North Seattle residents and citizens from as far as Kent gathered at Leif Erikson Hall August 12 for a public meeting hosted by the Office of the Mayor to discuss the proposed homeless encampment at 2826 NW Market Street.

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 present on encampment options.

Hundreds of citizens gathered in the hall to hear from City officials. Among them was Deputy Mayor Hyeok Kim and Council member, Mike O’Brien. Staff from the Department of Planning and Development and the Department of Neighborhoods spoke at the meeting.

Mayor Ed Murray did not attend the event.

The meeting came after the Ballard of Chamber of Commerce and a neighborhood group called Speak Up Ballard – a group that opposed the encampment location – petitioned the City to have a public meeting to hear public input. They asked for the City to engage in the public process before moving forward with the encampment plans. City Council also stipulated in a letter to the Mayor’s Office for public outreach moving forward with developing encampments.

Last month, the Mayor’s Office released a list of seven potential city-owned sites that could be used for sanctioned tent encampments. Three of the sites were recommended for use in 2015, and one of those sites is 2826 NW Market Street in Ballard. At least 50 residents would live at the site in Ballard.

Encampment site on NW Market Street.

The encampments are part of the City’s plan to end homelessness. According to the City, the number of people sleeping without shelter in Seattle has increased nearly 42 percent since 2010 to more than 2,800 people counted in the 2015 One Night Count.

At the meeting City officials briefly presented the ordinance City Council passed last March that allowed encampments on city-owned or private property in non-residential zones, the encampment selection process and operations for and conditions of encampments.

Many citizens felt that City Officials did not present the information they said they would in the invitation for the meeting.

“At Large in Ballard” columnist, Peggy Sturdivant, who has attended all public meetings on the proposed site, as well as having an eight-year involvement with repurposing former substations, commented that unfortunately the August 12 public meeting organized by City staff provided no more information than was shared at the July 8 Ballard District Council meeting (Councilmen John Okamoto in attendance) and less than was provided by potential operators at the July 23 meeting of the Ballard Taskforce on Homelessness and Hunger. However at this meeting there were Department heads and senior staff who could have provided information but were only available after the close of the meeting.

What did officials present?

City officials reported that after the City Council passed the encampment ordinance, City Departments started their search for encampment sites.

“We looked city-wide at vacant city-owned properties that were large enough to have an organized encampment. There are not that many properties in the city of Seattle. We do no buy properties to hold on to them. Primarily, we buy property for a community center or a park or something like that,” said Director of Seattle Department of Planning and Development, Diane Sugimura.

“We narrowed it down and actually had a hard time to get to the seven that we presented to the city council earlier, a month or two ago as the seven potential sites. Three of which we recommended would go in the first round, one of which was the one on Market.”

Jason Kelly, Press Secretary for Mayor Murray wrote to the Ballard News-Tribune before the meeting.

“There are very few sites that are large enough and located suitably to meet this need (encampment). However, if a more appropriate site is identified, either publicly owned or privately held, the City will certainly consider it, which is allowed by the ordinance.”

Issues the public discussed

A major concern Mike Stewart, Executive Director of the Ballard Chamber of Commerce before the meeting, expressed the day before the meeting was how Seattle City Light moved ahead with the remediation of the site before time for the public meeting. Since the City announced the site location it was discovered that the once Seattle City Light substation was contaminated with pesticides and heavy metals and needed environmental remediation. Despite public unrest for the location of the site, the cleanup started a week before the meeting on August 12 with the removal of a healthy Korean Ashe. Also, earlier this week the City warned citizens to cover gardens and to steer clear of the site because of harmful dust in the air as Seattle City Light staff remove 18 inches of topsoil. The clean up is expected to take one week and will cost around $145,500.

"The fact that City Light is moving ahead fast and furiously with the site remediation certainly conveys to the public that they are moving full steam ahead with the Market Street site location," said Stewart. "And, unfortunately, City Light’s aggressive efforts are happening despite our ongoing conversations with the City to find a more appropriate site location.”

Meanwhile, Councilmen Mike O’Brien reported at the meeting that he had met with the Mayor and his staff along with one Ballard resident, stakeholders and members from the Ballard Chamber of Commerce to discuss other potential sites.

Other citizens questioned why the City moved to remediate the site now if there is still a chance the Market Street site might not be constructed.

“The construction is happening regardless of what happens with the Market Street site. This is part of the remediation and it will have to happen regardless,” said Deputy Mayor Kim.

