2:17 PM: Thanks to Juanita for the tip. Three months after the city cleared the RV encampment along SW Trenton by Westwood Village, new parking-restriction signs are in place, declaring it a four-hour-maximum zone between 7 am and 6 pm, Mondays through Saturdays. The signs are on both sides of Trenton between 26th and 28th.

We have an inquiry out to SDOT for more info.

This isn’t the first area where the city has made changes after clearing an RV encampment – others include Harbor Avenue (overnight-parking restrictions) and SW Andover (bike lane added). This area also has had school-zone-related changes in recent months, with Chief Sealth International High School and Denny International Middle School a short distance north (on the other side of Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex) – speed cushions and a new four-way stop – but these are the first changes directly affecting parking, which is in abundant supply (more than a thousand spaces) at the adjacent shopping center.

6:04 PM: To be a little more precise, WWV has just under 1,300 parking spaces. Nonetheless, SDOT spokesperson Ethan Bergerson says supporting access to the “commercial areas” is a goal of the new restrictions:

The new parking restrictions were added based on community requests relayed to SDOT staff by the Unified Care Team. The changes are intended to support parking turnover and curb access near parks and commercial areas. The parking time limits will apply to a slightly larger area than you mentioned, on the north side of SW Trenton St between 26th Ave SW and 29th Ave SW, and on the south side of the street for most of the block between 26th Ave SW and 28th Ave SW. The paint and posts that you describe are intended to help clarify the areas where parking is not allowed near crosswalks in order improve visibility for people to safely cross the street.

The paint-and-posts are “curb bulbs” we also noticed in the area – here’s one at 26th/Trenton:

(WSB file photo, Southwest Teen Life Center)

Seattle Parks and Recreation has announced expanded hours starting tomorrow at three Teen Life Centers, including Southwest (2801 SW Thistle, in the same complex as Southwest Pool and the Southwest Customer Service Center). Parks says in its announcement:

Expanded operating hours will mean more secure and supervised spaces for teens, young adults, and elders to engage in intergenerational activities. This pilot program will also utilize signature events to engage youth in meaningful projects and activities. Additionally, it seeks to build partnerships with local businesses and organizations, creating career pathway opportunities for young people and strengthening community connections.

The new hours at Southwest TLC will be 2:30 pm-8 pm Mondays-Thursdays, 3 pm-midnight Fridays, noon-7 pm Saturdays. We compared that to current hours; the major changes are the addition of Mondays and the change from nighttime operation to daytime operation on Saturdays.

For those who asked about an emergency response at 26th/Barton around 9:30 pm, it was reported as a driver hitting a pedestrian. We don’t know details of the circumstances, but Seattle Fire says the pedestrian – a man in his mid-30s – was taken to the hospital by AMR ambulance, in stable condition.

(WSB photo, Westwood mailbox’s usual spot)

Thanks to the reader who tipped us that the Westwood Village Post Office‘s drive-up/ride-up mailbox is gone again. Since the Junction Post Office has been without its drive-up/ride-up mailbox for 10 months, that means right now – with another mail-in election approaching – West Seattle is without this type of mailbox. We asked USPS‘s regional spokesperson Kim Frum what happened to the WWV box and whether the Junction box is ever coming back. First, she said, “The box at the Westwood Post Office was removed for repairs. As soon as the box is fixed it will be reinstalled. Our maintenance team estimates it should be no more than a week until it is back in place.” (What kind of repairs, she didn’t say, but we’re asking on followup.) Regarding the Junction box, gone since it was stolen last November: “The box at the West Seattle Post Office had a replacement ordered, however, it was the wrong design. A new box was requested, and the office is currently waiting for it to arrive from the manufacturer. Once the box is delivered, maintenance will install the lock, the sticker with posted collection times, and replace it at its location at the West Seattle office as soon as possible.” Both drive-up/ride-up mailboxes had somewhat decreased in utility since they were replaced earlier in 2023 with smaller mailboxes that were described at the time as more secure.

(Looking east on SW Trenton)

10:57 AM: As announced by the city via signage last week, the cleanup operation is under way at the SW Trenton encampment site between Westwood Village and Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex. Workers from multiple city departments and agencies are at the scene. We checked starting at 7 am; the crews showed up around 8:30 am, and a supervisor told us they would be starting at 9. One RV and one trailer remained in the area then (six had been there until recently); when we returned for these photos a short time ago, one trailer remained.

