White Center Now: The blog about White Center

For the first time since Seattle city government announced it would extend Camp Second Chance‘s stay at 9701 Myers Way S. at least six more months, the camp’s Community Advisory Committee meets Sunday. While the CAC is not a decisionmaking group – its members are community volunteers – the meetings usually have reps from the city and from camp operator LIHI in attendance, and there’s a community comment period for questions, concerns, etc. The meeting is at 2 pm Sunday (April 7th) in the community room on the east side of Arrowhead Gardens (9200 2nd SW).

Notes about the Seattle-sanctioned encampment just over the line from North Highline, Camp Second Chance (9701 Myers Way S.):

-The encampment’s Community Advisory Council meets this Sunday at Arrowhead Gardens (9200 2nd SW), 2 pm. The meeting is scheduled to run no longer than 3 pm because it’s Super Bowl Sunday.

-If you are interested in the camp’s future but weren’t at either of two West Seattle meetings last week and haven’t seen our coverage on West Seattle Blog, here are the links: The Westside Interfaith Network‘s meeting for camp supporters (Monday, January 21), and the Highland Park Action Committee‘s meeting for community comment as it decides whether to support an extension (Wednesday, January 23rd).

-If you have a comment, the city says you are welcome to send it to homelessness@seattle.gov – no timeline yet for decisionmaking on a possible extension but one is promised “soon.”

Just a reminder that Sunday brings the monthly meeting of the Community Advisory Committee for city-sanctioned Camp Second Chance, a place of interest to both sides of the county/city line. If you have a question/concern, this is the place to bring it. The committee meeting is open to all, 2 pm in the community room at Arrowhead Gardens (9200 2nd SW), a few blocks north of the encampment.

Last month, nobody from the City of Seattle was present for the regular monthly meeting of the Community Advisory Committee for its sanctioned encampment near the county/city line, Camp Second Chance. This month, they’re apparently making up for it. Here’s the full announcement for tomorrow’s meeting:

The next meeting of the Camp Second Chance Community Advisory Committee will be Sunday, October 7 at 2:00 pm.

Arrowhead Gardens Community Room, 9200 2nd Ave SW.

This month, in addition to our usual updates and stats from the camp, we will have guests joining us from the City of Seattle for a Q & A on housing and to help answer the question: What is the City doing to build new affordable housing quickly?

Dan Foley, Office of Housing
Jesseca Brand, Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA)
Lisa Gustaveson, Human Services Department

We will also be receiving an update on the recent cleanup activities and future plans for the area on the east side of Myers Way.

That photo from Monday afternoon shows just a few of the many vehicles marshaled for the major cleanup under way in the east-side woods along Myers Way. As we’ve been reporting on partner site West Seattle Blog, Southwest Precinct police have been saying for two weeks that this was finally happening, and on Monday, the city announced it was under way. They explain here what they’re doing and what’s planned for the site to keep it from reverting once the cleanup’s over. Meantime, we’re told the most-extensive work is likely to take all week. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is scheduled to speak at Wednesday night’s meeting of the Highland Park Action Committee, which along with other groups including the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council has long been agitating for the city (and state, since WSDOT owns the right-of-way along Highway 509) to do something here.

By Tracy Record
White Center Now editor

More tiny houses and a permanent camp manager were among the updates at a brief meeting of the Camp Second Chance Community Advisory Committee this afternoon.

Community Advisory Council members present were chair Willow Fulton, a nearby resident; Judi Carr, a resident of Arrowhead Gardens (where the committee meets); Aaron Garcia of the White Center Community Development Association; Cinda Stenger of the Westside Interfaith Network and Alki UCC; and Grace Stiller of Weed Warriors.

Present from camp operator LIHI were Josh Castle. C2C manager Eric Davis announced he will soon be in that role as a LIHI employee, after about a year. (That drew a round of applause at meeting’s end.) Davis is a camp founder and managed C2C in a paid position under the original camp operator Patacara, but the camp changed operators during a time of controversy and Davis’s position did not become a job again until now.

He presented the monthly update on the city-sanctioned encampment: 45 residents (34 men and 11 women), four of them new, six moved out for jobs/housing/family reunification; one moved out for treatment; no one was barred during the month.

No City of Seattle rep this time – Tom Van Bronkhorst, the usual rep, was absent. Fulton had hoped for a city rep to be present as usual because on the city side of Myers Way – not related to C2C, she made clear – there are new problems including vehicles in various states of disrepair/demolition.

