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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (44592)	5/15/2004 3:34:27 PM
From: Neeka	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793725

This issue was taken up by the local people and Sims was forced to relent yesterday. The tent city will be housed on local Church property for he next 90 days until a permanent solution is found. It was a real case of local control, led by the people of this neighborhood ( which happens to be very near to where I live), and government bureaucracy. M archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com Homeless to pitch tents for first time on Eastside By Keith Ervin Seattle Times staff reporter Related stories One day after sponsors of a planned tent city near Bothell agreed to delay its opening by 11 days because of angry protests, they signed an agreement with King County officials that will allow homeless men and women to pitch tents May 17. The agreement allows 100 campers to stay no more than 90 days on county-owned land next to the Brickyard Park & Ride on Juanita-Woodinville Way Northeast near Interstate 405. County officials and sponsors of the tent city, SHARE/WHEEL, will explore longer-term options that could mean moving the encampment to another location or finding more conventional housing. More than 30 residents gathered at Kirkland's Kingsgate Library last night and voiced outrage at King County Executive Ron Sims and what group leader LeSan Riedmann called his "democratic abuse." "We're against the way they tried to ram it down our throats — it's not necessarily us picketing against tent city," said Riedmann, who called her newly formed group the Brickyard Area Community for Fair Process. The group said it filed a lawsuit yesterday against Sims and King County and plans to picket at the site later this week. The planned campground, called Tent City 4, is modeled after a roving tent city that has moved from Seattle to Shoreline, Tukwila and Burien over the past three years. Tent City 4 will be in addition to Tent City 3, which is scheduled to relocate May 17 from property next to Lake City Christian Church to Cherry Hill Baptist Church. A crowd of angry neighbors complained at a public meeting Monday night that they were given little advance notice of the new encampment. After considering dozens of properties, County Executive Ron Sims last week announced he had agreed to let homeless people pitch tents today at the Brickyard Park & Ride. But in response to protests, Sims and Metropolitan King County Councilwoman Carolyn Edmonds on Tuesday asked SHARE/WHEEL to delay the opening until May 17, which the organization agreed to. Sims in December vetoed a County Council resolution that included $50,000 in seed money to find a site for the group. SHARE/WHEEL forced the issue last month when it announced that homeless people would set up camp in a park today with or without the county's position. The Brickyard site was chosen for the first Eastside tent city in part because it is in an unincorporated area. If churches or other landowners in suburban cities agree to host the encampment, more time might be required to obtain city permits, said Sherry Hamilton, spokeswoman for the county's Department of Community and Health Services. Although a Bothell-area church this week offered its property as a possible campsite, a tent-city source said there probably would not be enough time to switch to that site for the scheduled opening. A motion proposed by Sims to the County Council last week would direct Sims to work with faith-based groups, community organizations and nonprofit groups "on a long-term plan for locating Tent City 4." The motion is pending before the council. However, Hamilton said, "The next step is not necessarily a permanent tent city. The county is going to look at the issue of homelessness and the region's responsibility and the region's need to address homelessness." State Rep. Toby Nixon, a Republican from the Kingsgate neighborhood near the Brickyard tent-city site, yesterday said Sims had "utterly failed" to seek community comment on the encampment. "Mr. Sims is all for preventing rural residents from developing the majority of their land, under the guise of environmental protection, but when it comes to tent-city residents, he apparently is less concerned about proper permitting procedures or ensuring the protection of neighborhoods or the provision of basic services," Nixon said. Hamilton said some opponents of the planned tent city seem unaware that there is homelessness on the Eastside as well as in Seattle. "One of the really disappointing things that was said over and over in the public meeting is that Seattle should keep their homeless," Hamilton said. "Homelessness is a regional issue. People across King County don't have a home. That includes folks that formerly resided in Bothell and Kent and Kirkland and Juanita." archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com Editorial The tent flap Maybe for the advocates of King County's homeless population there is no such thing as bad publicity. Well, King County Executive Ron Sims and the King County Council have tripped over a tent peg. Their clumsy move to put a homeless encampment on vacant county land at the Brickyard Park and Ride has needlessly upset nearby neighbors and, perhaps, jeopardized the use of all county property in the future. Sims and the council should step back from a terribly planned — virtually unplanned — move next Monday and stop the process until cooler heads prevail. Sims and King County Councilwoman Carolyn Edmonds insisted Wednesday night at a raucous community meeting the 90-day agreement would proceed with the or-ganizers, the Seattle Housing and Resource Effort and the Women's Housing, Equality and Enhancement League. It's an empty victory if it does. Edmonds admitted to an angry crowd at a Bothell church that a mistake had been made. Indeed, she said the council might decide never to do this again. She is absolutely right. The council and Sims proceeded without procedures or guidelines, no citizens' advisory committee or adequate meetings and information sharing. No wonder people are upset. Two Bothell churches have offered space to the tent-city organizers. Alternatives exist while the planning process could be resumed. Homeless advocates are eager to get onto county property; they want to deal with one landlord instead of a rotating caravan between churches. The implication is they want eventually to stay longer or on multiple sites or simply exasperate the system enough to force more-permanent housing solutions. Plunging ahead now serves none of that. The county is the undisputed king of process when it serves its purpose. Somehow, that system broke down, and ordinary people are mad as hell. Rightfully so. Sims, Edmonds and the rest of the council need to take a deep breath, work with and trust their constituents, and let the tent city take up residence on church property generously offered. Sticking to the agreement Monday may blow a bigger, better opportunity for both the county and homeless advocates and those they serve.