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| NICKELSVILLE NEWS LINKS
www.geocities.com/libertadkorps http://www.nickelsvilleseattle.org/home Nickelsville Seattle: Alex L [email protected] 206-888-8051 Scott Morrow [email protected] 206-450-9136 Nickelsville is a project of Veterans for Peace Chapter 92, a 501c3 nonprofit http://www.vfp92.org/en/ Supplies Needed: Tarps, Blankets, Warm Clothes, Charcoal, Food, Money, Plywood, Cell Phones. During the One Night Count of January 2008, it was found that 8439 people were homeless in King County. 5808 had shelter through existing programs but 2631 were without, a 15% increase over last year. 34 homeless people have died outside this year alone. Nickelsville will keep operating due to the inescapable fact that there are people on the streets with nowhere better to go. As concerned citizens, please contact the Mayor and the Governor and ask them to positively engage in solving this problem: Mayor Greg Nickels (206) 684-4000 [email protected] Governor Christine Gregoire (360) 902-4111 [email protected] http://www.universityucc.org/events/Homeless%20Encampment/NickFAQ.pdf University Congregational Church of Christ http://www.universityucc.org/ Council Calls for Congregational Meeting on Nov 30 2008 Question will be whether to offer our Lot C to Nickelsville for a three-month maximum stay. Read link for proposal and full story of Nickelsville. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/390089_nickelsville01.html Homeless camp gets to stay in U District By Brad Wong, PI Reporter, Nov 30 2008 University Congregational United Church of Christ voted Sunday to let camp members pitch tents for three months on its parking lot, blocks from the camp's current site, the Rev. Peter Ilgenfritz said�. University Congregational representatives, Ilgenfritz said, are to meet with city officials Tuesday about a temporary-use permit for the new location. Congregation members voted by about 160 to 90 to allow the camp at its paid parking lot at Northeast 45th Street and 15th Avenue Northeast, he added. The lot sits across from University of Washington�. Factoring in money that would not be earned from the parking lot, Ilgenfritz estimated the camp would cost the church about $19,000 for three months. But he stressed one message: "Be not afraid." http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/387424_foodbank12.html City food banks see need rise as economy sours By Kathy Mulady, P-I REPORTER, Nov 11 2008 There were new faces standing in line at the University District Food Bank�. As the recession starts to hit more families, food banks throughout the city have seen a big jump in the number of clients in the past few months -- 20 percent or more. Some said October was their busiest month ever�. In Rainier Valley, food bank lines stretch around the block. In West Seattle, middle-class people looking befuddled and nervous are joining the lines�. Joe Gruber, executive director of the University District Food Bank, said about 70 of their new clients come from Nickelsville, now camped in tents in the parking lot of University Christian Church�. Wagstaff noted that the new clients are different�Middle-class white people who have never been to a food bank before, they are nervous, befuddled and out of their element. "We've had new clients who have broken down crying," he said. http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-11-05/news/nicklesville-s-not-what-it-set-out-to-be/ Nickelsville's Not What It Set Out to Be By Aimee Curl, November 05, 2008 "The mayor says everybody here has a home to go to; I don't understand it," says Nick Hoffner, 28, an Iraq War veteran who says he tried to make it as a chef before his money ran out. "I've slept on the doorsteps of churches and under bridges. I've slept in a lot of places. Here you don't have to worry about people coming to kill you." "I don't want to fight the mayor. I don't care about him any more than he cares about me," adds Aaron Beaucage, an out-of-work truck driver and former fisherman who was staying in a hotel on Aurora until he could no longer afford it�. "They've been really easy to work with," adds University Christian Pastor Janetta Cravens Boyd. "They've been good neighbors." For the first few weeks, Nickels chased Nickelsville off city and state property by threatening fines for being an illegal use of land, but the game has changed now that the encampment has landed at a church. Religious organizations have protection under a federal law that allows them to carry out their mission on their property as they see fit. This law has been tested at churches in cities surrounding Seattle that wished to host tent cities and were taken to court by the neighbors. The churches so far have prevailed. http://dailyuw.com/search/?cx=018381659628100300661%3Aucr3b7jt6o4&cof=FORID%3A10&q=nickelsville#1008 Forced to move out: City tries to sweep away U-District Nickelsville encampment By Emily Lee, November 6, 2008 �What about the public health concern of the 36 people who have died on the streets so far this year?� said Aaron Beaucage, a writer and resident of Nickelsville. �And what about the health concern that being homeless may cause mental illness?� Beaucage studied philosophy and creative writing in London before returning to the U.S�. �People visit Nickelsville and say, �Hey, these people are the same as me, in a difficult time� and the stigma goes away,� Beaucage said. http://www.realchangenews.org/2008/2008_10_15/main_v15n43.html Maybe this time: When scrambled to find a new site, a U-District church offered its hospitality. By Rosette Royale, Staff Reporter, Oct 15 2008 The community of tents first pitched stakes in south Seattle on Sept. 22, on city-owned property. Threatened with criminal trespass, some residents, called Nickelodeons, moved to a nearby parking lot on Sept. 26, as cops led away 22 Nickelodeons. That parking lot happens to be owned by the state, and Gov. Chris Gregoire, on the day of the arrests, granted Nickelsville safe haven there until Oct. 1. Gifted a two-day extension, Nickelsville then headed north, to Daybreak Star Center, situated in Discovery Park. But United Indians of All Tribes, which leases the parcel from the city, only agreed to host the camp for a week, from Oct. 3 to Oct. 10. As another eviction loomed, Nickelodeons scrambled to find a new place. Then the invitation came from University Christian Church�. The Oct. 3 notice named a number of organizations and individuals� who are otherwise responsible for this violation� � and stated that each could face daily fines of $150 for the first 10 days of noncompliance, increasing to $500 each day thereafter. �This serves,� the violation reads, �as the only and final notice to you for any future encampments under city�s encampment protocol.