there is a health issue at Nickelsville

[Jiggers]

I’m going to take away your porta-potties until you do your homework…LOL Sounds a bit childish to me. Yep..That will teach your campers to behave and act like good little followers. It just makes me wonder why anyone would want to be controlled by a dictator. Anything is better than sleeping ontop of mud-infested, rodent diseased crawling contaminated soil. Nickelsville is such political bullsht! Meth addicts certainly don’t care where they wake up in the morning. Ahh..don’t need to lecture me on Homelessness either.

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[sna]

I think this should be elevated to the front page so that it gets a wider audience and possibly be linked on the Times. I’m no bleeding heart liberal, but Scott’s action to remove porta potties is completely offensive to me. How did this guy become the king of the homeless?

Regardless of whether he put them back, he should know that abuses of power wont go unnoticed. Any org he has a say in will never get a penny from me.

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[JoB]

DBP..

you are twisting things..

what i said is that the police have been called on more than one show of force eviction and have stated that this is a nickelsville problem not a police problem..

lets say you chose to squat in the town square and proclaimed your ownership of the square..

and i decided i wanted to picnic there..

i was serving something you were allergic to and you decided i had to leave.

would you expect the police to evict me?

there is the quandary in a proverbial nutshell.

you could make things unpleasant for me so i would decide to leave or you could take matters into your own hands and physically evict me risking assault charges… but the police wouldn’t evict me from a public space simply because you said they should.

the question of what you do with offensive people is the same everywhere you go.

There are effective and ineffective ways of dealing with criminals who live in our neighborhood…

instead of taking away the camp’s prota-potties to provoke a possibly violent confrontation, i would have employed a few cameras in camp and taken pictures of the activity to turn it over to the police who do arrest people for selling drugs if they are given adequate evidence.

heck, you wouldn’t even have to go into the camp to take pictures of the drug deals..

the last time i sat outside the entrance to camp having a conversation with a couple of campers .. in full view of both the security desk and passing campers, i personally saw several suspicious interactions that had i had a camera with me i would have documented and taken to the police department.

the police aren’t unaware there are problems in Nickelsville… for all we know the police have been gathering evidence for some time and are just not yet ready to make an arrest…

But, as far as i know, no-one from camp took pictures or even notified them that there was a problem there until this last week. “it would violate camper’s privacy” … and you wouldn’t want to do that even if there is a health and safety issue involved…

but you would want to remove the portapotties?

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[JoB]

What Miws didn’t tell you about the central committee is that it’s decisions are handed down pretty much once a week at the wednesday central committee meeting.

anyone who chooses to can attend a central committee meeting for Nickelsville.

If you are a resident in one of the SHARE shelters including the tent cities you are required to attend the committee meetings of other shelters.. including that for Nickelsville.

So if Scott has a hard sell with Nickelsville residents that he fears might not actually pass … something he knows the camp will find extremely unpopular… he simply packs the room with residents of the other tent cities…

and then moves a few of the “seasoned campers” that attended that meeting into Nickeslville for a couple of weeks to enforce it.

how can i state this with certainty?

i attended weekly central committee meetings religiously for over 6 months and on more than one occasion there were more outsiders voting on Nickelsville policies than current residents of Nickelsville.

I met the “seasoned campers” from other tent cities at those meetings and subsequently encountered them at Nickelsville filling positions of responsibility, like arbitration and head of security.

Did that happen this time?

I don’t know.

It would be interesting to see just when the 8 residents of Nickelsville who i am told signed the Central Committee order that removed the portapotties and subsequently returned them arrived in Nickelsville…

and where they lived prior to checking in.

i could make an educated guess.. especially since i was told by residents that scott had moved in tent city 3 residents to produce the last show of force eviction that ended in the police being called to protect the rights of the guy being evicted …

but i won’t.

i’ll just give you the information

and let you think this one through for yourself.

do you really truly believe that the residents of Nickelsville would choose to remove their own portapotties to give themselves a “wake up call” ?

or that the central committee met in the middle of the night and decided to return the portapotties to camp?

