WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham has filed several updates in the past two-plus months about homeless encampments he has been finding, and investigating, while exploring West Seattle parks. Tonight, he writes about two encounters with people linked to them:Read More

A month and a half after his first report here of a homeless encampment at Camp Long (cleared by the city days later), WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham sent the above group of photos and this new report:

West Seattle can’t wish away the plight of those affected by homelessness and mental illness by looking the other way. Public parks are becoming uninhabitable as safe play areas for our youth, and natural habitat is being destroyed.

(L-R) 1. Signage warning squatters to vacate at a small encampment at Lincoln Park Annex remains after much of the belongings were removed.

2. Prior to the posting a considerable amount of debris and property became part of the park’s view looking at the Olympics.

3. After the encampment removal porn mags and refuse remains at the encampment.

4. The Alaska Junction is not immune from homelessness and mental illness. This shows a pedestrian recently passing by a person sleeping in Jefferson Square’s landscaping.

Lincoln Park Annex is now formally known as Solstice Park; it includes the upslope east of the tennis courts that are along Fauntleroy northeast of the rest of Lincoln Park. Side note; the city hasn’t called attention to this West Seattle cleanup (nor the one last month, though we were provided information when we pursued it) the same way as, for example, a recent Queen Anne cleanup (which even got this official news release on the city website).

This past Friday, one week after city crews cleared the trash-strewn homeless encampment at Camp Long that had been chronicled by WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham, he was there as city workers made one more sweep, and he reports:

Seattle Parks Department workers performed their final sweep through the dismantled encampment, on the north boundaries of Camp Long. The Park’s staff performed a final collection of large pieces of rubbish and looked for signs of activity along the camp sites. The area has been visited by hikers but encampment activity has ceased, for the time being.

Litter remains in an area covering more than an acre. The refuse is impregnated into the mud that evolved under vegetation that died off under layers of garbage and human waste.

The Seattle Parks Department does not have the resources to sift through soil and encourages the community to assist with the maintenance of the area by calling 206-684-8028 or e-mailing: ParksVolunteer@Seattle.Gov

Previous WSB coverage:
Original report, April 28
“Strategy visit,” April 30
Deadline set, May 1
Camp cleared, May 2
Matt’s commentary, with a suggestion re: park utilization, May 5

Exactly one week after we brought you first word of the Camp Long homeless encampment (cleared on Friday) that WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham had documented, he has a two-part postscript. First, his newest photos above, clockwise from top, and his captions below:

1. Spring rears its head along the trails leading to the removed encampments at Camp Long.

6. A Seattle Parks Department wheel loader knocked a tree down to maneuver close enough to remove a large quantity of human refuse.

Second, Matt has written commentary about an idea he suggests could prevent such encampments and enhance park usage. Read on:Read More

Just in from city Parks Department spokesperson Dewey Potter, who had most recently said the clearing was likely to happen Monday:

I have just learned that the encampment has been removed and that our crew delivered to our warehouse the belongings that appeared to have any personal or monetary value. The cleanup took place after outreach workers notified our crew that they had completed their efforts to notify the people there.

We first told you about the encampment on Monday; WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham had been monitoring it for more than a month.

Those are two more of the most recent photos WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham took at the Camp Long homeless encampment he has been investigating (first WSB report here; followup here). We just got an update from Dewey Potter at the city Parks Department:

The outreach people will try once more tomorrow to see if there’s evidence of anyone living at the camp site. If they are satisfied that the people have left, they will notify the crew chief and Parks will clean up the site on the next working day, Monday.

WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham, who broke the story of the homeless encampment at Camp Long (original report, with photos — and now 100 comments — is here), was there Tuesday afternoon as that city team visited to strategize the forthcoming clearing of the site. Matt reports:

Left to right, truck driver Brian Johnson, Southwest District crew chief Carol Baker, and Jason, all Seattle Parks employees, investigate the abandoned homeless encampment at Camp Long. They walked the littered trail to plan the logistics for removing the refuse efficiently. Baker said the delay in the removal of the encampment allows an outreach staff from the Human Services Department to contact the campers and offer social-services resources. Presently the Parks Department is waiting for the weather to break in order to roll in heavy equipment without bogging and rutting the trails.

