FOLLOWUP: West Marginal Place encampment swept

For a second consecutive day, the city has swept a longrunning West Seattle encampment. As mentioned here last night, the city said a sweep was planned for the West Marginal Place cul-de-sac encampment, adjacent to industrial businesses and the bike/foot path west of the low bridge. “No parking” signs were in place, effective today. And this morning, the sweep happened. We took the photo above a short time ago, after a neighbor’s tip. A city crew that was packing up when we arrived said they’d been there since 8 this morning and would be back at a future date for additional cleanup such as vegetation work. While this encampment wasn’t one of the biggest in the area, it had grown in recent weeks, and been the scene of multiple fires (we covered one in November). A fluctuating number of RVs have been parking there for at least six years.

24 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: West Marginal Place encampment swept"

  • Spooled August 2, 2022 (12:08 pm)

    Looks great!  Now do 16th by the college since that’s where the last two camps ended up.  Andover crew and the hwy 509 south on ramp crew.  I report them on find-it fix-it and the city does nothing.

    • Sadoutcome August 2, 2022 (5:22 pm)

      Yes please. They’re already building piles of garbage next to the RVs.

  • skeeter August 2, 2022 (12:11 pm)

    I’m glad this spot got cleaned up but this process has gotten infuriating.  The encampment at 26th and Brandon (near Greg Davis Park) was gradually getting smaller until a couple weeks ago.  As of this morning there are now 6+ broken down RVs, vans, trailers, etc.  Brandon is the only practical connection between Delridge and Highpoint.  Do you know how scary it is to walk along Brandon at night in the dark all alone surrounded by really sketchy vehicles and stacks of car parts and so on?  We’re just pushing these RVs from one spot to the next.  We desperately need a legal parking area for RVs or we simply need to tow and impound any RV illegally parked for more than 72 hours on a public street.    

  • StupidinSeattle August 2, 2022 (12:22 pm)

    Thank you Mayor Harrell and SPD, City workers.  It stuns me to read that these encampments have been accepted as normal by previous city elected officials for periods up to 6 years.  Sweeps of such sites are long overdue.

  • Jim P. August 2, 2022 (1:00 pm)

    Elsewhere, where I live or near, there are two or three small groups of RVs mostly parked near churches and, what do you know, they do NOT have huge piles of trash, garbage and piles of bicycles etc.

    Seems it is not mandatory to live like a pig unless you choose to.

    • Josh August 2, 2022 (1:37 pm)

      Being a good neighbor has nothing to do with being housed or not. 

  • Mj August 2, 2022 (1:01 pm)

    Thank you 

  • bill August 2, 2022 (1:31 pm)

    Whatever will the recycling biz just down the street do without those folks supplying them with “surplus” and “salvaged” wire???? 

  • SC August 2, 2022 (2:27 pm)

    Pigeon Point thanks SDOT. This encampment was the base for daily crime operations in our neighborhood – they used the Charlestown steps to inconspicuously steal packages from front porches, break into cars, or steal whatever else wasn’t locked up/behind fences. 

  • GA August 2, 2022 (2:39 pm)

    At long last. I pass this area multiple times a day on foot and by bicycle. Although there were apparently some people parked there beforehand, I don’t remember seeing many overnight vehicles or tents until 2020. The squalor there has been overwhelming at times, as well as the evident human suffering and hopelessness. This has been a site of large-scale daily copper wire stripping and extraction of metal from all manner of found and stolen goods, and the people engaging in these activities drag the extracted metal down to the nearby West Seattle Recycling. The mess left over has been  considerable, and combined with the hoarding of the residents, the trash produced by their encampments, the human waste spread around the area, the drug use and illegal activity, this has been one of the most saddening spectacles I’ve come across in Seattle. Watching this encampment fester over the past two and a half years has inspired me to redouble my commitment to have our communities, cities and counties work to help people avoid living like this.There are many ways to build the types of communities we can all enjoy, regardless of ability or wealth. Perhaps some of you feel the same way and will also become more active in our community.