I don’t.

But then that’s just my opinion.

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[miws]

Well said, Jo. And thank you for providing the additional info.

Mike

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[DBP]

Well, well, well.

Perhaps Mr. Morrow’s karma is finally catching up with him after all.

He apparently thought — when he hatched this plan to move a bunch of homeless folks from all different backgrounds onto City land – that he could fling the doors wide open, hand everyone a list of rules (see link below) and rest easy, knowing that he could always intervene directly if things ever got out of hand.

How naïve can you be?

So . . . OK. There’s drugs there. [Surprise!]

Of course there are drugs there.

And violence.

And other bad behaviors.

That stuff has been there all along. But it’s always been manageable, as long as there wasn’t too much of it, and as long as Mr. Morrow’s authority went unchallenged.

But now things are getting out of hand, to the point where even the Great Oz can’t control it anymore.

In other words . . . the inmates are running the asylum.

And you know what? The cops and the City are juuuuuust fine with that. As I’ve been saying for some time now, they’re just looking for an excuse to shut the place down, so they don’t have to be the “heavy” and evict everyone for some less compelling reason. (Like, for instance, someone else buys the property.)

See how that works?

Folks thought they was playahz.

But they ’bout ta get played.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

These are The Rules of which I speak. This document was given to me about a year ago by a person who is closely connected with the camp. The Rules may have changed somewhat since then, but you get the idea . . .

http://tinyurl.com/cnkfqfo

Pay close attention to the parts that say “Zero Tolerance.”

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[JoB]

DBP…

you and i disagree…

while we both agree.. that to use your phrase.. the inmates want to run the asylum… after all it is a self managed asylum…

we don’t agree on the nature of the majority of the inmates.

nor do we agree on what the inmates want to do when they take over the asylum

my experience has been that every time the residents have wanted to change the structure at Nickelsville, it has been to make the camp less of a haven for illegal activity and to better coordinate with the volunteer community that works with Nickelsville.

yes, there have always been problems with drugs, alcohol, theft and violence at Nickelsville..

but the last 6 months have been particularly troublesome with increased police presence in the camp…

and the “professional” has been in full control the last 6 months.

i agree that someone is being played…

but i am not so sure you understand the nature of the game yet.

nor who the real casualties are.

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[JoB]

and… she said…i think i will go tiptoe in the tulips now..

we have met our immediate purpose. There is now time to play in those muddy backrooms where the deals are brokered just out of the sight and sound of the public…

and in the meantime..

today, i got to attend the graduation ceremony for one of the past Nickelsville residents who successfully got himself out of Nickelsville and into housing .. and passed the first two of a series of back to work programs that will give him back the kind of life he lost when he landed on the streets…

yesterday i attended a meeting of people like me who have become companions to street people.. walking beside them as they negotiate the system and stepping in as honorary family when needed…helping them to transition their lives off the street, into housing and out into the greater world

our successes are small.. one person at a time.. one day at a time..

but you know what?

this is working for all of us.

tiptoe through the tulips, through the tulips. through the tulips with me ;->

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[Spring Chicken]

I’m trying to understand who this guy Morrow is, where he gets his authority, what his job title and responsibilities are, and who oversees him? What city agency should be contacted to review this incident and sanction or replace him? I can’t think of any possible justification for removing porta potties!