Quick update on today’s hottest topic, the photos/report from Matt Durham on the Camp Long homeless encampment: Parks Department spokesperson Dewey Potter returned our e-mail inquiry this afternoon, saying the clearing would not happen today, because “the crew was still waiting to hear from the outreach staff from the Human Services Department about whether they had made contact with the people to provide information about programs and services.” We’ll keep checking.

Those are photos of an encampment in a not-easily-accessible section of Camp Long. WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham has taken those photos — and others you will see later in this post — while monitoring the site on an almost-daily basis since happening onto it at Camp Long more than a month ago. His captions, counter-clockwise from top left: “(The) encampment … has grown in size along Camp Long’s northernmost boundaries as human waste layers thicken; Robins and other wildlife sift along the garbage to gather food as winter breaks; A sign posted no earlier than the afternoon of April 22 claimed its posting occurred April 17. (I have) been staking out the encampment since March 5th and found no posting as late as Tuesday morning on April 22.” More of Matt’s photos, a closer look at its location, and what the city told us about this, ahead:Read More

On assignment for WSB, photojournalist Matt Durham covered the final Terminal 107 Park day for the homeless encampment that calls itself “Nickelsville.” He was there hours before the police arrived, and through the sweep. The dozen arrestees included advocates for the homeless like 82-year-old Dorli Rainey, who has provided food, clothing and medical supplies to residents of Nickelsville since its inception. Before the arrests, it was a waiting game for residents like Gayre Jamieson (next photo) and James Noren (second photo below)

Most estimates counted about 50 officers on hand to make sure the camp was cleared and to arrest anyone who didn’t go voluntarily. We showed you a Twitpic of their arrival earlier; this is Matt’s image of that moment:

Residents weren’t sure where they would wind up:

Those who left the park voluntarily walked north to Herring’s House Park:

The encampment’s second stay in West Seattle was almost four months – much longer than the first one last fall, which was barely a week. After eight months in various other parts of the metro area, the encampment returned to West Seattle in early June at a state lot adjacent to the city lot it had occupied in September of last year; after a month and a half there, it moved to T-107 Park in late July and held a defiant open house/”1st birthday” celebration there last Saturday. Tonight, encampment residents have moved on to a short-term spot in North Seattle.

Before we get to the “Nickelsville” discussion at tonight’s Highland Park Action Committee meeting – which ended in a way you might not have expected – the rest of the agenda, including a “thank you” to a popular policeman:

That’s HPAC chair Dorsol Plants presenting a certificate of appreciation to Southwest Precinct Community Police Team officer Adonis Topacio. CPT officers (read about them here) are each assigned to proactively work a certain area of the Southwest Precinct’s region, and Officer Topacio’s includes Highland Park, so he’s often at HPAC meetings to present updates (like this one) and listen to concerns. Tonight, he offered some crime stats from the past month and a half in the Highland Park area: Four auto thefts, 13 car prowls, 15 burglaries. Overall, though, he said it had been a relatively quiet summer, but added that police are working to deal with the recent wave of gang graffiti (WSB report here). Also on the agenda tonight, two reps from the White Center Community Development Association with a briefing on what’s going on with their organization – we’ll be writing up those details for partner site White Center Now and will link back here when that’s up. No major updates on the jail-sites issue, meantime, as the process is idling somewhat while Seattle awaits its potential partners to offer more suggested sites; Dan Mullins is trying to organize more Duwamish-corridor business owners to get involved with opposition to the WS sites and said a meeting with at least two City Council members is planned later this fall. Plants warned tonight’s attendees that if HPAC participation (about 20 people were on hand tonight) dwindles out of complacency, it raises the chances unpopular projects like this will turn up in the area. But the latest development at the potential jail site closest to Highland Park, “Nickelsville,” drew what some might consider a surprising reaction – read on to see why:Read More