27 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: Dates posted for Harbor Avenue RV 'remediation'"

• waikikigirl February 19, 2023 (2:35 pm)

  Yesterday we drove thru the area going home  from SunFish (yum) and saw Parking Enforcement putting tickets maybe warning notices on all the windshields.

  • Mr Henry February 19, 2023 (4:49 pm)

    I wonder where these RVs will move to?Maybe Bellevue.

    • K February 19, 2023 (4:58 pm)

      They’ll go to 16th by the college or Henderson or Cambridge, or any number of other streets in West Seattle.  Sweeps don’t solve homelessness.  They just exacerbate the instability in the lives of those living in RVs and makes it harder for them to find permanent housing, or jobs if they don’t have one already (many do).  I’ve watched the RVs by my house leave when the street is swept, and then come back a month or two later when their new home is swept.  We’re just throwing tax dollars at shuffling people around, for the benefit of NIMBY feelings, without making the slightest dent in the problem.

      • wscommuter February 19, 2023 (6:20 pm)

        I can appreciate your concern (which I share) about finding stable housing/food/treatment, etc. for homeless folks.  I’ll readily pay more taxes to do these things.  But the status quo isn’t working – at all. And the hard truth is that too many of these RV’s are bases for criminal activity – see the stolen bikes, etc. littered around too many of them, as well as the open/blatant drug use – especially fentanyl and meth.  So the benefit of the sweeps, even as whack-a-mole enforcement, is disruption to some of that criminal activity.  I’m under no illusion that it stops the thefts, etc., but it is interfering with the anti-social activities of many of these folks has a benefit to the neighbors who are forced to live near such awful behavior.  There has to be some justice and fairness for the community as much as there needs to be compassion for folks who are down on their luck, or mentally ill or otherwise needing help.  Your reduction of this to a simplistic “NIMBY” accusation is both inaccurate and unfair to folks who reasonably don’t want the needles and filth and crime that comes with RV encampments.  

        • Mrs. Myrtle February 19, 2023 (8:49 pm)

          I’m starting to feel proud of my “NIMBY” title. It means I care about my community and the safety and livability of my neighborhood. I’m proud to pay my taxes and go to work everyday. I’m proud to volunteer and make a difference for my less privileged neighbors. I’m proud that when one of my neighbors has differing views or politics, I listen to their opinions to gains greater understanding for thing I do yet not know. I’m proud to not blame others for my misfortunes. The “you’re a nimby” for not wanting trash, filth, and crime in my neighborhood,” is getting old. That so 2019. Grow up! Seattle needs some reasonable adults again running this city. Enough! 

        • Ice February 20, 2023 (1:25 am)

          Yes, you are such a community minded individual that your only idea for solving a problem affecting the the entire country and especially every city on the west coast is to push the people who you find intolerable into the next neighborhood over. Really community oriented there.

      • nim February 20, 2023 (11:08 am)

        Yes there are NIMBY feelings involved with “hosting” the RV homes in our neighborhoods.  
        But then again, sharing the burden of trash, sewage dumping , toxic fires, stolen bikes, vehicles and tools and household items, break-ins and burglaries as well as allowing the RV residents to shed their trash and move to another street of ‘hosts’ can be an education.

• Katie M. February 19, 2023 (3:41 pm)

  Well, I’m sure I’m not the only one breathing a sigh of relief despite the ugliness of the situation all the way around.

  Now for some humor: is it too soon to suggest that pay to play is the American way? 🤭🫠 No money mo problems 

• Auntie February 19, 2023 (4:43 pm)

  So, according to the notice, they have to be moved Thursday and Friday, but can come right back on Saturday or Sunday. 

• spooled February 19, 2023 (4:47 pm)

  The RV in this photo is now on 16th in front of the college along with a couple others.   Keep sweeping.  The job’s not done.

  • WSB February 19, 2023 (4:50 pm)

    If so, that’s just in the past few hours, as we took the photo at 12:16 pm today. We drove 16th last night and there was one RV/trailer, plus a couple trucks.

    • Spooled February 19, 2023 (6:56 pm)

      They and another RV moved to 16th a little after 1pm.

  • James February 20, 2023 (9:02 am)

    It hasn’t been three days, they are allowed to park. The “sweep-obsessed” are starting to hate basic freedoms now. 

• J February 19, 2023 (5:03 pm)

  @WSB – if you happen to know, would you mind posting the name and position of the individual responsible to organize the RV removals — with an official contact phone number?I regularly ride my bike on the trail and would be happy to immediately report to them RV returnees after the remediation. I want to nod, smile, and wave again to runners walkers skaters bicyclists who seem to have dwindled as the situation has worsened. Understandably.And thank you WSB for your excellent reporting and updates for the community. It’s greatly appreciated. 

  • WSB February 19, 2023 (5:08 pm)

    There is no one single person. Tom Van Bronkhorst was the city rep who attended this week’s meeting but he is one of many people on the task force, not a decisionmaker. He stressed at this week’s meeting that the best way to report is is Find It Fix It or calling the city’s Customer Service Bureau – unless a crime is in progress, in which case call 911.

  • Pdavis February 20, 2023 (12:34 pm)

    A start point for reporting encampmentsIs to download the app :  find it fix it. They have a specific category for encampments

• 22blades February 19, 2023 (9:58 pm)

  Disheartening… Came back from overseas. Exited the parking lot at SEATAC & was met with the sight of an RV encampment in the Turn Lane in the middle of the street for blocks. Welcome to Seattle. /s…

  • James February 20, 2023 (9:01 am)

    What’s disheartening is that people overlook homelessness and a deeply flawed society with such vigor and distaste. What are you doing to help these people get out of an RV and into a standalone home? Should they want to? If they are moving their RV every three days, then what is the problem?