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[JoB]

spring chicken ..

i am musing here.. from my limited understanding of a very complicated situation…

he is self appointed

he has no overseer that i can find

i believe the city council has the authority to grant or reject his SHARE housing contracts

and i believe that to be the root of any control

but.. i am aware of several citizens who have presented actual evidence of irregularities to city agencies without any discernible effect on the contracts that are granted to the agencies he works with/for

both SHARE and Nickelsville are operated as non-profits…

i suspect the state regulatory agencies for non-profits and/or the IRS might be the ultimate authority

but even then…

Scott Morrow technically operates as a consultant ..

though i have never heard of another circumstance where a consultant actually has physical control of an organization’s funds…

and as such is not supposedly liable for the carrying out of the actions he facilitates…

someone else signs the bottom line and ultimately will take the legal responsibility

i know that’s not terribly helpful. but it’s the best i can do at the end of a stressful saturday.

it appears to me that Scott Morrow has created the ultimate job for himself..

he exercises authority with none of the responsibility..

and as such wields a great deal of power

both over those with whose care he has entrusted himself and politically

if you.. or anyone else.. wants to talk with me about how to interact with this quandry..

please feel free contact me at joanne at brayden dot org

i could use a few new good ideas

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[JimmyG]

I’ve never been a supporter of NV, mostly because I’ve dealt with SHARE/WHEEL firsthand in the past and know how they operate and how they’re willing to let those they claim to help, suffer.

Here’s a bit of background on the “organization” from a 2006 Seattle Weekly story:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2006-03-22/news/tent-city-showdown/full/

And more back story:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-11-05/news/nicklesville-s-not-what-it-set-out-to-be/full/

For years Nickelsville/SHARE/WHEEL and it’s self-appointed leaders have hijacked a large share of the homeless debate in this city, leaving much more reputable and professionally run homeless organizations out in the cold.

If you really want to help the homeless find a different more deserving organization to volunteer your time and/or money to. Believe me, they exist here in the Seattle/King County area.

The city needs to do the right thing and stop interacting with Nickelsville and evict them. As much as the people trying to run the Nickelsville “show” would lead you to believe, there are other options for the homeless in our area but Morrow and his cronies will always tell you there aren’t any or why they don’t work.

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[JanS]

just because you don’t like/support SHARE does not make any of the campers in NV any less important than other homeless persons. Having had one friend in NV for a time, I understand that not all of the campers there are “cronies” of Mr. Morrow. They are just down on their luck, and need help just like any other camp. Reality vs. what we think should be.

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[WSB]

For those interested:

Trouble at ‘Nickelsville’ encampment: Central Committee says it’s ‘on the brink,’ ‘overrun,’ alleges police inaction

There seem to be at least two sides to the “police won’t let us evict troublemakers” story – at least as detailed in the police report I found from an incident one week ago.

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[JoB]

jimmyG

you are right, there are other organizations that do a much better job of providing more than a shelter bed

but those beds are often over-booked and do not adequately meet the needs of homeless people who want to stay with their families or their pets or to have a place to leave their stuff during the day so they can find and keep work.

we will only be able to see if tent cities can be run better when the rules governing them are widened to allow better services… and to allow not only non-religious non-profits but individuals to host them on available land.

in the meantime. nickelsville is there and there is a need for the shelter it provides.

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[JoB]

WSB.. thank you for following up on this story.

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[DBP]

There are shelter spaces available for many of the people living at NV. There’s more than one person there who has turned down offers of shelter and/or assistance from individuals and non-profits.

One of those persons has a child.

It is simply incorrect to imply, as some people have done, that all, or even the majority, at NV are there because the City can’t or won’t do anything for them. Or that they can’t do any better for themselves.

That’s just not true.

In fact, many of these folks are there simply because they’re not very strong in the self-control department and they don’t like following rules. They think they can do better on their own than in some “program” where people are telling them what to do all the time. Many of them would rather live out in the open (drug dealers and all) than have to pee in a cup or report to some social worker every week.

* * * * *

I have no love for this Mr. Morrow. His moral authority over the camp has always been tenuous, since it was always based more on fear than anything else.

However . . . in spite of that, I do have some sympathy for this guy. Absent the City taking the place over or shutting it down, as they should be doing, I don’t see a better alternative to the presence of a Mr. Morrow or someone like him.

Jo, are you willing to step up and run this camp?

–No, of course you’re not. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t.

How about the other helpers? –The ones who love to criticize Morrow. Any of YOU willing to do his job?

No?

