(For more photos from before and during the camp clearance, see this later WSB report)

(Twitpic from @otherthan)
As police move in inside, law enforcement vehicles line W Marginal Way, along with buses. Loud cheers can be heard. We’ve got one person inside, one person outside; you can see other reports via Twitter (this will bring up everything mentioning Nickelsville). Here’s our photo of the start of the vehicle lineup along W. Marginal Way outside the encampment/T-107 Park – besides port police, there are school-type buses, an animal-control vehicle, and a Fife police car that we’ve seen:

3 PM UPDATE: 12 people arrested. Maintenance crews are standing by to move in and start cleaning up. From the south side of the camp, nothing looks different – still a group of tents – just, nobody there. Most of the vehicles have moved off West Marginal Way but there were a few traffic slowdowns so if you have to head north on W. Marginal Way, note that things may be slow going past T-107. As the Port’s spokesperson told us yesterday, the park may be closed for some time for “repairs and maintenance.” The sign on the path at the south side announces the closure:

3:20 PM: Seattle Post-Globe‘s Kery Murakami reports some of the encampment residents are regrouping at a “nearby city park” to decide where to go next. Judging by the TV trucks we’re seeing, that appears to be Herring’s House Park a block north, across from the Duwamish Longhouse.

5:29 PM UPDATE: The port has issued another statement:

Most of the residents at the homeless encampment called Nickelsville chose to leave Port of Seattle property voluntarily today, departing the property peacefully. Twelve homeless advocates refused to leave in an act of civil disobedience to raise awareness of the issue, and were subsequently arrested for trespassing. The arrests were made without incident. The individuals were processed for identification, issued a written trespass warning, and released.

Encampment organizers announced shortly thereafter that St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Seattle would provide a temporary location for the encampment.

The Port of Seattle will store any belongings left behind. Encampment members were given information about how to reclaim their property.

The public park at Terminal 107 will remain closed temporarily while the port’s maintenance staff conducts necessary repairs.

Note the addition to the closure sign on the north end of the park entrance:

FIRST REPORT AT 9:31 AM: From photojournalist Matt Durham, who is staking out the “Nickelsville” site at Terminal 107 Park this morning for WSB: Nothing’s happened yet; encampment residents are gathering at any moment for a meeting. Matt says they’re still expecting that police won’t show up before noon. Some appear to be packing. (We’ll add updates to this item until and unless the encampment starts to clear out – whether that’s voluntarily or unvoluntarily – at which time we’ll start a new report.) Side note: Fellow independent neighborhood-news site Queen Anne View covered the SHARE/WHEEL sleepout at Councilmember Tim Burgess‘s house last night, followup to the Monday night protest in Mayor Nickels‘ North Admiral neighborhood – see the QAV report here.

10:13 AM UPDATE: From Matt – Encampment residents have concluded their meeting and reported that they have four people who are willing to get arrested (that compares to 25 in the sweep at a different site a year ago). They now also believe police are likely to arrive closer to 1 pm.

12:05 PM UPDATE: Some residents have departed. No major police activity yet. (Meantime, re: the SHARE/WHEEL sleepout protest, they say they’ll be back at Burgess’s house tonight.) We’ll be starting an afternoon report shortly.

12:19 PM UPDATE: But first – a statement just in from the Port of Seattle:

Port of Seattle officials expressed regret that some members of the homeless encampment known as ‘Nickelsville’ have thus far refused to leave port property voluntarily. The group set up the encampment on port property without permission and has been at the public park illegally for 69 days. The group’s presence violates city land use and shoreline codes as well as prohibitions against camping and lighting fires within the City of Seattle. In addition, the Port of Seattle does not have the authority to provide land for housing or housing purposes.

Nickelsville organizers and residents have been given multiple warnings that if they did not leave by September 30th, they would be subject to arrest for trespassing. Many residents are choosing to leave, seeking help from resources offered throughout the county. Encampment organizers issued invitations Tuesday to other tent cities across the region to join with them in choosing to be arrested to send a political message about the larger issue of homelessness in our community. While the port respects the right to civil disobedience, encampment members have been asked repeatedly to leave voluntarily.

“The port has worked diligently with Nickelsville and community leaders to find safe and legal options for the residents,” said CEO Tay Yoshitani. “Our first concern remains the health and safety of the men and women of the camp, and I’m relieved tohear that many of the original residents are now using our community’s network of shelters and support services.”

Port commissioners and staff members have worked for more than two months with members of the Nickelsville leadership, its supporters, and members of the faith community to facilitate efforts to find safe and legal shelter for those individuals who want it. Instead, Nickelsville organizers have pursued a permanent site with plans for hundreds of people. Over the past year, both the state and the city have rejected their request for permanent sites, and the City of Seattle has communicated repeatedly that a permanent Nickelsville encampment will not be allowed.

Despite consistent communication from the port that their presence was illegal and would not be tolerated, as recently as Monday organizers reiterated their request to stay an additional 90 days and their desire to extend that agreement on an ongoing basis.

The port has repeatedly stated that the Terminal 107 public park is not an appropriate location for housing or an encampment. Independent of the numerous code violations, there are not acceptable human services and hygiene facilities and lacks access to public transportation.

