1 1 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON; MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2017 2 7:05 P.M. 3 --o0o-- 4 5 GEORGE SCAROLA: Good afternoon. Or good 6 evening. 7 Can you hear me? 8 Can you hear me now? 9 All right. If I could ask all the city 10 staff that was invited to participate to come on up 11 and take a chair, and if we need to we'll find you 12 another chair. 13 My name is George Scarola. I am the 14 director of homelessness for the city of Seattle. I 15 hope that you have or can look at your neighbor's 16 agenda for the evening. We want to start on time and 17 we want to end on time, which would be 8:30. First 18 thing I want to thank the joint training center for 19 allowing us to use their beautiful facility, and thank 20 you all for coming to find out more and to hear about 21 the plans at Myers Way. For sanctioned encampment. 22 The agenda is full. What we would like 23 to do is have -- we -- as many of you went to the 24 meeting in December where we talked about this plan, 25 we listened carefully to the questions that were 2 1 raised at that meeting. This meeting is about trying 2 to answer as many of those questions that were raised 3 at the initial meeting as we possibly can. 4 So in it this is going to be a little 5 less speechifying and a little more here's what we 6 heard and here's some of the concerns, questions that 7 were raised, and address them. 8 Helping address those questions are 9 people from the City. Jason Johnson, the deputy 10 director for Human Services Department. The operator 11 of the Camp Second Chance, Polly Trout, who will -- is 12 not a City employee but will be a City contractor if 13 we get through all the hurdles that we've asked you to 14 get through. We have Mike Ashbrook from finance and 15 administrative services. That's the group that owns 16 the land, technically the owner of the land. So they 17 know the most about the site itself. Garbage and 18 trash issues, Susan from SPU, Seattle public 19 utilities. Infrastructure improvement, Rodney Maxie 20 is going to stand in for all the infrastructure 21 issues. He's with the Department of Transportation. 22 And then finally, long-term site plan, we 23 are well aware that many of you if not all of you 24 would love to see this become a park, and so we have 25 Robert Stowers. Robert? There you are. 3 1 So we have captions. The good thing 2 about captions, it will help people whose hearing 3 isn't so great like myself. The other thing, though, 4 is you can't have two people talking at the same time. 5 Because he can't possibly capture two conversations at 6 the same time. 7 Here's what we're going to do. We're 8 going to ask people to speak in that order in the 9 agenda, briefly. No longer than five minutes, about 10 the issues that we heard at the last meeting. We'll 11 take maybe two or three questions about that 12 particular issue, then move on to the next, and then 13 we will take general questions, we'll have a line and 14 we'll -- you know, people can ask any question they 15 want that hasn't already been asked. Okay? 16 So we're going to move as fast as we can. 17 Jason Johnson is a Human Services 18 Department and he's going to explain -- he'll explain 19 his role in this program. You have a big number on 20 your -- 21 JASON JOHNSON: I'll step out of that; is 22 that correct. I'm the deputy director of the Seattle 23 of City. The Human Services Department is an agency 24 of thee 20 employees. We allocate over a hundred 25 million dollars annually. All with the goal of making 4 1 Seattle residents healthier and increase well-being 2 and make life better, especially for those most 3 vulnerable individuals and families. 4 I think you all met my colleague, Sola 5 Plumacher, at the last meeting, and Sola was able to 6 run through in general terms what operating of these 7 encampments sort of look likes, and I want to point to 8 two documents that I brought with me before I speak. 9 One is a sanctioned encampment sight 10 frequently asked questions, and it's on the table when 11 you enter. So it's a list of FAQs that we've 12 developed. It's on our website so if you go to the 13 city of -- sorry -- Seattle.gov human services, all of 14 this is online as well. But it details some of the 15 most frequently asked questions that we got a year 16 ago, when we stood three sanctioned encampments, one 17 in Ballard, one in Interbay and one in southeast 18 Seattle at Othello. So I think there's some good 19 information there. 20 Likewise, I brought a document that looks 21 like this, which is the director's rule that is a part 22 of the encampment ordinance that was launched last 23 year. In here it gives very specific details about 24 what the operating expectations are of the operators 25 that currently are operating the three encampments and 5 1 the expectations of the operators for the three 2 additional encampments that we're standing on. So I 3 just wanted to make sure that this group had that 4 information. Again, Sola spoke generally about what 5 options look like when she was here in December, but I 6 wanted to make sure that you have those details. 