(photos by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
A few more tidbits on “Nickelsville,” the homeless encampment set up near the southeast corner of Highland Park Way/West Marginal Way in eastern West Seattle (here’s our first report). So far as we can tell from the people we talked with at the site, they were unaware that they happen to have set their camp up at one of two West Seattle locations on the “final four” list of potential city-jail sites; just a coincidence. We told them we had just seen the mayor interviewed on TV, saying the city would treat this camp like any other – post a 72-hour warning, then clear it. Here’s what spokesperson Anitra Freeman said in response to that:
We pressed for more specifics – so when/if the posting goes up, what exactly will you do? She said the camp is not operating “top down,” so they would call residents together for “a meeting.” We’ll keep an eye on what happens here; as mentioned in our previous report, it will come up at tonight’s Highland Park Action Committee meeting (7 pm, Highland Park Improvement Club at 11th/Holden); in fact, HPAC chair Dorsol Plants just confirmed to WSB that he has visited the site and “has representatives coming to the meeting.” (5:35 PM note, just saw TV pix of city crews already delivering the 72-hour warning to the scene, while organizers promise “a standoff.”) Meantime, while WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli was shooting the photo you see atop this report, he also happened onto a not-so-trumpeted encampment in the nearby woods, where he caught these scenes:
P.S. If you are interested in reading some backstory, Blogging Georgetown points to this blogpost by an organizer;
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