I just got back from this morning's sweep of the Ballard Commons park, where dozens of police vastly outnumbered the remaining campers by 8:30 am (notice was posted on Saturday). Report to come, but here are a few photos I took of the removal in progress.
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There were at least 50% fewer tents this morning than yesterday, meaning that most people apparently moved along to other places. A few people received referrals to shelter, including one man I spoke to who had a housing voucher for months but has been unable to find housing.
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Non-city outreach workers at the scene told me they had built relationships with many of the people living at the Commons, and would have a hard time finding them and rebuilding trust now that that they've been scattered.
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As I mentioned last night, most spots in tiny house villages and non-congregate shelters in the city are already occupied.
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The city acknowledged this but said the encampment had been "growing" and was ON sidewalks. Having visited many times, I can say this was once true but was not as of this weekend.
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It's easy to see why encampment removals are intimidating when you see how many armed officers were standing by to oversee the removal of peaceful campers.
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Workers piled anything that was left behind into garbage cans and dump trucks. As one advocate told me, "they're only allowed to take what they can carry on their backs." A camper told me he has never known anyone who has been able to retrieve items from city storage.
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TV and still cameras documented the whole thing, including the faces of homeless people experiencing this trauma. Occasionally, a driver honked their horn in support, yelling "thank you!" out the window at the police and sanitation workers as they observed from their car.
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Will Lemke told me this morning that every camper there was offered shelter - either at the Bitter Lake facility, the SLU village, the nav center or other shelters.
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This is inaccurate, and this is not what he told me. As I reported last night, there were 7 women's beds, two couples rooms, and three THV slots for men, total, so it would be physically impossible to provide legitimate offers to the dozens of people who were living there.
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