SEATTLE — This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com
Just one day after the City of Seattle swept a homeless encampment in West Seattle’s Rotary Viewpoint Park, more than a dozen people returned.
At least two tents have been set up beneath the totem pole in the center of the park, which is next to the West Seattle Golf Course, with many individuals abusing substances out in the open, according to MyNorthwest.com. Personal belongings are now piled on the sidewalk, and neighbors are frustrated with how little has changed.
“We wanted homelessness to be solved, so we have thrown tax dollars at it, and nothing substantial has come out of it,” neighbor Iris Hicks said. “We need meaningful action to happen for these folks.”
Most of those we talked with have sympathy and empathy for the unhoused in their neighborhood, but they acknowledge that it’s a complex problem with no easy solution.
“Them doing the sweep is obviously understandable, but I think there needs to be kind of a follow-up that doesn’t allow that to be a pattern of needing to sweep them from the area,” a neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
Neighbors said the encampment is the source of crime, drugs, and violence that have been intermittent for several years.
West Seattle homeless encampment cleared after years of crime, drug use
Seattle City Councilmember Rob Saka, who represents the area, said the homeless encampment had become a health and safety issue for the public.
“There’s a huge public safety challenge there,” Saka said. “It’s public safety related, it’s public health related. Now, with an overdose death situation there, it’s totally out of hand. There is a lot of unauthorized encampment activity, and it has resulted, tragically, in some very brutal beatings and rapidly devolving public safety situations.”
KIRO Newsradio was at the scene at the park on Wednesday and noted several city departments were working to clear the encampment. Adyn is one of the campers who had to move on.
“We’re just getting our stuff to the sidewalk so they don’t throw it away,” unhoused camper Adyn told KIRO Newsradio. “And from there, we’re just going to sleep wherever we fall asleep, I guess. We got a paper taped to our tent that said that we had three days to pack our stuff and move. Outreach came out, too, three days before to offer help.”
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