Scott Thompsen with Seattle City Light told the Ballard News-Tribune that the remediation work would be completed no matter the role of the site.

“Our work on this property will not change regardless of any decision on future use or potential use of an encampment at the site. We have done testing and found contaminants, and we have obligation to clean them up and continue to for whatever future project happens at the site,” said Thompsen.

“The site needs the environmental remediation even if an encampment is not located there. City Light has performed this same work at numerous other former substation properties,” wrote Kelly to the Ballard News-Tribune.

What about the commenters?

At least 15 citizens were able to speak during public comment portion of the meeting. They signed up for one of three categories: pro, con and neutral toward the encampment location. They were invited to direct questions toward city officials.

Ballard residents asked to raise their hands the meeting.

The first speaker, Cindy Pearce, from Magnolia, asked, “Where has the logic gone in the city government?”

There was a loud applause from the crowd.

She said that along with tarps, people in Ballard would see “people with issues right next to a fully stocked liquor store, and a wonderful bar and a quick-store with fortified beer,” if the encampment were constructed.

She went on to address the “illogical” timing of the remediation and asked why the city would “…decide we need a tent city ASAP in a toxic dump that needs to be dug out at the peak of growing season?”

Cindy Pearce asking Deputy Mayor Kim for "logic" in city government.

Other citizens were concerned that the City would even consider a contaminated location where citizens would sleep in tents on the ground with 18 inches of new soil separating them from where Seattle City Light found cadmium, lead, dieldrin and asbestos.

The effect on businesses was another major issue addressed by commenters.

Doug Maise is a member the Ballard Eagleson VFW Post 3063. The encampment would neighbor their hall. Maise said that at a community meeting the week before (Ballard Speak Up meeting with Councilmen O’Brien at the VFW hall), one of his own customers who rents the space for business events said she would be deterred from renting in the future if the encampment is constructed.

“I’m a homeowner. I have a house. I’m mortgaged up to my eyebrows. I have a truck. I owe money on it. I live in a nice place. That does not make me a bad guy,” said Maise.

“I am not against the homeless. I am against the location of this place. It isn’t about what you think; it is about what out customers think. We have very few means to generate income. … We can have people come to our hall and rent our hall. You tell me, if they have a choice between this hall (Leif Erikson Hall) at the same price and our hall with a homeless camp next to it, which would the customer pick? … It’s about the perceptions of the people who are going to generate money for us.”

Maise went on to comment on the lack of public involvement in deciding the site.

“I’ll reiterate what everybody else said: It sucks when you find out the City is considering a lot (for encampment) next door to you on the news. You didn’t even give us the courtesy of a call.”

From the crowd’s loud applause to Mr. Maise’s comment, they seemed to concur. However, there were other commenters that advocated for homeless people and the site location.

One commenter told the story of how she was injured after an accident and lost her ability to work. After her savings ran out she was homeless and eventually lived on the streets. During that time she admitted being beaten, robbed and brutally raped and that living in an encampment could be her refuge from the streets.

“I lived in transitional housing. I timed out my two years. I’m on lists that are two years long, and there’s nowhere for me to live. I’m going to have to go back to the street and be in a tent encampment and the way they (encampments) are put in place now is so much safer than what it was. … We needed this. I have been standing for two years asking for a tent encampment – to have a safe place. … I don’t use drugs. I listen to all of you and you don’t understand. Homelessness does not have a face anymore. It is well-educated people. It is people that have lost their jobs, have had health problems. … We are the community, too.

There was a loud applause from the crowd after her testimony.

Jean Darsie, member of the Ballard Community Taskforce on Homelessness and Hunger, told the Ballard News-Tribune that if an organization like Nickelsville manages the would-be site in Ballard, there are strict rules residents abide to. As written in the City Council encampment ordinance, organizers are encouraged to establish rules that prohibit drug, alcohol, sex offenders and weapons from the site.

The tone from other commenters at the meeting was urgent, at times abrasive and citizens – especially a hand full from the back – scoffed with lightning speed and as cold as razor blades when a city official deviated from “the question” at hand.

One man badgered Deputy Mayor Kim so badly and with such intensity that she skipped the question at hand, which was how the police would handle issues arising at the camp.

After 90 minutes of discussion, Deputy Mayor Kim broke off the meeting.

“Clearly there is a lot of trust and credibility that the Ballard neighborhood feels has been lost. We heard that clearly tonight. I also hope that you heard clearly that while the Market Street site is not off the table, we are with good faith looking at alternative sites,” said Deputy Mayor Kim.