FOLLOWUP: Numbers from SW Trenton, Myers Way encampment ‘resolutions’

| Myers Way | West Seattle news | Westwood

(Myers Way, Thursday evening, post-resolution)

“Resolution” is the word the city currently uses rather than “sweep”; workers from multiple departments resolved two RV-dominated encampments in West Seattle this week, so we followed up for the statistics that are usually available afterward. We requested and received this information from the mayor’s office, to which the Unified Care Team reports:

SW Trenton north of Westwood Village, cleared on Wednesday (September 18):
-35 people were contacted (over three weeks – they weren’t all living at the site); 7 accepted offers of shelter; 6 RVs and 3 vehicles were at the site, 3 towed; 4,200 pounds of debris removed

Myers Way near the Joint Training Facility, cleared on Thursday (September 19):
-11 people were contacted; 2 accepted offers of shelter; 18 RVs and vehicles were at the site, 2 towed; 11,400 pounds of debris removed

Mellow Kitty September 21, 2024 (12:01 am)

Holy trash pile, Batman! That’s close to 8 tons!

Alex September 21, 2024 (3:51 am)

That’s exactly what we thought when reading this!

Derek September 21, 2024 (4:26 am)

“Resolution” wow they already have a new Orwellian term for the Poverty Shuffle

wsres September 21, 2024 (7:55 am)

I wonder how many rats that garbage attracted…It never should have been allowed for as long as it was being so close to a school with open air drug use.

Elaine September 21, 2024 (8:04 am)

Thanks Tracy for your timely coverage. Our office escalated these two encampments as we do all the ones that our office is informed about. The UCT must coordinate with multiple departments and they are working through a very long queue. They employ a compassionate approach and they are working on the recurrence issue.

Anne September 21, 2024 (10:25 am)

How are they working on the recurrence issue? Guessing the majority – who refused shelter services -will show up somewhere else & the whole outreach merry-go- round just starts again.

K September 21, 2024 (8:36 am)

The average person (housed) in the U.S. creates about 5 lbs. of trash per day. So 4200 lbs. of trash, divided by 35 people, divided by 5 lbs. a day is about 24 days’ worth of trash. Based on the WSB articles, these folks have been on that street a lot longer than 24 days. Yes, it’s a huge amount of trash. We are not accustomed to seeing how much waste humans in America generate the way we see it laid out after sweeps like this. If the RVs had the same curbside trash collection housed people did, that pile wouldn’t accumulate. And if housed people suddenly lost their access to curbside trash pickup, they’d be dealing with the same level of garbage seen at encampments. We ALL need to be mindful of our footprint.

momosmom September 21, 2024 (10:38 am)

I am always amazed at all the stuff us housed people throw away. Whenever we go to the transfer station, which is not often I am just shocked by the mountains of trash.
Frog September 21, 2024 (10:57 am)

Yes, give the RV people weekly trash pickup, and make it free just like it is for housed residents. Wait … the voice inside my head is trying to tell me something … it’s not free … one black can costs $500 per year. OK, I guess the RV people will pay that too, right?
- Sunrise Heights September 21, 2024 (11:25 am)
  
  Frog, do you think your tax money isn’t paying for the removal when these sweeps occur? That’s not free either. Regular removal at least minimizes the additional problems that come with accumulation.
alki_2008 September 23, 2024 (12:06 am)

5 pounds per person?! My household must be abnormal because we put out 1 plastic grocery bag each week, plus a not-full-but-separate bag of pet waste. I don’t know the weight, but the volume is certainly low and doesn’t feel like 5 pounds. The pet waste might be 5 pounds, but that’s for an entire week. How are housed people creating 5 pounds of garbage every day. That’s crazy!.And yes, we have a huge stockpile of plastic grocery bags. At the rate we use them, they should last us a lifetime.
- K September 23, 2024 (9:02 pm)
  
  It’s a statistical average. If you look at the waste collected at the last Fauntleroy Roundup, the piles of cable, appliances, etc., that all counts. Furniture and big stuff brings your average up, even though it’s not every day.

Brian Feusagach September 21, 2024 (9:40 am)

The amount of trash is staggering indeed and also not surprising as one drives by. Might we be more tolerant of these needy people if their areas were as neat and clean as the surrounding neighborhood? That would require regular collections like homeowners have … but it might cost less than these “sweeps”.

Jeff September 21, 2024 (10:16 am)

I think people would definitely mind a lot less. The woman living in the ambulance near Lincoln Park manages to do so quietly without creating piles of trash, drug paraphernalia and stolen property and nobody seems up in arms to move her along somewhere else. At the same time, that example suggests that the creation of this problem is completely avoidable by the people that created it if they were ever held even slightly accountable.
K September 21, 2024 (7:27 pm)

Do these comments remind anyone else of decades past, where white people said they wouldn’t mind having Blacks in their neighborhoods as long as they were clean and spoke the King’s English?
Bbron September 22, 2024 (5:21 am)

public restrooms, more public garbage collection, way more street furniture, better public transit. people being homeless is a reality as of now and we need our environment to not further harm vulnerable folks. those amenities also benefit all more vulnerable and less resources communities like folks with disabilities, children, etc. shaming and sweeping folks can’t fix the reality that if it’s hard or impossible to find a way to dispose of trash or use the bathroom that people are going to use the immediate environment.

jissy September 21, 2024 (10:03 am)

Def’n of insanity at its finest.

