I live near here and I wouldn’t classify the encampment as encroaching on the roadway. However, the road has no shoulder or lane markings. It’s not a great place for a permanently parked RV (or 10) that abuts the road directly.

Auntie August 2, 2022 (11:06 am)

And now there are two boats there at the 29th & Brandon “RV park.” What the heck?

bolo August 2, 2022 (11:22 am)

I would see boats at the former encampment at 26/Andover fairly often.

Family man August 2, 2022 (9:42 pm)

If you want to help the neighborhood and get the city to enforce the laws on these illegally parked RVs please send or call. I know that all of us living in this area would greatly appreciate any assistance we can get. Feel free to CC the west seattle blog on your communicationsSonia PalmaInterim Parking Enforcement Operations Manager 3City of Seattle, Department of TransportationO: 206-684-5015 | M: 206-639-9428 | sonia.palma@seattle.gov

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