Homeless Seattle Nickelsville Tent City Updates

[Ibu Oni]

Well guys, unless a miracle happens,next week we are taking direct action and sleeping outside of the Mayor s house. Here is our official communique/request asking for help from supporters. Please wish me and my crew luck and if you pray, pray for us...This is SHARE not Nickelsville but we have the same spirit and we are NOT gonna give up!!

Dear friends,

Greetings from the 500 men and women of SHARE. We would like first and foremost to thank you for your continuous support of our friends from Nickelsville. We are emailing you today to ask you for your help.
12 months ago, we asked City Hall for a $50,000 increase in funding. That’s chicken feed for a government that claims to spend 40 Million a year on dealing with homelessness. Even though they didn’t give us one red nickel of that $50,000 we have managed, (thanks to the ingenuity of our friends and ourselves,) to stave off shutting down the shelters for 9 months.

On September 2, the Human Services Department refused to advance SHARE $50,000 on its yearly contract unless we promised to not close our shelters for the rest of the calendar year. In good conscience, we can’t make that promise. We cannot guarantee that someone else will give us the $50,000 the City will not for November and December.
We will be running out of bus tickets around September 15 and we will be taking Direct Action. We will need your help at this time.
Our direct action will not break the law. When boarding the bus to go to our shelters, we will ask the driver politely if we can ride for free and will keep tally of the rides as to reimburse METRO as soon as possible.
If the bus driver doesn’t want us to ride the bus without tickets, we’ll get off. We will then head to a city politicians house (first night the Mayor). We will be needing rides at short notice from our friends and we hope that you will be able to help us.

Once we have reached the politicians house we will not trespass on their property or disturb their neighbors with loud talk or rudeness. We will instead roll out our blankets and sleep on the sidewalk. They still haven’t made sleeping a crime! In the morning we’ll clean up and head back downtown.

Because SHARE does not have an email address and because of the nature of our action, we are building a phone tree and need our friends to give us their cell phone numbers so we can contact them on short notice to give us rides.

If you are able to help us please email your phone number to our friends at Nickelsville who will pass it on to us, Scott@nickelsvilleseattle.org.
You can also call our Organizers at (206) 448-7889 and give them your number.
Once again, thank you for your support of the Nickelodeons.
--------------------

[Ibu Oni]

NB: The direct action centers around bus rides and bus tickets for one reason..SHARE is a self managed organization and as such we are decentralized. We operate 2 Tent Cities and 15 indoor shelters scattered throughout King County, We are hosted by churches at different locations and are not "ghettoized" downtown. Some of our locations as are far as 15 miles from downtown where the services such as showers, Human Services or employment (especially labor) are at.
It was a tough decision last year when the City refused to give us a $50 000 increase..(they spend 4 millions alone on a computer tracking program of homeless people!!). We felt the Mayor was getting back at us because some of us started Nickelsville...we went through the political process and submitted a "green sheet" for funding which after a closed door conference in the mayor s office disappeared.
I was the one who made the motion at the Power Lunch to cut down bus tickets (the alternative was closing down shelters)
and to take direct action...
Well I guess the powers that be hate poor people who are organized and have a voice of their own...they have no problem giving the United Lackeys and other $$poverty pimps and they $$social workers millions..
It s all good, we ll be out there next week >^..^<

[findingmyself]

We have a tent city down here in st pete, and its run by the charity pinellas hope. It is a pretty good deal really. Free cable tv, internet, washers/dryers, etc. Stay up to a year. Though where your at, it sounds like this nickle guy is a real ass. I have been reading here about him, sounds like he needs to be put into a alley and the shit beat out of him.

