By Shane Harms

Mayor Ed Murray was not in attendance at the public meeting for the Ballard Homeless Encampment that was held last night at the Leif Erikson Hall at 6:30 p.m.

Where was he? He opted to attend the Grand Opening of Jet City Winery in Georgetown instead.

Hundreds of citizens showed up hoping to hear the mayor discuss the process for how the City decided on a location (NW Market Street, the main business street of Ballard) where they plan to construct a homeless encampment.

Deputy Mayor Kim was there instead of Mayor Murray to explain why the location that neighbors a liquor store, cannabis shop and tavern was the choice for the encampment.

When citizens heard the Mayor was not coming they booed and shouted at Deputy Mayor Kim. Some citizens even left the meeting. During the duration of the meeting citizens shouted “Where’s the mayor?” and “Where’s Murray?”

Across town, Jet City winery, a Charles Smith wine location in Georgetown, held their grand opening last night. The soiree started at 5:30 p.m. The event started with a wine tasting and later featured a performance by Jerry Lee Lewis. Lewis played the event as part of his 80th Birthday Tour.

An employee of the winery told the Ballard News-Tribune that the mayor arrived earlier in the evening and stayed until about 7 p.m., just the time when citizens at the encampment meeting started their public comments.

A blog post by KVinters shows the mayor mixing it up with winery owner, Charles Smith, at about 6:31 p.m.

The Ballard News-Tribune asked the Mayor’s Office why the mayor did not attend the public meeting and went to the winery opening instead. The Mayor’s office offered conflicting answers.

First, “The mayor did attend a local business opening in Georgetown earlier in the evening. It was not at the same time as the event in Ballard."

Then later, “He left this Georgetown business opening attended by several hundred people shortly after 6:30.”

Mayor Murray never said he would be at the encampment meeting but citizens were hoping that he would address the community because of the urgency and gravity of the issue.

The meeting was held for public comment on the encampment site and for City Officials to present the vetting process for the encampment selection. City officials were also going to encampment operations, conditions and other ways the City is addressing homelessness.

The City plans to construct three homeless encampment sites in 2015. The Ballard site is one of the three. It was chosen from a list of over 130 potential locations. When the location of the site was announced in early July there was a backlash from the Ballard community. The heaviest contention from the community was lack of public participation in deciding the site location. Other issues were that the site neighbors a liquor store and tavern and that it lies on the main street of Ballard across from one of the most popular tourist destinations in Seattle: the Ballard Locks.

The Ballard Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter to the Office of the Mayor that asked to pause the encampment construction until a public meeting was held. Also, an ad-hoc group called Speak Up Ballard started a petition against the encampment location and gathered over 1400 supporters (https://www.change.org/organizations/speak_up_ballard_2). The two held their own meeting and invited Mayor Murray, Diane Sugimura (Director of the Department of Planning and Development) and District 6 Councilmen, Mike O’Brien.

Hundreds of citizens showed up and listened to O’Brien discuss what he could about the encampment location decision. Mayor Murray and Sugimura did not attend.