OK, so who else wants it? Is there some OTHER non-profit or individual who wants to step up and take on the task of funding and managing a “village” of 100 scared and angry people who are having a really hard time managing their lives?

Who wants to be the subject of the next vilification campaign? Who wants to be at the center of the next camp scandal?

Who wants to be the next Scott Morrow?

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[Spring Chicken]

What “job” would that be, DBP? Unrestricted access to donated cash? Stealing thousands of dollars worth of tent residents’ Metro bus tickets? Using bullying tactics such as threatening to evict people who oppose him, then taking away toilets from everyone? Being an absentee “consultant” who has allowed some inevitable problems to become entrenched at Nickelsville then only visiting on occasion accompanied by his gang of thugs for intimidation?

The problem with tent cities is they concentrate people with severe problems who stay after others who are more able or motivated move on from there after awhile. Ideally Morrow’s job controlling so many shelter beds should be a city employee with oversight, who would be onsite on a regular basis to maintain order, who would be FIRED after taking the indefensible position of having removed the porta potties. I hope this issue gets enough press that community support will inspire an attorney to bring a lawsuit to remove this guy from SHARE and replace him with someone who actually can and will do a better job!

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[JoB]

DBP

it should please you to learn that the person with a child who came back to nickelsville because her shelter would not allow her older son to spend the occasional night on the couch has now found housing where that is possible. She might even be able to eventually bring her cat home too.

it is too easy to be judgmental about the choices people make when we don’t know the full circumstances of those choices.

yes, there are people who live at Nickelsville by choice.. they could live elsewhere.. but there are also people living at Nickelsville because their other choices would require them to jettison family members .. choices that would be unacceptable to us… and there are people living at Nickelsville because they have no other choices.

your point?

There are still people living in tents at the foot of our hill and no matter what bad choices you may think they have made, they are still human beings who deserve better treatment than we provide for stray dogs.

forgive me if i am a little tired and cranky.. i just got my arse chewed for going to dinner with hubby and friends and being crass enough to report that i really really liked the place…

but there is no personal vendetta against Scott Morrow and i am really tired of having to continually rebut your insinuations that there is.

Scott Morrow has done some great work. He is a tireless political organizer and has skillfully pulled the political strings of this city to provide services for the homeless.

However, the conversation about homelessness has evolved and Scott’s insistence on political theater that actually gets in the way of solving logistical problems hasn’t.

As someone who has tried to solve rather simple problems at Nickelsville, like getting authorization for steps or gravel walkways within camp.. or even acceptance of a meal calendar so meals could be scheduled..

i can tell you that when no-one has the authority to say yes or no to a proposal, when permission can be granted in a camp wide vote on sunday and rescinded in a camp meeting of 3 on monday.. it is incredibly difficult to get things accomplished.

“Everyone” knows that Scott Morrow is in charge of Nickelsville… including anyone who has lived in Nickelsville … but for some reason he maintains this political theater that he merely serves at the will of the campers there.

Yes, the structure of a democratic process exists at Nickelsville.. but in reality the authority at Nickelsville is Scott Morrow in partnership currently with Peggy Hoates. Between them they control the funds which are donated to provide services there and communication between the campers and the public.

I think that’s fine. But i also think that authority needs to be coupled with personal responsibility, especially when that authority is funded by the public.

Pulling the portapoties as a tool of coercion crosses that line of acceptable behavior and demands a call for responsibility.

i am puzzled as to why you would label a demand for clarity and responsibility from someone who has entrusted himself with the care of some of our most vulnerable citizens as vilification..

but you have.

You ask if there other non-profits who would be willing to step up and manage the task of funding and managing villages of 100 “scared and angry people who are having a really hard time managing their lives”?

there are already other non-profits who do an incredible job of housing the homeless while providing services that help those “scared and angry people” resolve the situations that keep them from having the kinds of choices you think they should be making…

and yes, it is possible that they would be willing to step in and manage this camp and/or others.

This isn’t about any one individual. It is about working together to find solutions and accountability.