[Ibu Oni]

He lost the primary elections to 2 newbies who had never been into politics before >hehehe<
We still have to contend with him until November. One of the candidates mr McGinn has already met with the Nickelodeons and is a friend, he will come at the open house/ birthday party on the 26 (yes my baby is one year old). We also invited the other candidate mr Mallahan to the open house. Hopefully he ll accept the invite too..Oy Vey I just realized no matter who wins: our future Mayor is Irish!! Maybe we should start sending out cases of Guinness to both of them in order to be in favor :P What do the Irish say about Guinness? A blond lady in a black dress LOL
(sorry Streetseen I could not resist it LOL).
This week (probably Friday) we (SHARE) will be sleeping outside Nickels house. I ll be there with my sleeping bag, my pjs and my teddy bear. Sleeping on the sidewalks after 9 PM is NOT illegal and we are bringing a portable port a potty and will make sure we do not trespass on his or the neighbors property. We will be quiet and respectful and will clean up before leaving in the morning. It s not his neighbors fault that he is a mean spirited jackass. Here is our press release:

SEATTLE STYLE UNFUNDED MANDATE TO FINALLY CLOSE SHARE SHELTERS IN MID SEPTEMBER AND SEND THE HOMELESS COMMUNITY TO SLEEP IN FRONT OF LOCAL POLITICIANS HOUSES-STARTING WITH MAYOR NICKELS!!!
12 months ago, we asked the City Hall for a $50,000 increase in fundings. That s chicken feed for a government that claims to spend 40 Million a year on dealing with homelessness. They’ve steadfastly refused to give us an extra dime at the same time ridiculous expenditures continue to be made for computer tracking of homeless people, destroying homeless people’s encampments, and having park rangers keep us out of the parks.
Thanks to the ingenuity of our friends and ourselves, we’ve staved off shutting down the shelters for 9 months.
On September 2, the Human Services Department refused to advance SHARE $50,000 on its yearly contract unless we promised to not close our shelters for the rest of the calendar year. In good conscience, we can’t make that promise. We cannot guarantee that someone else will give us the $50,000 the City will not for November and December.
The SHARE Shelter Network is ¼ the cost of a comparable shelter. The Mayor’s Sweeps Shelters cost 5 times as much as one of ours per bed night.
Our politicians pretend that there is no connection between their wasteful spending and the increase of homeless people and homeless deaths in Seattle.
If we can’t sleep in our shelters, we’ll be sleeping in front of their houses. This is not something we want to do, but something we are forced into due to the negligence of our local politicians. At this time it looks like we will run out of bus tickets-and therefore have to shut the shelters-on September 15th.\
You are welcome to drop by our shelters and talk to us about this. They are our homes and we are entitled to some privacy, so please call first.
We are asking the public to stand up and insist on changing the way Seattle helps (or does not help) homeless people. Sort of like people voted for change in the primary’s Mayoral’s election. The public will be welcome to stand with us and sleep out with us if nothing is done to keep our shelters open.

[Ibu Oni]

TO OUR FRIENDS:
NICKELSVILLE NEEDS YOUR HELP NEXT WEDNESDAY 9/30/09.

The Port’s (3rd) deadline to disband our encampment is coming soon. They have stated they will sweep Nickelsville on Wednesday the 30th by the Port Police.

But Nickelsville cannot move until a permament site is found. We do need our friends, allies and supporters to stand with us in solidarity. The more people show up to support us, the least likely we will be to get arrested and our belongings destroyed.

THE NICKELSVILLE CENTRAL COMMITTEE WILL BE HELD WEDNESDAY, SEPT 30TH AT NICKELSVILLE. RIDES TO THE CAMP WILL BE GIVEN FROM THE JOSEPHINIUM AT 2ND AND STEWART AT 8:15 AM.

NICKELSVILLE WEBSITE: NICKELSVILLESEATTLE.ORG
NICKELSVILLE STAFF 450-9136 NICKELSVILLE CAMP 450-5268
SCOTT@NICKELSVILLESEATTLE.ORG

[Ibu Oni]

September 22, 2009 – yesterday – was our first full year! Friday will be the anniversary of the day the Nickelsville 25 took their stand and (thanks to them) the rest of us successfully moved to state land.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH, WE WILL BE CELEBRATING WITH NICKELSVILLE’S 1st BIRTHDAY PARTY! IT’S AT 3 PM AT NICKELSVILLE AND WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AND THE REST OF OUR OLD AND NEW FRIENDS.

