Three days after posted notices warned people camping in Roxhill Park to clear out, city crews are there now to sweep the site.
The sweep notices came less than one week after a man was shot in the same area where crews are working now.
I hate to be negative but it will fill up with an encampment probably by end of January, because our leaders who Seattle voted for have allowed this to occur in the first place and get totally out of hand. It’s time people stop being so such bleeding hearts and take back parks, and sidewalks.
Almost like displacing people without providing any housing doesn’t solve anything. Weird. I’m sure “taking back parks, and sidewalks” will just make these people disappear.
Living right next to Roxhill Park, it is a relief to see the area cleared after the recent shooting, but standing here watching the process makes the deeper tragedy impossible to ignore. Looking out at the sidewalks, people are mostly just staging whatever they can carry to move down to the next block or greenbelt.
I will be very curious to see the official shelter intake numbers from today. If it is anything like Rotary Viewpoint Park, where only a handful accepted services out of dozens living there, we have to ask ourselves some uncomfortable questions.
True compassion cannot just mean spending millions to manage deterioration in public parks while leaving people to cycle between untreated addiction, violence, and sweeps. At what point do we acknowledge that offering endless, optional services without accountability or mandatory intervention is failing both our neighborhoods and the very people trapped on our streets? If all our spending simply buys another round of musical chairs, who is this system actually helping?
Please ask the city, county, state, and all the non profits where the hundreds of millions of dollar went every year for the unhoused people. The social safety net provides many non profits a LOT of funding to help the unhoused. Has it helped? Very, very little as the situation continues with very little improvement. Funds are limited. How much can society be expected to pay? What do the unhoused really want? Read the WSB posting about the ‘shelter’ in the junction. A non profit service provider gets Medicaid reimbursement for providing services to the unhoused. Any improvements in the unhoused lives? Maybe the non profit assists them in keeping their Medicaid coverage so they can continue to collect funds. In the end only the non profits seem to be benefitting from all the taxpayer funds for homeless services.
This is great news, but what happens when the campers show up again. Will it take another 7 months to remove the campers? IT IS ILLEGAL TO CAMP IN PUBLIC PARKS. ENFORCE THE LAWS, CITY OF SEATTLE!
I’d like the option to vote for an candidate that believes camping should be illegal as well.
If only the City would strictly enforce the SMC that prohibits encampments in Public Parks. It’s time for a ZERO tolerance policy in parks and sidewalks.
Thank you Tracy and West Seattle Blog for following up on our neighborhood park.
Roxhill visit 8-29-2026I was extremely saddened as I walked through the trails around Roxhill park and the bog today to check in on the city scheduled cleanup on Friday. I am sharing a few pictures show those who may not have been to the park lately to show the enormity of the situation. Although most encampments were mostly gone, there are still a large number of leftovers present and some camps are still present on the edges of the park. I am horrified as to the scale of the mess that has been left behind by the and the impact on the bog area including the still smoldering part of the bog where it appears the fire department had to dig out a significant portion of peat in response to one of numerous prior fires. I agree with other posters and I am disappointed in the city’s inability to find a successful way to enforce existing laws to prevent the destruction of the city property and also the effects upon the nearby neighborhood. I understand the desire for compassion and support for individuals, but doing nothing and allowing this to continue as long as it did and then pushing them out was very obviously not compassionate either. I don’t know the solution, but I feel that we can’t continue to allow this cycle where encampments are allowed to grow out of control and then the encampment residents are simply displaced to start the process over again. I hope that the community surrounding the park can do several things including participating in a deeper cleanup of the park, and pushing the city to stringently enforce no camping and no drug use in the park. I hope that we can come together as a community and make the area better and not tolerate these situations that simmer until they reach a boiling point. I don’t believe there is a single solution for the problem, but I do believe the people who are frustrated need to more actively participate in the local politics and community engagement process. I for one plan to do just that, and I encourage others who are concerned in the neighborhood to visit the park to see the scale of the aftermath.
Wow! Thank you for sharing the photos of the destruction of the park. Are these photos showing what has been leftover after the clean up? When I passed along Roxbury about noon-ish there appeared to be about 6 to 10 people with their stuff over by the park side doors of the former Roxhill school ……the unhoused must not be allowed to have free range and made to adhere to the options available to them provided by the city or the county and the non profits. The entire situation is an endless circle that needs to be brought to an end by the government. We citizens can’t go out to the parks and demand the people pack up and leave. The government needs to do that. Non profits must stop providing the unhoused with tents that encourage setting up the free range lifestyle.
Yes, these are the photos after the Friday cleanup. Pictures were taken this morning (Saturday) just before 10AM. Not all the areas were cleared out. I am guessing there was too much to completely clean it out in a single day.
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