(Looking west on SW Trenton)

We will be checking back later and also asking the city for the information they usually provide afterward, such as how many people they contacted and whether any vehicles were towed (one tow truck was at the scene but appeared to be in standby mode).

11:54 AM: Our photographer went through the area again and says the clearance appears to be over. (Photo added above)

Thanks for the tips. “No parking” signage for next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday has gone up along SW Trenton between 25th and 29th, and the paperwork attached to some of them confirms those dates are set for cleaning up the encampment in that area.

As reported here previously, the city said it was planning to resolve the encampment in the second half of this month (which starts Monday); that timeframe was reconfirmed by City Councilmember Rob Saka and his district director Leyla Gheisar at Wednesday’s Southwest Precinct community meeting (WSB coverage here). SPD’s Parking Enforcement unit also has orange-tagged vehicles parked in the area:

The tags are warnings that the vehicles will be towed if not moved. Though the signage sets aside three days for the cleanup, past encampment operations we’ve reported on in other areas of West Seattle have tended to be completed on the first day.

(Tuesday afternoon)

As reported here last Friday afternoon, just before the holiday weekend, the city sent an update about the SW Trenton RV encampment, saying it would be cleared “within three weeks.” It was too late for us to reach a city rep for clarification until after Labor Day weekend, but we’ve since heard back from spokesperson Callie Craighead. She says, “The Unified Care Team has a scheduled resolution date for this site in the second half of September, pending shelter bed availability. Notices will be posted 72 hours prior to the scheduled date.” In late August, the city had said only that it was “closely monitoring” the site.

(WSB photo,s this afternoon)

Last week, we reported on the city saying it was “closely monitoring” the growing RV encampment on SW Trenton by Westwood Village. While, as we noted, there have long been a few RVs there, the number has increased in recent weeks to at least five, plus other assorted vehicles, and sidewalk obstructions; nearby residents said the nature of the activity there has changed. In their response to us, a city spokesperson also said a “resolution date for this site is pending.” Now, there’s a timeframe – half a dozen of the people who have reported this encampment via Find It Fix It forwarded us this update they received from the city late today:

In response to your recent email or customer service request submitted with the City of Seattle’s Customer Service Bureau or Find It, Fix It app, the Unified Care Team (UCT) would like to provide you with an update on the scheduled resolution for the large unauthorized encampment located along SW Trenton St. UCT is scheduled to resolve this site in the next 3 weeks based on available shelter and resources.

The City’s contracted outreach partners have been engaging at the site to make offers of shelter and provide connections to services in hopes of avoiding the displacement of any high-needs individuals into other parts of the neighborhood or repopulation of this site.

On the day of scheduled removal, any tents remaining on the site will be removed, and individuals will be offered storage of personal property in addition to an offer of alternative shelter. The Unified Care Team will then conduct a thorough cleaning of the site and removal of all trash and debris.

Following removal, this site will remain on a frequent inspection route in an effort to quickly address any attempted repopulation of the site. Frequency of inspection and removal of obstructions will be reassessed over time based on the level of site activity observed. If you observe a new encampment at this site, please report it using the Customer Service Bureau’s Unauthorized Encampment service request form or submit a service request using the City’s Find It, Fix It mobile app. As always, dangerous or criminal behavior associated with this site should be reported to 9-1-1 for emergency situations or SPD’s non-emergency number (206) 625-5011 for other criminal activity or incidents.

Once again, we would like to thank you for your patience throughout this frustrating situation and for communicating with us as we advance our efforts to keep Seattle streets, sidewalks, and public spaces clean and accessible to all.

Hearing about this, we immediately tried to follow up with the Unified Care Team spokesperson in the mayor’s office, but they’re gone for the holiday weekend, so we won’t likely be able to get followup information before Tuesday. The city has cleared at least three other roadside RV encampments in West Seattle that haven’t been “repopulated,” but the removals were followed by modifications of the area where the RVs had been parked – a new bike lane along SW Andover, eco-blocks along West Marginal, no-overnight-parking signage along Harbor Avenue.