On hand will be hamburgers, hot dogs, Leslie’s Nickelsville Birthday Cake, Peggy’s 18 Minute Video of the Highs and Lows of Nickelsville’s first year, music from our many friends and etc.

To speed the cooking of the hamburgers, we are looking for a big new grill that can handle our firewood. After a year, one of our two major grills bit the dust last week.

This is the extent of the good news.

The bad news is that the Port still wants to sweep us next Wednesday – September 30th. While we are grateful for Port Commissioners Tarleton and Creighton for meeting with us last week, no permanent location has been found for us to move to.

Without a permanent location, Nickelsville will not move.

If you believe homeless people should have a place like Nickelsville in Seattle, this is your week to take a stand. You are needed September 30th. Please check in at the Camp any time after first light next Wednesday. For that week (September 30th) only, the Nickelsville Central Committee Meeting (always at 9 AM) will be meeting at Nickelsville.

You are all invited.

The more our friends are standing with us, the better the chance for a good resolution.

Finally, SHARE’s bus ticket crisis will come to a head the evening of Monday, September 28th. They desperately need drivers to help them reach the homes the local politicians whose sidewalks they will be sleeping in front of until this problem is solved. (Thank you to the 14 drivers who’ve already volunteered to help! Vans and trucks are
particularly needed!)

Please give SHARE a call at (206) 448-7889 or (206) 956-0334 if you can help.

[Ibu Oni]

Ps: To all of you all over the world rooting for the Nickelodeons: No matter what happens on Wednesday, we will not disband. The Super Duper Super Secret Site Search Committee (SDSSSSC) or more appropriately the strategic committee was re elected for a 4th time. Seven of us who swore "omerta" >secrecy<
It was an unanimous vote and I am honored to serve on the committee one more time.
We still have a few tricks up our sleeves..remember we pulled some fast ones LOL..so even if we get arrested and the camp is bulldozed...Nickelsville will NEVER give up and will NOT disband.
I could tell you more but I would have to kill you

[beatonthestreet]

'Happy Birthday' to the Nickelodeon TC crew...

Your bravery and commitement for justice has been awe inspiring!

Its with mixed feelings I salute you, as I really wished the pressures hanging over you all, were not there. That you would be left in Peace to continue the tremendous service you provide together, helping and looking out for each other and caring....

Solidarity and good wishes as ever to the Nickelodeans!

[Ibu Oni]

SHARE Press Release

SHARE BUS TICKETS CRISIS:
A POINT OF NO RETURN!
WE ARE TAKING DIRECT ACTION STARTING MONDAY 09/28/09

The local politicians have been showing blatant disregard of the poorest amongst our community. Starting this week, the Lazarus Center, which provides services to homeless senior citizens, will have to close two days a week due to insufficient funding from the City.

Meanwhile, the homeless campers at Nickesville are bracing themselves to get raided and their encampment swept this coming Wednesday by a political Nomenklatura more intent on catering to the interest of big business than in keeping people from dying alone in the streets.

The politicians failed to heed SHARE’s pleas for an additional $50,000 in funding to keep its 500 homeless men and women going to and from their shelters. This is only 100 dollars per person and shows the overt contempt the City Officials have for our poor people.

It is a drop of water for a City, which wastes millions of dollars annually on a useless computer tracking survey. Apparently, our leaders are more interested in monitoring homeless people activities than in keeping them together and safe at low cost.

Having been ignored, this leaves us no other choice but to close down our shelters due to lack of transportation and sleep outside of the Mayor’s and the City Council members’ houses.

Our elected officials are inept in practicing the three tenets of good government (Justice, Compassion and Common Sense.) They are more likely to respond to corporate pleas for bailouts than to the need of the poorest among us.

