‘Nickelsville’ nears deadline, but there’s some hope

At “Nickelsville” – the itinerant homeless encampment set up at least in part as a protest to the sense that Seattle isn’t doing enough to get people off the streets – they’re setting up home. 

The men and women who live in the 30 or so tents in a bare, gravelly, unused state Department of

People find a dry place to have breakfast at a state DOT lot where they've set up Nickelsville. (Photo: Elliot Stoller/indymedia)

Transportation lot in an industrial area of South Seattle are setting up a P-patch to grow their own food. But the tomato plants grow in pots, a recognition by residents that they’ll have to move a fourth time as a key July 6 deadline looms. It’ll be easier than having to dig up the plants to take them with them, said Bruce Beavers, 48, who has been living at Nickelsville since it was set up near the Duwamish River in September, before the camp moved to churches in the University District and then returned to its current location.

There will be at least one more move coming up, and Nickelsville’s future remains unsettled. But there’s finally some hope. Their effort has caught the attention of Ron Judd, Gov. Chris Gregoire’s senior adviser. And Judd said this week that  there are conversations going on with private property owners who may be willing to give the encampment a permanent home.

Alex Fryer, spokesman for Mayor Greg Nickels, for whom the encampment is named, said in an e-mail: “The city is not involved in working out any arrangements with private property owners.”

But he said the “state is working with the people from the encampment, and we stand ready to address whatever next steps may be taken.”

Michael Ramos, executive director of The Church Council of Greater Seattle, did not return repeated phone calls.

Still, Judd said he has had hope something could be worked out by July 6, if not soon after. Gregoire had stepped in after Seattle police raided the camp in Seattle and arrested 22 camp occupants who refused to leave.

In a deal cut with the state, Gregoire said the camp could stay in the state-owned lot until July 6, while a more permanent solution could be worked out.

Until a more permanent deal can be struck, Nickelsville residents and their supporters have been trying to apply political pressure to let them stay put by e-mailing Gregoire, the state Transportation Department and Nickels’ office.

Judd, though, said the lot is funded by the gas tax, and the state’s 18th amendment requires the money be used for highway purposes. “So the issue we face," he said, "is that we can’t just do anything (with the DOT property).” Once July 6 comes, though, he said churches may be willing to take Nickelsville for an interim time.

Conversations are going on to work something out, he said.

At the camp, though, there is was a certain homeyness – and no desire to move. 

A makeshift shelter is the security office, Beavers said. Visitors and new residents are supposed to check in with the volunteers on security duty, he said. Their names are checked to see if they are sex offenders.

They are handed a list of rules.

No drinking.

No drugs.

“If someone comes to camp intoxicated, we’ll tell them to go sit in a park or something and come back when you’re right,” he said.

And they are handed another sheet explaining what it means to be a “Nickelodian,” which is what they call themselves. “This isn’t a place to flop,” he said. Nickelsville residents are required to attend weekly meetings and help write letters to government officials and property owners.

“Every place has rules,” said Beavers, who admitted to breaking a few in his life.

He once owned a home, he said – got laid off, sold drugs to try to save his house and landed in jail.  

There’s more to it, of course. He’s trying to get himself straight at the camp before he looks for jobs. He still hears voices, he said.

But when he got out, his home had been foreclosed and he ended up on the streets of downtown.

There are no rules there, he said.

But here, he said, “you don’t have to worry about setting your bag down and getting in line to buy something and having somebody steal everything you own,” he said.

There’s some structure here, he said. He can leave the clothes he used to lug around downtown in plastic bags in his tent. Security keeps an eye on things when he goes downtown to see social workers or take a shower at the Urban Rest Stop in Belltown.

He’s not ready to work yet, he said. He’s taking some time to get himself right. He’s on his meds. And he said Nickelsville lets him do that.

He’s standing in another make-do shack that serves as the encampment’s kitchen. There’s a table and some jars of peanut butter.

“This isn’t bad if you’re homeless,” he said. “But nobody wants to be homeless.”

He said: “We’re not asking for anything. We’re not asking for money from the city. All we want is to be left alone.”

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