Agreements without accountability are seldom effective… and Nickelsville is no expception to that rule.

It has never been my intention to get rid of Scott Morrow.. rather to put pressure on him to work in cooperation with other agencies and other non-profits and citizen volunteers for the benefit of our city’s homeless population.

Scott is the one who chooses the dichotomy of “my way or the hiway”

and when he does so with the homeless..

he is talking about their access to the safety of the only homes they have.

You may think they deserve that.. but i don’t.

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[JoB]

spring chicken..

If Scott Morrow is unwilling or unable to accept the responsibility that comes with the authority he exercises, then i agree with you… an outside oversight authority at the camps he manages is a necessity.

i sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that.

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[Spring Chicken]

JoB, I sincerely appreciate your efforts to make Nickelsville a more humane place for people to survive, including organizing work parties, the gravel and stairs, dry socks, the meal calendar!

But if the “consultant” were doing HIS paid job then we should see his occasional posts here too, announcing events and organizing volunteers. The Nickelsville website and facebook page have not been updated for many months. I don’t know what he looks like but I don’t remember hearing his name at any of the work parties, did he show up? What exactly does he DO? When the winter swamp disaster occurred we never heard from a guy named Scott Morrow.

Today’s headline tells us the central committee claims Nickelsville is “overrun with troublemakers” but it didn’t get that way overnight! Nobody should be surprised that there will always be troublemakers trying to get in and part of his job is to monitor the procedures that are in place to keep the residents safe. Why would he discourage residents from calling the police to report criminal behavior? How does him removing all the porta potties solve ANY problem?

There’s a role for community volunteers, but it seems to me that most of the Nickelsville problems I read about here can be traced to Scott Morrow’s poor leadership.

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[JoB]

Spring Chicken

i think there would have been problems at Nickelsville regardless of the leadership.

After all, it’s pretty difficult to manage 100+ sleep deprived people who have no choice but to make their personal survival their highest priority and who may make poor choices about how to best facilitate that survival…

but i do agree that Scott has made some poor choices when it comes to utilizing the community resources that were made available to him.

I don’t think we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.. but we sure do need to pay more attention to the temperature of the water even if it means limiting the baby’s ability to reach the taps.

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[WSB]

For anyone interested, since I won’t be breaking this out till later, though I noted it in the home-page-story comment thread too. First public-official comment we have received in reply to our inquiries is from the mayor:

“The current situation raises serious concerns about Nickelsville’s ability to protect the health and safety of its residents. The immediate next step is to increase our police presence through the use of directed patrols from the Southwest Precinct.”

TR

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[Jiggers]

Nickelsville is like welp.. putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound or putting lipstick on a pig. Its not the solution. In fact its more of a scam using people down on their luck. But as we see from police reports, its becoming a possible heavy drug haven by addicts who will ruin it for the very few who don’t do illegal drugs. NV has dug itself a hole and its getting a lot deeper.

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[JoB]

jiggers..

the police reports don’t show us that Nickelsville is becoming a drug haven..

The Nickelsville Central Committee open letter did that.

The police reports show us that what is supposed to be a non-violent show of force used to evict unwanted campers hase crossed a line into at best toppling tents with tools and at worst threatening the residents of those tents with weapons.

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[WSB]

I just popped in quickly to say that if anyone has been to the camp in the past couple days and has any news of how things are going … KUOW called and asked if I would discuss this for a couple minutes on-air this afternoon. They reached out to Nickelsville first and apparently didn’t have much luck. I always give credit where credit is much due and explained that WSB Forums members have long been volunteering at, donating to, and discussing NV, and they (you guys) are the only reason I had any info at all, but besides all the backstory I gave in the pre-interview with the producer, she also asked if I knew if anything had transpired there in the past few days since this all came to a head (pun not intended).

If anything to relay, the interview is somewhere around noon,, so I’ll check back here or you all know where to find me (editor@westseattleblog.com) … thank you … TR

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[Author]

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