All we can say is SHAME!!!

(206) 448-7889

[findingmyself]

Well, first i just want to say that you are to be commended for trying to keep it going, sadly the rich pricks want the poor working or out of their face. I realize my mentality is more raid the city hall with the army backing me and revolution, but hey, you guys tried and i give you that. Much hope and respect from st pete in florida...

[beatonthestreet]

Good luck n solidarity to the Seattle crew in their Action tonight...

will be sending positive magical vibes from across the pond

Seattle Post Globe: Homeless to sleep outside Nickels' house Monday night as protest

[beatonthestreet]

Our own Dominic here, has written a great article for change.org

Lets try and support the Seattle crew by promoting the article through our social networks n beyond...

By my reckoning its 8.40pm there now....

Lets hope all goes well for these brave and committed peeps!
Solidarity!

[beatonthestreet]

Our Seattle friends are at The Mayors house NOW:
http://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=21089

ORIGINAL 8:12 PM REPORT: We’re out watching to see if the homelessness-advocacy group SHARE makes good on its threat to have protesters camp outside Mayor Nickels‘ North Admiral home tonight (earlier report here) to protest a denied request for bus-voucher money. So far, here’s what we’re seeing: Police have had a presence outside the mayor’s house for at least an hour, including a watch commander; about a dozen people believed to be part of the protest are gathering at California Place Park a few blocks away (thanks to @macjustice for the tip on that via Twitter). They have just had a meeting with one police officer and now they’re meeting to discuss what they plan to do from here.


8:41 PM UPDATE: Now they’re at the mayor’s house. They’ve been told they can’t be on sidewalks, in the street, or in gardened parking strips - so they’re setting up in what areas are left. Media-wise, at least 2 TV stations are there along with us, Seattle Post-Globe, and Real Change News. A spokesperson says they have at least 40 people there; we’re taking a count - that means they’re in parking strips in front of neighbors’ houses too - 7 houses, to be exact, stretching most of the way along the block.

[beatonthestreet]

some recent media coverage:

Homeless sleep-out near Seattle mayor's home (with video)

SEATTLE – On a cold and rainy night, they made the trek on foot and set up camp on a West Seattle street.
A group of homeless people is spending the night half a block away from Seattle mayor Greg Nickels' home to send a desperate message to the mayor: "We need $50,000 for bus tickets."

By MIMI JUNG / KING 5 News

Upset homeless set up camp outside Nickels' home

SEATTLE -- Some 40 homeless people set up camp outside Mayor Greg Nickels' home on Monday night, insistent on being heard. The campers say they may be homeless, but they will not be ignored. And with their sleeping bags in tow, they came ready to stay.
"As long as it takes to get our $50,000 for our bus tickets," said Randy Douglas.
SHARE, a nonprofit group for the homeless, received $300,00 from the city for 2009. But the group says its money ran out when the Metro bus fare went up. And as a result of the higher fare, group is short some16,000 free bus tickets.
On Monday Metro bus doors closed on the homeless trying get back to 15 shelters and two tent cities scattered between South Seattle and Kirkland.
"The bus driver simply said, 'No - no if, ands or buts about it.' He just blatantly said, 'No,"' said Shawn, a homeless camper.
"Imagine doing strenuous labor all day long, not being able to get on a bus and go home to rest so you can do the same thing the next day, just so you can get yourself out of this position," said shelter facilitator Ron Wilson.

continues@ komo news

To be fair the Media coverage has been positive towards the Seattle crew... even the media recognise the plight and right of these proresters...
The story seems to be spreading well across Social media networks with some interesting proposals put forward to assist...

BUT.... this protest and all subsequent actions must be given the go ahead by the Seattle peeps...

Homeless People are acting democratically in Seattle and all decisions must be made by them....

I am sure they welcome all support but contact them on the details given previously on this thread....

[Slum Jack]

This is an EXACTLY right and fitting action! Kudos to you all!