7 I understand at the last meeting that you 8 had some very specific questions about operations, and 9 I wanted to go through those questions tonight. 10 So first question was you wanted to know 11 who the operator will be, and the operator will be 12 Patacara, and Polly Trout will speak right after me 13 and introduce herself and introduce that organization. 14 You asked will the encampment remain 15 clean and sober. The answer is yes. The three 16 encampments that are currently sanctioned and 17 operating are all a clean and sober model. 18 You asked about the number of people that 19 would be served in this encampment. This encampment 20 plan calls for up to 50 units or about 70 people 21 maximum. 22 It sounds like there were a couple of 23 questions about public health, specifically about food 24 storage and rodents. One of the expectations of the 25 operator for these sanctioned encampments is that food 6 1 storage, rodent abatement, trash collection, trash 2 removal, toilets or port a potties, all of those 3 things are part of the operating budget. So unlike an 4 unsanctioned A, where there is not a budget typically 5 for those sort of on-site services, the sanctioned 6 encampments do come with a basic operating budget that 7 includes some funding to -- for rodent abatement, 8 trash, trash removal, and some basic hygiene services. 9 Can we switch to tiny houses instead of 10 tents, was one of the questions. And our department 11 is working on having tiny houses. I think each of the 12 current three encampments are a mix of both. There 13 are tiny houses and tents at both of the sanctioned 14 encampments, and they didn't necessarily start off 15 that way. We didn't open them and there were tiny 16 houses there, tiny houses were built by volunteers. 17 Some were purchased by private organizations, and were 18 developed on-site to be incorporated into that 19 community. But the three current encampment sites 20 have a mix of both, tiny houses and tents. 21 You asked about the permitting timeline, 22 so the way permitting of these sanctioned encampment 23 works is we permit for a year and there's an 24 opportunity for an extension of a maximum of one 25 additional year. And so if after a year we evaluate 7 1 things -- we being the Human Services Department and 2 the community, and if things are going well we can 3 extend that permit one more year. The maximum that 4 any one site can be permitted is that second year. So 5 two years is the most time that an encampment can 6 remain permitted at any one location. 7 And finally, there was a question about 8 the community advisory committee. Community advisory 9 committee is one of the expectations of the operator. 10 The operator has to engage the community and develop a 11 community advisory committee. The Human Services 12 Department has a role in helping to establish those 13 communities, and those communities look a little bit 14 different at each encampment. And that's fine. It 15 should be a reflection of the community's connection 16 to and sort of responsibility to help and ensure 17 safety and well-being of the people living in the 18 encampment. So I think those are developed as the 19 encampments get established, but it is definitely one 20 of the expectations of the operator to have a 21 community advisory committee that will stay engaged 22 with the operator as the encampment continues to 23 operate. 24 And I think I'm at my time limit, but I 25 want to take a couple of questions. 8 1 GEORGE SCAROLA: Two. Two questions. 2 And then we'll have more time at the end. 3 >>>: Thanks. You made a -- I live next 4 door, but you said they're going to provide basic 5 hygiene services. Can you explain to me what that is 6 exactly? Are you going to have portable showers? Is 7 there laundry service that's going to come in or can 8 you define that a little more clearly? 9 JASON JOHNSON: I can't specific to this 10 encampment yet. You know, right now we're just 11 working out and ironing out the contract, the budget, 12 sort of what the needs are for this specific 13 encampment, but hygiene services at the other three 14 are pretty basic. It is port a potties, wash 15 statements, there's access to clean water, there have 16 been some ideas about purchasing like mobile showers 17 and that kind of thing. There are -- I've heard some 18 use of like solar showers, you know, and that kind of 19 thing. But, again, it's a pretty basic hygiene 20 services that are typically part of the operating 21 budget and that are typically available on-site. 22 >>>: Hi. Are the individuals that are 23 living in those encampments required, then, after two 24 years to just leave or move, or -- because that's a 25 big problem if someone's homeless. 9 1 JASON JOHNSON: Thank you. So the 2 question was what happens at the end of two years. 3 What happens to the individuals living in the 4 encampments after two years. 