She feels that such dumping/activity is a magnet for more trouble – “people see it as a dumping ground because it looks like a dumping ground” – so she feels the city should patrol the area regularly rather than wait for complaints. Davis said that vehicles like this are being stripped at 2, 3 am and yes, he said, they have called police. “They just need someone to drive up and down there for six months to get it under control, midnight to six am.”

Fulton says it would be great to have a camera of some sort in the area.

Liz Giba of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council suggested working with King County Sheriff’s Office White Center storefront Deputy Bill Kennamer. Fulton noted that the problems seem to be on the Seattle side and the two sides pass them back and forth “like a hot potato.”

Stenger said Alki UCC has completed eight more tiny houses for the camp and has money to build five more. On September 22nd, the camp will host a celebration and blessing of the eight new houses, starting at noon, with music and food. (All welcome!) She also said she’s working on “the shower issue” and “might have a solution for that.” The camp now has 31 tiny houses and 22 tents.

Castle noted that the County Council has taken its vote on whether to give tax money to the Mariners or to affordable housing, and says more was shifted to the latter than originally proposed. (Added: The final vote is on September 17th; what a committee approved on September 5th was to allocate $165 million more lodging-tax dollars to affordable housing than originally proposed.)

Absent any community concerns, or formal agenda items, the meeting adjourned after half an hour. Next one will be 2 pm October 7th, also at Arrowhead Gardens.

The Camp Second Chance Community Advisory Committee has decided what to do about September, given that its usual first-Sunday meeting would fall during Labor Day weekend. They’ve announced the meeting will be Sunday, September 9th, instead, 2 pm at Arrowhead Gardens (9200 2nd SW). The public is welcome at these meetings – bring your questions/concerns/comments about the Seattle-sanctioned encampment.

If you have concerns/questions about Camp Second Chance, the City of Seattle-sanctioned encampment that’s close to the North Highline border on Myers Way, or just want to hear the latest on its operations, its Community Advisory Committee meets today (Sunday, August 5th). The 2 pm meeting at Arrowhead Gardens (9200 2nd SW) is the C2C CAC’s first meeting in two months. It also comes less than a week after the city posted an update on the overall sanctioned-encampment program, including a brief overview of C2C.

Two notes today about the City of Seattle-sanctioned encampment on Myers Way, Camp Second Chance:

DEADLINE FOR RENEWAL COMMENTS: April 5th – this Thursday – is the city’s deadline for comments on whether the encampment’s permit should be renewed for another year. We covered the recent community meeting on the proposed renewal here; you can comment by e-mailing homelessness@seattle.gov (with Myers Way in the subject line) and/or calling 206-727-8496.

COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE: The first Sunday of the month would normally be the meeting date for Camp Second Chance’s city-mandated Community Advisory Committee, but because of the holidays, the meeting will instead be next Sunday, April 8th – usual time and place, 2 pm at Arrowhead Gardens (9200 2nd SW). Our coverage of last month’s committee meeting is here.

Just announced at the monthly Camp Second Chance Community Advisory Committee meeting: The City of Seattle is reviewing whether to renew the permit for the sanctioned encampment to remain at its site on the city-owned Myers Way Parcels for a second year, and as part of the renewal process, a community meeting is now set for 6:30 pm Tuesday, March 20th, at the Joint Training Facility (which is near the camp, 9401 Myers Way S.) If you can’t make it to the meeting, you can e-mail comments to homelessness@seattle.gov (write “Myers Way” in the subject line) and/or call 206-727-8496. The notice says comments will be accepted through April 5th.

Though the camp actually has been at the site for a year and a half (initially moving onto the Myers Way Parcels without authorization in summer 2016), its status as a city-sanctioned encampment didn’t officially start until March of last year, so that’s why the renewal discussion is happening now. We haven’t found the meeting announcement online yet but we photographed the flyer’s two pages – see them here and here.

Later tonight, we’ll publish our report on the rest of the meeting; the encampment also was discussed at this past Thursday’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting, and our report on that will be up soon too.

The first Sunday afternoon of the month brings the Community Advisory Committee meeting for Camp Second Chance, the City of Seattle-sanctioned encampment near the entrance to the city-owned Myers Way Parcels. It’s the usual time and place, 2 pm at Arrowhead Gardens‘ community room (9200 2nd SW). This time, we took the liberty of asking the city Human Services Department about a couple things that seem to come up every month – the camp operator’s contract, and what’s involved in renewing the camp’s permit for a second sanctioned year. Both are addressed in this preview published Friday on West Seattle Blog.