Alki resident September 21, 2024 (12:22 pm)

Tax payers are paying for every pound of trash from these encampments. Millions of dollars wasted on this topic. It is up to all of us to stop leaving FREE stuff out for after sale pickers to grab. Be responsible and take to Goodwill or the dump.

WS Resident September 21, 2024 (12:46 pm)

This is not a solution. Several RVs, vehicles and debris from these “resolutions” are now (back) at 9th and Henderson.

aa September 21, 2024 (6:11 pm)

I don’t think any of these agencies have promised that a sweep was the permanent solution so maybe you could check your disappointed expectations as they are based on what you want, not what anyone said they were doing. I don’t have a solution, but I do know that comments here are often expressing disappointment and frustration in how this mess is being handled. Do you have a solution? If you do speak up.

Market Shopper September 21, 2024 (9:39 pm)

Legislation to create a Residential Parking Pass Program for RVs tied to a residence with the vicinity of said parking area. If the RV is not tied to a residence then it cannot park on the street. Heck, create a residential parking pass for all cars that must be tied to an address. You can’t get a pass unless you provide a lease or a bill to your residence. It’s a start …
- Bbron September 22, 2024 (5:13 am)
  
  all of those ideas just further criminalized being homeless… solely a way to funnel resources into bureaucracy instead of helping people.
- K September 22, 2024 (7:02 am)
  
  How does that work for out-of-town guests? Anything too restrictive will make it impossible for people to have out-of-town friends if they don’t have an RV spot in their driveway, and anything less than that will just spur the creation of a non-profit who buys RV passes for the homeless to end the sweeps.
  - Christopher Miller September 23, 2024 (10:06 am)
    
    I lived in the city of Milwaukee for 25 years. They had an overnight parking rule that required anyone parked on the street overnight to have a permit, guests could be permitted for up to three nights in a 30 day period, and alternate street parking (switch sides for street sweeping—which actually happened!) was enforced. Parking checker jeeps were a regular sight. It was a bit of an adjustment for new residents but overall it was a pretty good system that balanced the needs of residents with protection of the public right of way. Im sure it could be improved but it is evidence that such a system can exist and be operated.
- Jethro Marx September 22, 2024 (8:31 am)
  
  This is a bit like making someone prove they have a job before helping them find a job. It’s quite a start.
  - Market Shopper September 22, 2024 (12:44 pm)
    
    The great thing about writing legislation is that you can write in all of these thing to the legislation. Don’t want non profits to get a bunch, state it must be a residence. Out of town guests – you can register at the Police Department and guest a guest visitor pass or get a pdf and print out at your home. It works in Boston, Washington DC and other major cities. They also have the 72 hour law but enforce it. There will always people people who find ways around whatever laws are in the books but you can try to do something. I was on alki three weeks ago and a RV had a sign in it said Out of State Visitors visiting friends from 9/3-9/10. Call X if there is an issue. That was very interesting but shows the concern people have. The problem here is multi faceted but the question initially was how to prevent RV Parker’s and the trash and someone suggested throwing out ideas. That’s all it was. It also does not criminalize homelessness.

anonyme September 22, 2024 (7:56 am)

Notably, the “numbers” do not include costs. Or what percentage of the trash was stolen property.

WSB September 22, 2024 (1:24 pm)

(a) These are the numbers I specifically requested. The “costs” are part of various departments’ budgets and you’ll see those in the budget process that the mayor/council are about to begin (look at SPU’s budget for past years, for example, at what they have spent on cleanups like these).

(b) Most items would be untraceable to who specifically left the item behind and how that person procured it (when Waste Management rolls down a street for weekly pickups, do you see them going through trash/recycling receptables to catalog each individual item and how it might have been procured?). But it does raise one interesting question on which I’ll follow up with SPU, which leads the “cleanup” part of these operations – if what’s left behind includes items that might be traceable, such as bicycles, power tools, etc., what does the city do with them?

alki_2008 September 23, 2024 (12:17 am)

Is there any feedback as to WHY contacted people do not accept housing? I understand there are various reasons, but if the goal is to get people housed then understanding their individual reasons for not accepting housing is critical to getting them out of the homelessness cycle. Is there a specific aspect of offered housing that could be changed to increase the acceptance rate?

WSB September 23, 2024 (12:26 pm)

I’ve seen various stories with explanations similar to this:
https://www.realchangenews.org/news/2024/06/05/why-dont-people-accept-shelter

K September 23, 2024 (1:34 pm)

I can tell you from my own experience, and the experiences of people I know who are presently homeless in Seattle, the “offers” of shelter are a joke. It’s a place on a wait list, more often than not. My friend that stayed at the Navigation Center was constantly catcalled and harassed, and had their stuff stolen regularly. The low barrier shelters do not feel safe to many people, especially women and the elderly. The shelters WITH barriers are problematic in many ways, too. Methadone is a critical part of opioid addiction treatment for many people, and some shelters won’t let you bring your methadone in with you. Many shelters are gender-specific, so families get separated if parents are not legally married. Most do not allow pets to stay with you. LGBT and gender non-conforming persons face a huge amount of discrimination at emergency shelters, and long-term shelter options (as many are run by religious groups). The list goes on.

It’s also important to remember just how many people who are homeless believe their situation to be temporary, so things like giving up pets or being separated from a partner in exchange for any indoor shelter (let alone sketchy shelter) seems like an extreme tradeoff to resolve a situation that is SURE to be remedied on its own in the next few weeks after this One Thing we’ve been waiting on comes through. They’re not refusing housing. Overwhelmingly, they’re refusing circumstances that are worse than what they’re already dealing with.

Sorry, comment time is over.