    • D August 2, 2022 (5:28 pm)

      “…has inspired me to redouble my commitment to have our communities, cities and counties work to help people avoid living like this.There are many ways to build the types of communities we can all enjoy, regardless of ability or wealth. Perhaps some of you feel the same way and will also become more active in our community.”

      If you’re open to sharing  any of the “many ways” …I’d be really interested in taking more action on that front! Yes, I’ve done my own research and have gotten ideas but not always sure what are the most effective measures to take and with the city’s overblown millions spent on “homelessness” sweeps sadly just seem to be kickin’ the can on down the road. Except they are human beings not cans.

      • Nolan August 2, 2022 (7:14 pm)

        It sure does seem easy for folks to forget that they’re celebrating the destruction of what little property and stability those folks had left.

        There is a profound cruelty in blaming homeless people for not having wealth, then forcibly destroying what little wealth they’ve managed to put together, and anyone who celebrates that should be feeling similarly profound shame.

        • Frustrated August 2, 2022 (9:04 pm)

          Are you referring to the piles of trash thrown into the street or the stripped-down (most likely stolen)  bicycle frames under a tarp? That’s what was at that site.

          • Nolan August 2, 2022 (10:20 pm)

            Do you really think the people there were living with no other belonging besides tarps and bicycle frames?

  • KWest Seattle August 2, 2022 (2:45 pm)

    I am so glad these sweeps are happening! I know that term became a dirty word in local politics, but they have been sorely missed. 

  • Maria August 2, 2022 (3:11 pm)

    Thank you to City workers & neighbors who persisted reporting the issues. This section had increasing issues in the last 6 months and impassable sidewalks.This is a before photo:

  • MM August 2, 2022 (4:06 pm)

    Hallelujah!  Slowly but surely after every encampment removal we are finally getting our City back, our safety, our lives, our neighborhoods, our parks, our bike paths all of which we pay for!  Thank you Mayor Harrell!!!!

    • scubafrog August 2, 2022 (7:33 pm)

      For each sweep,  a new encampment’s created, or remaining encampments get bigger.  The city’s not magically getting rid of the homeless.  I’m not sure how that’s lost on some.  And, the SPD still hasn’t gained anymore officers.  No one’s safer, in fact the encampments have become even more violent with stabbings and shootings.  

      • spooled August 2, 2022 (8:47 pm)

        You’re right but the more often they have to pack up and move the less roots they put down.  There has always been a couple liveaboards in a few blocks from me.  A panel van with an old disabled dude in it but the van runs and there’s no junk outside.  A 1980s short RV the other direction but same story, it moves under it’s own power, there’s no junk around, and while I don’t like it they weren’t imposing except as a magnet to others less considerate.  Now there’s a whole fleet of rotted vehicles taking over, sprawling out, and who only knows where they go for relief.  If they had to move every 71 hours they’d be forced to keep it inside the campers at least.

  • WSG August 2, 2022 (9:22 pm)

    It’s disgusting that a lot of people think that it is “normal” to allow the homeless to live in filth on our streets and trash neighborhoods. I hope these sweeps continue. Nothing good comes from these encampments. 

    • Scubafrog August 3, 2022 (9:44 pm)

      Where would you allow them to live?  When one maligns a whole group of people, and talks about sweeping them away, count me out.  

  • Katy Nguyen August 3, 2022 (7:33 am)

    What about the Harbor Ave SW encampment??? It’s turning into a dumpster with piles of garbage and ruining a scenic bike path.. Last month, an RV caught on fire and now, there’s actually a planter with cannabis being grown front and center! I see no parking signs being put up once in a while without any sweeps being actually made or having any of the vehicles and garbage removed.

  • Dave August 3, 2022 (2:21 pm)

    A lot of folks here taking *joy* in something that even if they support probably should not find pleasure in.

  • Kw August 4, 2022 (2:40 pm)

    But where does it all pop up again? the encampment simply moves about. 

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