The Community Advisory Committee for Camp Second Chance, the City of Seattle-sanctioned encampment on Myers Way, continues to meet the first Sunday of each month, and we continue to cover those meetings in order to get updated information about the encampment. Updates this month included the camp population (down a few), a new staffer hired by camp operator LIHI, and a request that the city take care of trash that hasn’t been getting picked up along the road nearby. Our full report is published on partner site West Seattle Blog.

This past Sunday, the afternoon snow didn’t get in the way of the Community Advisory Committee meeting for Camp Second Chance, the Seattle-sanctioned encampment on Myers Way. The wide-ranging discussion included updates on the camp’s status, two months after it changed operators – including a drop in its population – as well as much talk about whether it would be renewed for a second year. You can read the full story on our partner site West Seattle Blog.

As announced by the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council:

North Highline Unincorporated Area Council Meeting

When: Thursday, October 5, 2017 at 7 pm

Where: North Highline Fire Station at 1243 SW 112th Street in White Center 
 (Parking and Entrance are in the Back of the Station)

The Opportunity to Be Informed, Be Involved and Be Heard!

Please join NHUAC, King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, Sheriff John Urquhart, Senior Deputy County Executive Fred Jarrett, and Seattle’s Director of Homelessness, George Scarola, in what is sure to be an important conversation about homelessness on Myers Way.

The Committee to End Homelessness was supposed to complete its mission by 2015. It didn’t. Homelessness continues to increase. Some of the reasons are economic inequality, skyrocketing rents, and the elimination of affordable housing, especially in Seattle. Research shows that every $100 rent increase leads to a 15 percent increase in the number of people pushed into homelessness.

Many found Myers Way. Camp Second Chance was eventually sanctioned by Seattle. However, there are an unknown number of campers living in the woods surrounding Camp Second Chance. Residents of North Highline and Seattle have been frustrated with the changes along Myers Way. It is time to have a conversation!

Good of the Order: Do you have something of community import on your mind? Join us and share!

See you Thursday, October 5, 2017 at 7 pm – Because Knowledge Is Power!

P.S. The community advisory committee for Camp Second Chance met today, and we’ll have that report sometime in the next 24 hours.

For the first time since the Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI) has taken over as the operator of Seattle-sanctioned Camp Second Chance on Myers Way, the camp’s Community Advisory Committee will meet this Sunday. The public is welcome at the meeting, 2 pm at Arrowhead Gardens; we confirmed the time/date today with LIHI rep Josh Castle. Conditions on Myers Way outside the camp also tend to come up at the committee meetings, and Seattle Police have swept both sides of the street recently – on the west side, to create a walkway to and from transit facilities at AG, on the east side, to enforce parking regulations, according to what SPD Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith told the Highland Park Action Committee this past Wednesday night.

Two updates on the changes at City of Seattle-sanctioned Camp Second Chance on Myers Way:

-This month’s Community Advisory Committee meeting, postponed from its early-August date, has now been rescheduled for this Sunday, August 27th, 2 pm at Arrowhead Gardens.

-We’ve published another update on the camp’s status, after covering a meeting Wednesday afternoon at CSC with city reps, campers, and leaders of the camp’s likely new operator, LIHI. Here’s the full story.

For those tracking homelessness-related issues on Myers Way: On our partner site West Seattle Blog, we’re reporting on management changes at city-sanctioned Camp Second Chance. Its official fiscal sponsor and managing organization, Patacara Community Services, is withdrawing, and the city is talking with the Low-Income Housing Institute – which has a role in all five of the other Seattle-sanctioned encampments – about taking over. Meantime, its resident manager and co-founder Eric Davis says he was evicted and fired – he says it happened after camp leaders asked questions about the status of private funding to build more “tiny houses” at CSC; Patacara says it was “because he was failing to uphold the camp’s code of conduct.” Read the full story here.

Just received this morning, on behalf of the city-mandated advisory committee for the city-sanctioned encampment on Myers Way:

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the public Advisory Committee meeting that was scheduled for this Sunday, August 6, 2:00 – 4:00 pm, has been postponed. We will send an update with the new date/time/location as soon as possible.

Thank you for your understanding,

Camp Second Chance Community Advisory Committee

The meetings have been happening on first Sundays, with Arrowhead Gardens‘ community room as the most-recent location. We’ll publish an update when we get word of the new plan for the next meeting.