• Harbor Ave cyclist February 20, 2023 (7:52 am)

  A question I never see answered is where did they get these decrepit RV’s in the first place. Did some “entrepreneur” originally find them in a junk yard and somehow get them to run, and then sell or rent them to the current inhabitants?  Do they have license plates, and if so, is there no requirement that the  vehicles require any inspection first?
  Looking at them, I’m amazed that they can even be moved, particularly with all the garbage hanging all over them and piled on their roofs.

  • AT February 20, 2023 (11:57 am)

    I don’t know about licensing/inspection, but there are a few RV slumlords out there:https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/vehicle-ranching-in-seattle-inside-the-underground-market-of-renting-rvs-to-homeless-people/

  • flimflam February 20, 2023 (2:57 pm)

    Many of them don’t run, or if they do, barely. They obviously don’t handle their waste water properly if they never move. They also are largely uninsured and don’t have current tabs. Any of them that fit the that description shouldn’t be allowed on the streets, lived in or not.

• Jay February 20, 2023 (8:43 am)

  There needs to be a way of treating camping and crime as distinct issues. An unhoused person steals a bike or attacks someone, and that’s a homeless issue that can’t be addressed directly by the system. The problem has to keep getting worse and worse until a sweep happens. And then innocent people are the worst impacted by sweeps, the bad actors already have plans and networks in place. There needs to be more nuance and precision in addresses these issues. The current solution of treating unhoused people like non-humans and ghosts in our society up until it’s time to sweep them away is failing on so many levels, hurting good people and having no impact on the problematic part of the population that’s triggering the sweeps in the first place. It’s just so frustrating to watch. Deal with criminals, but don’t criminalize being homeless. It seems simple to me.

• Runner February 20, 2023 (12:13 pm)

  Instead of letting them just move somewhere else, where is the city provided lot that has services for these unfortunate folks to be relocated to?  Those that need and want support should get it at that location.  Those that won’t accept help can follow the laws and be held accountable like the rest of us.  

  • Michelle February 20, 2023 (11:44 pm)

    Unfortunately if you are in an RV or vehicle most city funded programs don’t consider you homeless or unhoused. What should be done is give a place to park option instead of all the new tiny homes how about a safe place to park…

• Sean February 20, 2023 (2:22 pm)

  My truck was stolen from individuals living in an RV on Harbor Ave. Feb 14th.  They cased the admiral neighborhood first which I witnessed 3 days earlier. They used my truck to bash/ram a dilapidated RV a quarter mile up the street to avoid being towed, I assume. I found my truck on Harbor the next morning. An RV a few spaces up. The cops recognized the couple and their dog residing in the RV from photos I showed them. They totaled my truck. It was all witnessed by a woman in a condo across the street. No arrests to my knowledge. I have requested the police report and follow up. Car theft is a low priority. Often not prosecuted. What should we all do?  

• Cakes February 20, 2023 (4:11 pm)

  I’ve gone from living in a great area in my own place , at one point living in the woods and then to an rv. Not everyone in an rv does drugs or steals. I worked most of the time I lived in my rv. I lost many jobs because of the sweeps and having to take off work for them or getting moved too far away from my work so I had to quit. It’s stressful living in fear everyday that if u leave for any bit of time you might come back to not having a home at all. Most of the ppl in rv will not go to those tiny homes. Why when there place of living is bigger then just a jail cell. Plus a lot of them have pets. They don’t allow ppl pets nor allowed visitors. As for the dumping there is a truck that goes around and does the dumping for the rvs.  It would be great if there was more but once a month they come around to the rv encampments and take care of that. And not everyone that wants help gets help. I know a few ppl that need help and are willing to go to a tiny home or whatever’s and they haven’t been able to get that help because they don’t qualify because there not on drugs ect. Yes there are a lot of bad apples but there are good ones too. Every place I moved to I made friends with my neighbors who I’m still friends with now. I don’t live in an rv any longer and me getting a place would have came a lot sooner if I hadn’t been moved all the time or if the ppl supposedly helping us would help us find jobs. None of them do that what so ever. Yes they bring food. And clothes. But work options no. More and more ppl are becoming homeless day by day. Even though most places have a hiring sign up no one is hiring really. Ppl need jobs most are willing to work. When ppl are able to work it would cut down on the crime because they would be able to afford things they need to live. From someone who has lived on both sides of the pond. A little over half of the ppl living in rv aren’t bad they just need the right kinda help to get back on there feet. 

• WSEnvironmentalist February 21, 2023 (4:18 pm)

  The situation on Harbor Ave is freightening for those of us who live on the street.  I know for a fact that at least two of the RV dwellers own hand guns to protect themselves from RV drug dealers and thieves.  I know for a fact that at least one of the RV dwellers is swapping stolen goods for drugs.  I know for a fact that some of the dwellers have jobs and park on Harbor Ave because affordable housing to the South of Seattle is a long commute so an RV on Harbor Ave is a convenience.  I know for a fact that the dwellers who are drug users prowl Harbor Ave at night attempting to break into cars and houses – we have the evidence on a door cam.  This is not a NIMBY issue, it is one of safety and peace of mind.  No one wants to be awakened at 3 AM by a door cam alert and hearing a potentional intruder pushing on the door and rocking the door handle back and forth.  No one wants to find used needles on other paraphernalia on their driveway or in the front yard.  No one wants to open their front door in the morning to take the dog out only find someone sleeping against the house wall in a drug induced stuper.   We pay our taxes and our utilities.  It’s not fair for an RVer to use our outdoor electrical outlet to “plug-in” for charging their cells or whatever else.  No, it’s not NIMBY but rather it is unfairness to those of us who are residents making our way through life with its ups and downs and not abusing the goodwill of others.  

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