� http://www.realchangenews.org/2008/2008_10_01/main_v15n41.html Arrests come to Nickelsville By Cydney Gillis, Staff Reporter, Oct 1 2008 Aaron Colyer had built a little shack to house the pink tent that the organizers of Nickelsville gave him. He had painted part of the shack pink to match, and he was sitting out front Friday afternoon as he waited for the police to come. When they did, Colyer, a fresh-faced young veteran of the Marine Corps, wasn�t shy about trying to talk the officers out of arresting him and a fellow Nickelodeon sitting at a tent nearby. �The Constitution says we have an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,� Colyer began while the officers were still a few tents away. �You know you guys have a choice in the matter. You can chose not to do this. What are they going to do, fire you?�... An officer bent over and asked Colyer if he understood that, if he didn�t leave, he would be charged with criminal trespass. Colyer said yes. Like the others, officers lifted him to his feet and took him away�. The arrests, all 22 of them, went on for an hour. But� they stopped�. It was a victory for the homeless and their advocates, who had been on the phone that morning asking Gov. Christine Gregoire to intervene � and she did�. Ron Judd, a senior aide to the governor, charged onto the field, telling the Seattle officers that the governor had given her permission for the tent dwellers to stay five more days in the tiny parking lot. http://search.nwsource.com/search?query=nickelsville&year=2008&from=ST&searchtype=ST\ Nickelsville emptied in uneventful police sweep; 22 arrested By Erik Lacitis, Seattle Times staff reporter, Sep 27 2008 The end of Nickelsville and its 150 fuchsia tents came Friday�. This was no WTO Battle in Seattle�. They didn't put handcuffs on the 22 homeless� not in front of everybody � but led them along to waiting vans, at which point they were patted down and handcuffed�. Anitra Freeman, a Nickelsville spokeswoman, was the first to be arrested�. Another of those arrested was Aaron Colyer, 28, who moved here last year from Morristown, Tenn. "Seattle is known for its jobs, for its industry," said Colyer. "I came here looking for a fishing job. I put in my applications, I just didn't get the jobs."� Colyer was asked if it was worth it, getting arrested. "This is the most important thing I've done in my life," he said. http://www.realchangenews.org/2008/2008_09_24/dircrnr_v15n40.html Director's Corner By Timothy Harris, Real Change Executive Director, Sep 24 2008 The encampment, named to recall the Hoovervilles of the �30s, happened to occur the same week of a proposed financial industry bailout that, combined with other recent Hail Mary maneuvers to rescue the economy, may run over a trillion dollars. The coming depression has led to lowered revenue projections at all levels of government that will put already tenuous human service programs at great risk during the upcoming budget session. The land upon which Nickelsville sits is one of the four sites proposed by the city for a new seven-acre jail facility. http://www.realchangenews.org/2008/2008_09_17/Nickelsville_v15n39.html Nickelsville is necessary By Anitra Freeman and Joe Martin, Guest Writers, Sep 17 2008 Anitra Freeman SHAREWHEEL 206-448-7889 449-7889 REALITY: The City of Seattle spends tens of thousands of dollars on each encampment sweep�. REALITY: The City of Seattle�s own estimates indicate that there are more homeless people in our city than there are shelter spaces to accommodate them. This past January�s �One Night Count� found 2,631 homeless men, women, and children living outside after all available shelters had filled up. In July alone, Operation Nightwatch turned away women seeking emergency shelter on 176 different occasions�. There is not enough shelter for the total need, and there is not enough shelter for each particular need: that of families, couples, workers, youths, or those who have a pet�. REALITY: The Seattle Displacement Coalition has documented that the City continues to lose affordable housing faster than it is created. The overall supply of housing affordable to low-income people is less now than it was at the start of the �10-Year Plan.� According to 2008�s One Night Count, 80 percent of the homeless in King County became homeless when their housing in King County became unaffordable. There is nothing in the Ten Year Plan to stem the loss of affordable housing�. We ask that you leave Nickelsville alone! It will cost the city nothing. Let homeless people help themselves and each other. http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-08-20/news/welcome-to-nickelsville-population-unknown/2 Welcome to Nickelsville By Aimee Curl, Aug 20 2008 Two and a half years after implementation, the committee that oversees the 10-year plan (Nickels is on the 23-member governing board, along with King County Executive Ron Sims) reports that 1,449 units have been built and another 1,411 are in the works. But these numbers don't take into account the number of low-income units lost during this period. According to the Seattle Displacement Coalition, 3,511 low-income units have been lost since 2005 in Seattle alone due to condo conversion, demolition, or speculative sale�. "The official position is that we're not going to build any more shelters because we want to put all of our resources into permanent solutions," says Bill Hobson, executive director of the Downtown Emergency Service Center, which provides 300 emergency shelter beds�. Alison Eisinger, executive director of the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness� organizes the One Night Count� which this year tallied 5,808 people sleeping in shelters and 2,631 more sleeping on the street, the latter number a 15 percent increase over 2007. Hobson says there's rarely a night that his shelters aren't full�. "Some people think there's a portion of people who prefer to sleep outside. That's b.s.," he says. "I think people give up looking for shelter."� The two-day sweep was expensive: $27,866 for staff, a rented tractor, portable toilets, safety equipment, immunizations, and dump fees. According to Eisinger, it's about half of what the city spends to house 75 people during the entire six-month season at its emergency winter shelter in the basement of City Hall. "It's shocking and frankly baffling in its counterproductiveness," Eisinger says of the sweeps. |