CLEANUP: City crews along Harbor Avenue

2:11 PM: Thanks for the tip. City crews are cleaning up what is or was an encampment area in the greenbelt along the inland side of Harbor Avenue SW, south/east of Fairmount Avenue. This isn’t the RV encampment area – currently seven RVs and a few trucks are scattered along the other side of Harbor. One city rep explained that this is/was a small encampment with a large amount of debris. According to the King County Assessor‘s map, it’s Parks Department land. We have an inquiry out to the city’s homelessness-response spokesperson to try to find out more.

4:05 PM: Haven’t heard back from the city yet but did get this from a reader:

In addition to Harbor, they were cleaning out the woods up Fairmount today too. This area had a stretch of bike jumps that groups had been building and using over the last year. After the summer, the jump track area morphed into encampments and trash dumps in this stretch of woods and trails down to Harbor Ave near Salty’s.

Nate T December 12, 2022 (3:08 pm)

Great! Next the encampment east of Kenyon Street in the West Duwamish green belt pretty please, that is a horror show.

MM December 12, 2022 (3:36 pm)

The homeless that creates the garbage piles should pay the bill for clean up! Not other tax paying citizens!!!

The Earl December 12, 2022 (5:15 pm)

Sure would be nice if the folks making these messes could be provided with the implements needed to clean up after themselves.

Auntie December 12, 2022 (6:21 pm)

Something tells me that wouldn’t help…
T December 12, 2022 (7:12 pm)

I’m with you! I’m tired of the city having to clean up these encampment.
1994 December 12, 2022 (9:37 pm)

I agree with The Earl! But the city is unfortunately an enabler of the situation and will allow them to move on and trash another place.
Lola December 13, 2022 (9:22 am)

Earl, Down in Georgetown they are given Purple trash bags to clean up after themselves. They only use those for Poncho’s or Rain Tarps on-top of their Structures that they build. The City still comes by to clean up the garbage that they pile up or leave when they are told to move. They can collect the garbage in a small amount of time of pulling up stakes and moving on.

StupidInSeattle December 12, 2022 (6:25 pm)

Happy to see cleanup of the green belt. And about those 7 trashed RVs on Harbor Avenue… when can they be moved along?

Mountain Biker December 12, 2022 (6:36 pm)

It’s really too bad they had to take down the bike jumps that weren’t related to all the encampment nonsense.

Brian December 13, 2022 (7:02 am)

This is true – it takes a lot of work to make those, and this land is a good place for it.
Chris December 13, 2022 (9:11 am)

If you build it, they will come! I liked the creativity creating the ramps, but in this city homeless own the woods not citizens. Where kids use to play are now the places you don’t dare send them. Very sad to see Seattle give it away like this. Now you must jump in a car, burn fuel to drive up to the mountains. Why are we working so hard preserving green spaces in Seattle?
J December 14, 2022 (2:42 pm)

This would be a great project for citizens, like you and Brian who are interested, to work the city to create a park area for this type of thing. Like they’ve done with skateboard areas. It’s recreation, and if people are interested it should be done.

Chris December 13, 2022 (9:04 am)

We have been requesting help with this site on the FixIt App for months, and they never responded to it. Car loads of lumber and other material were being delivered to the site as it built up. I think it was for mountain biking, but with RVs and homeless camps being allowed to park/camp illegally it was just a matter of time before homeless would take over the spot. Could have saved the tax payer the cost of bringing in heavy equipment to clean the site, and used that money to shelter a homeless person. The city now appears to wait for things to become a problem, completly ignore local citizen conerns and warnings from people that actually live there and see it happening live, because city leaders have proven they have a better approach I guess. Seems very wasteful.

mountain biker December 13, 2022 (11:19 am)

To be clear and point out the facts, there was a single tent about 50 yards south of where the bike jumps were, not some out of control camp like you are suggesting. The gentleman living there consistently picked up the trash left by scumbags who drove up/down Fairmount and dumped trash, so please lay the blame where it belongs. I was there one day during my lunch hour sessioning the step-up and watched some dude in a $60K truck throw several bags of trash over the concrete blocks they placed in the driveway and quickly drive away. No worries though, the jumps will be rebuilt. Please stop by when they are Chris and identify yourself. On of my favorite jumping tricks is a no-hander, and I’m sure I can throw a middle finger extension in with it!
- Jenn December 13, 2022 (12:42 pm)
  
  It’ll sure be a shame when people keep dismantling the jumps. For you, not for us :)
- Nature December 13, 2022 (1:38 pm)
  
  Hell yeah mountain biker! The city should just make this space a dedicated trail system. The mtb community would gladly keep things clean with volunteers, the city wouldn’t need to spend a penny. All of these underutilized spaces need caretakers, and community volunteers to bring them up to their full potential. The city seems to think that simply cleaning up the same mess every 6 months is a solution to the problem as opposed to a bandaid.
  - mountain biker December 13, 2022 (4:29 pm)
    
    Agreed Nature, the stewardship and efforts of organizations like Evergreen are unparalleled. Unfortunately, any kind of sanctioned trail building would take years thanks to nimbys like Jenn. Look at Cheasty Greenspace as an example. I guess its time to drop some coin on one of those MTB Hopper jump ramps and just set it up and have sessions in whatever public space looks good.
- Chris December 13, 2022 (4:29 pm)
  
  The jumps are not the problem but why all the other stuff? Walls, metal railings a mirror. This is public land for everyone to use. If I repair a public sidewalk the city requires me to get a permit and pay for the repairs. If you seriously want to build a trail system for mountain biking and you are passionate about it, then get the permits and build it. That type of thing would be a nice addition to the area.

Karl Swenson December 13, 2022 (9:05 am)

There is another village on Myers Way in the woods over 509.

PDavis December 13, 2022 (9:55 am)

Where they dig into the hill to put bike jumps actually a roads the soil and can play a role in landslides. Seems like the people doing that should get a job and do something constructive with their time instead of deteriorate the forest and make the land unstable for their entertainment. Thank you, Mayor Harrell for trying to regain a city worth living in. I am seeing positive changes in getting a handle on the Graffiti and other trash components of this city. Thank you Mayor Harrell for the incredible courage and leadership you show. Inch by inch we are bringing Seattle back to a place We can be proud of . Thank you.!!

mountain biker December 13, 2022 (4:21 pm)

We do have jobs. I’m a PhD geotechnical engineer and can say with absolute certainty you are wrong . Did you know that the city scrapped away native plants that were transplanted to that area to mitigate what you are insinuating? They just created the problem. Nice try though!

Chris December 13, 2022 (10:12 am)

The Admiral Bridge is another spot homeless are damaging. They live under the bridge, dig into the ground around footers, start fires, etc. The deck of the bridge is a mess of potholes never repaired. Do we really need to wait for this bridge to fail before we do anything to prevent further structural damage and disruption to our commute to work? Do we not pay enough in taxes to expect city leaders to repair and protect this critical structure? Can we fence off the bridge so homeless are not able to live under the bridge and continue digging their tunnels? Or do we just wait for another experience like the WSB and hear about a sudden closure that is a big surprise to city leaders? Can we be proactive for a change?