1 PM UPDATE: Matt Durham reports more Port police arriving at Nickelsville. Further updates will be in a new story.

This just came in as a comment following last night’s report on the SHARE sleep-out protest in Mayor Nickels‘ neighborhood. The commenter offers insight and proposals that we thought you might want to read, even if you don’t usually look at story comments. It was signed “D Kramer”:

I am formally of tent city 4 and I refused to do this protest because I didn’t agree with it from what was conveyed to me about the city wanting some kind of guarantee if it gave money.

It is invasive to crash out at the mayors home.

I find it a violation as well of one’s privacy when the media is pre-invited in mass to ensure lots of press. One had to choose to either participate in this protest or depart for the duration of the protest. It wasn’t painted out as something you can do or not do. They are getting so desperate to try to get the needed bus fare that civil rights even among their own kind seem marginal.

But you guys need to know – Many of the people at the tent city 4 had or even have some kind of job. Some were barely hanging on before a cut back or lay off or injury or personal crisis. Some point blank can’t work due to disability. Some work for pathetic wages – Low wages that ensure that the local companies maintain their hefty profits.

Sure some – a few –don’t want to work or do much in life- but by far I assure you most of the people at least at TC 4 are trying to get back up on their own feet in their own way. Some are trying to live on about $700 a month disability – some on less than $350 a month GAU. Some have nothing.

I have personally helped several people who were job hunting find interview outfits from the donations, I will always remember the day just two weeks ago when I helped a woman get a pair of woman’s black pants – black shoes and men’s white cotton shirt so she could go to her very first day of work at the old peoples home. It really touched my heart. I wish who ever the kind people were who donated these clothes could have been there to see what a difference their gifts made in a homeless woman’s life just one day later! No middle man – just a person giving a gift that directly helped a homeless person go to work ~~Wow – amazing – thank you wonderful eastside people~!

There is a real need for the bus passes and for additional monies for the budget. While the means are kind of objectionable –the need is actually very very real. Maybe trying to go the normal route for so long the Share people felt was useless. They have a few extremists I do admit.

I suggest the following off the wall solution:
Metro – King county and Share come together for a creative win -win solution to the bus ticket crisis.

Right now Share is violating the potential freedom of religion of its members by its forced church attendance at the churches of its ( Share’s) choice with credit only given to 2-3 person each week for each selected church. The community credit period is every 2 weeks. It is an unneeded stress on the share members and seems a mere power play the way it is implemented.

Not to mention that – Attendance of religious based services should not be required of any organization that is receiving any kind of state funding –of any kind. It is a violation of the seperation of church and state.

Why not let faith and God be a personal choice as God and America intended and use community credit perdiod to really make a difference in the community!

Everyone who rides the buses sees clearly they seem to be hardly cleaning the inside of the buses for quite some time now. This creates a poor image of Seattle – can spread illness ( esp during Flu season) and encourages a feeling of depression on the buses.

What if Metro – City County and Share all got together on board for a project to help make a difference in this! What if Share provided a certain number of volunteers 1-2 times a week that Metro could use to help really clean the inside those buses for a few hours each week? Sure they might take a lot longer than regular workers – but shit they can’t do any worse than the dirty buses we all ride in now!

What if Metro in exchange agreed to give deep discount to Share for volunteer work given and the city picked up the little bill left and they gave a majority of the Share residents in the system over 2 weeks an Orcas bus pass instead of just 2 bus tickets a day. And the city could give 1 month worth of bus ticket money asap with understanding the volunteer thing has to be running in a month.. I think such a notion might go over very well with a foundation such as the Bill and Melinda gates foundation as well if the city refuses to help out with costs associated with setting such a thing up.

Imagine a world for the homeless person trying to get on their feet – where they didn’t have to juggle do they use their bus pass to go to a medical appt – to attend a share meeting or go to church or to take a shower at the wellness center or to look for a job – imagine a world where they could get it all done!

The more that homeless people can get done to rebuild their lives – to find jobs – to get their health in order – and to build social networks in their lives –the quicker they can be more able to fully participate in society.

And for those who have disabilities -I suggest the city or share step up to help these parties get set up for the handicapped passes and get them then set up with Orcas disabled pass pronto – the cost savings would be immense. Every disabled person you don’t have to give daily passes to saves Share money!

Share could also use similar notion maybe using volunteers in some kind of barter exchange for credit maybe toward printing, pest control, and other potentially needed services. Then maybe they could abolish their forced “donations” of an item with receipt valued at least at $25 each month or $30 gift card from each tent city resident during the summer months where they charge people to stay in their free shelters. They say they use these donations to fund their Fall Harvest.

I suspect if they let the community know of the need for items to go to Fall Harvest auction and if they let their amazing homeless artists actually make items and art to donate willingly – they could have the most amazing auction ever!! Some of the people at the tent cities have incredible artistics skills!

Tough times just mean getting more creative with one’s resources. Let’s all work together to get more done for everyone! The city is not the enemy – The homeless are not the enemy.

By the way, in addition to comments on stories and discussions in the WSB Forums section, we are always willing to consider what the print business calls “op-ed” pieces if you want to kick off a discussion about something – inquire at editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks! 12:16 PM P.S. In case you were wondering – the SHARE protesters will NOT be back at the mayor’s house tonight – they have announced plans for a sleep-out outside Councilmember Tim Burgess‘s home in Queen Anne.