FOLLOWUP: Highland Park RV camp ‘remediation’ report from Unified Care Team

| Highland Park | Safety | West Seattle news

(WSB photo, Tuesday morning)

On Tuesday we reported on city crews at 9th/Henderson for an encampment “remediation.” Unified Care Team spokesperson Callie Craighead said the city’s tally of results would be available today. Here’s what she told us:

The Unified Care Team conducted an RV remediation at 9th SW and SW Henderson yesterday morning. There were 3 RVs at the location, and 2 moved voluntarily from the area prior to start of remediation. Our teams towed the one remaining RV and removed almost 2,200 pounds of debris from the site. Offers of shelter were made but none were accepted at that time.

I wanted to note that the 2 RVs that moved voluntarily moved several blocks away, so constituents may feel like the situation was not taken care of. UCT parking enforcement works to keep vehicles in compliance with the City’s 72-hour parking regulations and they will be closely monitoring this area.

Sarge December 4, 2024 (5:03 pm)

2200 pounds of garbage. Wow.

momos mom December 4, 2024 (5:38 pm)

From yesterdays story it had Q3’s update of trash removal and at the going rate at the Seattle Transfer Station the cost for “you & I” would be $6,049,725.00 ($$165.00 per ton)The Unified Care Team (UCT) completed approximately 4,786 site cleanings in the third quarter, an 11% increase from Q2, and removed nearly 703,335 pounds of debris from public spaces.
- Westwood December 4, 2024 (6:00 pm)
  
  Your math ain’t mathing.
- k December 4, 2024 (6:57 pm)
  
  2200 pounds is a little over a ton. That’s about $180 for “you & I”. The 703,335 lbs of debris removed would be $58,025 at the dump.
- bolo December 4, 2024 (11:12 pm)
  
  @momos mom,
  
  Hopefully you don’t work in the budgeting office!
  - momos mom December 5, 2024 (7:04 am)
    
    @Bolo, No actually I am retired and did work with numbers/dollars for 25yrs so if I had made a mistake like this one 😳 I would had been let go or transferred to different position a long time ago and wasn’t, so this was a one-time foobah and I’m a little embarrassed by it. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Thank you for a jokingly comment.But I’d also like to thank some of the other WSB commenters to point out when someone makes a mistake. 🙁
WS Res December 4, 2024 (9:36 pm)

How much garbage would you and your neighbors make in a few weeks if you didn’t have trash service?
- Another WS Res December 4, 2024 (10:19 pm)
  
  Your comment doesn’t make sense, my neighbors and I pay our utilities to ensure our trash is taken away. And I guess our tax dollars are going to clean up their trash as well.
  - WS Res December 5, 2024 (12:08 am)
    
    Of course it makes sense. If that service weren’t available to you, how much trash would you and your neighbors make? Because the quantity seems of interest to many commenters.
    - AN December 5, 2024 (6:20 am)
      
      I’m going to guess that the amount of garbage, recycling, and composting my neighbors and I make is at very most the amount that goes into the bins you see lining the street for pickup. It is nowhere near the amount of literal and figurative crap in and surrounding every single one of these RVs and tent sites. It’s ludicrous to live like this when there are options for those who accept them.

Scarlett December 4, 2024 (7:01 pm)

703,335 lbs/2000 * $165 = $58,025, not a gazillion $$.

Marti December 4, 2024 (8:20 pm)

Either way that the math is incorrect it is way too much garbage/trash for us to pay and it looks like this was just the City of Seattle’s clean ups and not the County’s, am I reading it correctly?

Scarlett December 5, 2024 (10:26 am)

The math is important here, Marti, as we’re talking about magnitude of error (several decimal places) and the argument revolves around the cost to taxpayers.

Admiral-2009 December 4, 2024 (10:16 pm)

The cost of the labor to clean up and remove the trash needs to be factored in.

What is frustrating is that if you or I happen to set out an extra bag of garbage we get charged for it yet the City, aka us taxpayers, are picking up the tab for these other adults!

Perkins December 4, 2024 (11:12 pm)

“UCT parking enforcement works to keep vehicles in compliance with the City’s 72-hour parking regulations and they will be closely monitoring this area.“Interesting we’ve had the same RV parked on Henderson for months now, and two others with a tent at the triangle park at and Barton and Delridge for at least a month. Does monitoring mean passing by to make sure they haven’t moved? If so they’re doing a great job.

westseattlebob December 5, 2024 (2:08 pm)

Absolutely agree, 100%!! If these Rv’s were parked in the Admiral neighborhood we know this wouldn’t be the case. Highland Park/ South Park and their adjoining neighborhoods are red lined and we have always been largely ignored and left to deal with it as well as crime sadly.

k December 5, 2024 (6:56 am)

What is everyone’s solution? They don’t have curbside service, so the trash accumulates. They can’t live indoors because there aren’t units available they can afford. If they don’t have money or means to take their own trash to the dump, how are they going to pay fines? If you send them to jail over it, you’re paying for their trash disposal, plus room and board. REALLY curious to see what solutions the whiners in this thread are proposing here.

CooperJCW December 6, 2024 (3:07 pm)

@K- Yes the unhoused will and do have garbage just like housed people do, but most housed people have garbage service that picks up weekly. If these unhoused people were respectful to the area they have their RV’s at and would bag the garbage up and take it to a dumpster somewhere I think the people they are living by would like that a whole lot better than seeing it build up onto the sidewalks and streets. My father lived by himself and didn’t have garbage pickup being on a fixed income and all but he never ever let it build up and lay around his property, he’d bag it and take it monthly to the “dump”. Yes again, I know these unhoused do not have the money or the means but have you taken a real good look at their garbage, a lot is not regular daily normal garbage.
Kyle December 6, 2024 (8:51 pm)

Honestly, these are folks who have lived on the public right of way of Henderson for over a year and have no plans of altering their lifestyle. Given the choice of getting clean, and services for housing they continue to choose to live on Henderson selling stolen bikes, run capers, etc. The wrong answer is thinking that this is a way to live as part of a community. The wrong answer is for the city to keep giving them a choice every few months of take help from services or continue to do drugs in the street 4 blocks away. This is not the 1st time these RVs and folks were given a ticket. For those that continue to live this way without accepting help there should be escalating consequences that living this way on our public streets is not a long term solution.

HP resident December 5, 2024 (7:36 pm)

Cambridge St between 15th and 16th Ave SW has had a chronic rotating encampment for years. UCT is a joke. 72 hr enforcement is a joke. No amount of neighborhood complaints has changed anything. It is a redlining dump job by the city. Check out the house on the corner from this mess that still hasn’t sold, go figure. Will we be forced to put in concrete blocks like Georgetown?