Homeless in front of the Mayor’s.

Homeless make their beds on the median in front of Mayor Nickles home.

In front of A half block from Mayor Nickels’ house, in West Seattle, last night, about 40 homeless people, and a few with homes, in support of their cause, laid down mats and plastic and whatever they could make beds out of, and slept side by side on the 6 ft wide median between the sidewalk and the street.

They were protesting the refusal of the city to allot them an additional $50,000 to purchase bus tickets so those staying at shelters with the Seattle Homeless Housing and Resource Effort could get to the city and back to their shelter beds at night.

There have been criticisms of bringing this protest to the Mayor’s home. Some readers of the West Seattle Blog commented that it should be off limits, and that it is victimizing Nickels’ innocent neighbors.

Ron Wilson, facilities coordinator for Bunk House 2 with SHARE, said “I’m against attacking the home, myself. But there are a lot of people who won’t be dry tonight, or warm. Unless you have been in this position, you wouldn’t understand.”

And although Nickels is the outgoing Mayor, the sentiment among the homeless and SHARE is that he is responsible for their situation. They blame him for cutting programs and tring to push the homeless out of the city.

A more serious accusation is that Nickels is responsible for the disappearace of the paperwork that would have allowed representatives of SHARE to speak in front of the City Council to ask for the funding to purchase bus tickets, according to a press release from SHARE.

Steve Friberg, a camp advisor for Tent City 3, and resident, said he was one of the people who signed this paperwork, and that it vanished.

“Those without money use what power is available to them,” said Leslie Petersen, an advocate for Nickelsville, Monday evening. She was leaving the homeless camp to pick up people from shelters downtown, and bring them to the Mayor’s house.

Even though Nickelsville is not a part of SHARE, and they say they do not receive bus tickets from them, several residents there joined in the protest.

I met with them at Nickelsville. Ronald, head of security gave me a ride in the back of his pick up truck. “It’ll probably be more comfortable on this cushion,” he said. I sat in the back with a spare tire, the cushion, and the makings of a bed rumpled in the corner.

In the front with him were Jim and his wife Jill. They just returned from New Orleans where Jim spent a month looking fruitlessly for a job. They lived at Nicklesville for a month and a half before that. Monday they returned to find that Nickelsville would be shut down by the Port Police on Wednesday.

They met up with others on the lawn of the Admiral Congressional United Church of Christ. A few had signs asking Nickles for change for the bus. They carried the signs to make the sleepover a legal protest.

A police officer pulled up to the church and addressed the crowd, asking for someone who would represent them. There was silence. “Is there any one voice among you,” he asked.

Scott Morrow, a consultant for SHARE2, said he would have to find somebody. A policy of the the organizers for SHARE is that they don’t speak for the homeless. The homeless can speak for themselves.

Morrow approached individuals on the lawn asking them if they had I.D. When he found three who were willing and able to speak with the officer they approached him and, one at a time, they introduced themselves and shook his hand.

“This is a peacefull protest.” they explained. They were going to lay down mats to sleep on. They were not going to disturb anybody.

“Everyone understands this, right?” said Officer Joe Bouffiou, executive protection to the mayor. “Let me explain my position,” he said, “I work for the people.” He added “I’m here to make sure absolutely no one gets hurt.”

There was one other point of concern, which was that none of the mayor’s decorative plants were damaged.

From the church, the protesters walked a few blocks, quietly, in single file, keeping to the sidewalk, until they arrived at Nickles residence, where they laid down their bedding.

News crews from KOMO KING and KIRO arrived and interviewed spokesmen for the protest. Some neighbors could be seen looking out through their windows. Several officers surveyed the scene. An advocate for the homeless had flyers prepared for any of the neighbors who wanted to know what was happening. 

“As long as it’s peaceful, we’re going to let them exercise their rights,” Officer Bouffiou said.

The night passed without incident according to Renee Witt, public information officer for the Seattle police department.

Tonight, those from Nicklesville, who joined in the protest, along with all of its other residents will sleep there for the last time. Tomorrow, they will either be pushed out or arrested.

Tags: homeless, homelessness, Mayor Nickles, Nicklesville related links, seattle, SHARE

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 5:15 p.09. and is filed under Nickelsville. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.