11:23 AM: As reported here, a city rep told the Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Council last week that the Harbor Avenue RV zone would be swept toward “the end of the month,” and then we discovered no-parking signage last weekend announcing “remediation” for today and tomorrow. So we went by this morning and found the entire stretch of Harbor devoid of RVs and trailers (among other vehicles); eight RVs/trailers were there as of earlier this week. We went through first north/westbound at 9:40 am and noticed a few police/Parking Enforcement officers milling; when we went back the other way at 10 am to record the video above, even they were gone. (The work crew toward the end was not related – they were digging in the road, not alongside it.) As of earlier this week, eight RVs/trailers were on Harbor – so where did they go? We checked 16th SW immediately afterward; no change there from the past few days. We’ve received two unsolicited reports via our hotline so far this morning otherwise – one caller says someone was towed to Beach Drive near Me-Kwa-Mooks Park; someone else texted, “The pallet RV, semi, and newer RV from the Harbor Ave RV camp have been towed over to 26th behind the tennis courts of the Delridge playfields.” We haven’t verified those yet but will be checking later, and we also are inquiring with the city for formal word on city-ordered tows (if any) from Harbor.
8:55 PM: The city’s homelessness-response spokesperson Linda Robson answered our followup questions this evening:
Periodic outreach has been ongoing for many months, and the concerted outreach effort started on Jan. 18. In the lead-up to the remediation work done today, a total of 10 individuals were engaged and offered shelter, and while none of the shelter offers were accepted, all of the individuals voluntarily left the work zone area before 10 a.m. this morning when remediation work began. Our crews found two RVs, one bus, two motorcycles, four utility trailers and four vehicles on site this morning before work began, and all were voluntarily moved out of the work zone, so no vehicles were towed. Nearly 1,800 pounds of debris was removed from the site today.
Unified Care Team staff are still working with community members and exploring various strategies for managing parking along Harbor Avenue SW, including potentially extending the temporary no-parking restrictions, or possibly creating a Residential Parking Zone. There are numerous residents in the area, but also several businesses, so discussions in the community are ongoing as we work on identifying strategies that balance the diverse parking needs in the neighborhood.
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