We may be doing likewise down here in Berkeley, CA. Soon.

[beatonthestreet]

Originally Posted by Slum Jack

This is an EXACTLY right and fitting action! Kudos to you all!

We may be doing likewise down here in Berkeley, CA. Soon.

interesting sir... im hearing of other TCs and groups having to resort to 'direct action' soon to get their voices heard...
keep us posted in advance of any activities..
Personally I believe its important to get all these groups connected up and communicating asap...
Good luck with your plans!

[beatonthestreet]

Just been chatting with some of the participants of last nights events...
One of the Guys told me "I never felt so safe sleeping before". It's kinda cool being able to sleep guarded by a bunch of friendly Seattle police officers."

The mood seems buoyant and they are still determined to win...
Although Wednesday is D day when the Port Authorities will attempt to show their teeth as reported by Ibu previously^^^^^^

Change.org have initiated a petition details here

Slightly confusing as part of the Seattle crew demands is over the issue of the $50k lopped of their budget...

Examplifies really, what I posted earlier, about the reality that people as well intentioned as they may be should really get the participants to endorse it first...
Petition has now been forwarded to them and they are happy enough with it

so please spread amongst your networks asap...

[beatonthestreet]

Update: The homeless protesters who slept in front on Mayor Greg Nickels house Monday night say they'll move on to City Councilman Tim Burgess' Queen Anne home Tuesday night.

The group is protesting the city's denial of funding for bus vouchers the homeless say they need to get from shelters and tent cities to downtown services. The group has vowed to protest in front of the homes of all council members except Nick Licata, who pushed for $50,000 to fund the vouchers.

Burgess may be a particular target. He is working on anti-panhandling legislation.

Burgess said in an email that he knows of the protest Tuesday night. He said he'll be home and will have "a nice chat" with the protesters.

source

hmm gonna be interesting to hear about this chat....

[beatonthestreet]

An Update from our friend Ibu:


Finally back home. I am exhausted. The protest went smoothly. When we scouted the block at 7, 6 cops cars were posted. We met at the park and were approached by the cops. We hjad 2 legal observers and also made it clear we would not violate any ordinance or law. It was freezing cold last night and it rained (didn t sleep) Anyway about 50 of us slept outside of the mayor s house. Most bus drivers agreed to let the shelters ride for free (to be paid as soon as we get our funding). Went straight from direct action t the Central Committee..did some major work there.
Home sweet home finally.
I am VERY proud of my house. Every single one of us showed up and worked at Direct Action.


We are all proud of you too Ibu... The Seattle crew rock!!!

[Ibu Oni]

SLEEP OUT TONIGHT 09/29/09 AT CITY COUNCILMAN BURGESS’HOUSE

JOIN US!!!

2110 Bigelow Ave N at 8PM

Last night, 50 homeless men and women who could not get onto the bus to get to their shelters protested outside of Mayor Nickels’ house peacefully. This morning, they packed up, cleaned up after themselves and went back downtown.

Once again, tonight the homeless people of SHARE will try to ride the bus to their safe place (if the bus driver agrees-we are keeping a tally of the rides in order to reimburse METRO as soon as possible). Last night all neighborhood bus shelters except one got their shelters WITHOUT bus tickets. Thank you bus drivers! If the people cannot get to their shelters they will go to City Councilman Burgess’ street and again peacefully protest outside of his house.

A year ago, SHARE, a grassroots sheltering and organizing effort of homeless people, submitted a green sheet asking for additional funding from the City. Our green sheet mysteriously disappeared in the Mayor’s office and never made it in front of the City Council to be voted upon.
The politicians failed to heed SHARE’s pleas for an additional $50,000 in funding to keep 500 men and women going to and from their shelters with bus tickets.

Having been ignored, this leaves us with no other choice but to close down our shelters due to lack of transportation and sleep outside of the politicians’ houses until we get the $50,000 funding for transportation.

(206) 448-7889