5 So something I hope that Sola mentioned 6 when she was here in December, but I'll repeat, is 7 that there's also a service expectation. So there is 8 a level of case management and services that need to 9 be and are required to be allowed on-site, so that 10 there is some effort to not wait until two years but 11 continuously work to help people navigate from an 12 encampment into whatever is better and next for them. 13 That can be shelter, that can be housing, that can be 14 reunification with family. It's individual, but that 15 is -- there's a level of service expectation. And I 16 think -- 17 >>>: Do these people come in afterwards 18 to -- 19 JASON JOHNSON: They do, yeah. They do. 20 GEORGE SCAROLA: We'll take more 21 questions. I want to introduce Polly Trout, who is 22 the director of the encampment. Encampment operator. 23 And she's going to say a little bit about what's 24 happening today. But we're going to try to keep on 25 time. 10 1 POLLY TROUT: Okay. So I'm the director 2 of community services, a small local nonprofit. I've 3 been working with homeless people in Seattle and King 4 County for the past 15 years. I've been working with 5 Camp Second Chance since June, and working with 6 encampments both permanent encampments and 7 nonpermanent encampments for the past year. 8 The Camp Second Chance at Myers Way is a 9 really extraordinary community. I've been doing this 10 work a long time, and I don't think I've ever seen 11 such an organized ethical diligent group of people. I 12 can take almost no responsibility for how fabulous 13 they are. They've been doing it all themselves. The 14 main thing that I've been doing is nonprofit 15 administration, management, some fundraising, and also 16 just kind of cheerleading them and respecting what -- 17 that they are themselves creating a solution to the 18 problem that is coming from a grassroots level of real 19 wisdom about how to solve this problem. And that 20 was -- the wisdom about being in right relationship 21 with each other and prioritizing ethical 22 relationships. So that the camp can be a safe -- not 23 just a safe place to be but also a healthy place for 24 people who have recently been through a lot of trauma. 25 When you're homeless, you absolutely must 11 1 have a safe place to sleep. You need to be able to 2 sleep for six hours, not being afraid as you fall 3 asleep that somebody's going to rape you in the middle 4 of the night. You need that, right? And then when 5 you wake up in the morning, you need a safe place to 6 leave your things, so you can either go to work or do 7 the other things that need to be done, whatever that 8 is. If it's looking for the job, it's going to the 9 doctor, trying to get health insurance, you know, 10 whatever it is that you need to do the next day, you 11 need a place to leave your things where you're going 12 to come back at the end of the day and they're still 13 going to be there. They're not going to be stolen. 14 And so at that very fundamental level, that's what 15 this camp does, but on a greater level, it's a 16 community where people have -- are experiencing 17 kindness, real community, friendship, compassion, 18 respect and dignity. And so we want to continue to do 19 that. By partnering with the city, we're going to be 20 able to improve the physical quality of life there in 21 very concrete ways. We're going to be able to add 22 potable water cisterns, we're going to get dumpsters 23 on Friday, we're very excited about that. 24 (Applause.) 25 POLLY TROUT: The camp is committed to 12 1 being good neighbors to the housed neighbors in the 2 neighborhood, and committed to being ethical stewards 3 of the natural environment of the land that they're 4 on. I've had many conversations with camp residents 5 about how much they appreciate being in a -- someplace 6 that's beautiful, because if you've been through a lot 7 of trauma, having trees having that natural 8 environment is very healing. 9 GEORGE SCAROLA: All right. Now you have 10 to take questions. 11 POLLY TROUT: Okay. Sorry. 12 GEORGE SCAROLA: Just two. We can come 13 back. 14 And take them from that end, because we 15 got -- 16 POLLY TROUT: Okay. 17 >>>: Oh, my God. So the City of Seattle 18 is going to open this encampment over here. What are 19 we going to do about cleaning the street across the 20 street where all the other -- 21 GEORGE SCAROLA: That's a good -- 22 >>>: People are like literally all 509 23 with tons and tons of litter in encampments. 24 POLLY TROUT: That is a great question. 25 GEORGE SCAROLA: But we're going to 13 1 answer that here -- 2 POLLY TROUT: But it's not on my -- on my 3 watch. Except that -- 4 >>>: That's the City of Seattle, right? 5 POLLY TROUT: Except that we're working 6 on a way that the camp can contribute to that with 7 litter patrols. 8 >>>: Because it looks really, really 9 horrible. Thank you. 10 GEORGE SCAROLA: We're going to get to 11 that issue. 12 >>>: Thank you. 13 GEORGE SCAROLA: Let's try to keep the 14 question to the person speaking, and then we'll take 15 general questions. 16 >>>: Who decides who lives there and 17 what are the ages. Are they infants to 90-year-olds? 18 POLLY TROUT: We're not going to have any 19 children in the camp because we're working with other 20 encampments and nonprofits so that families with small 21 children can be indoors. We're going to start with 22 tents and hopefully get tiny houses later. So it will 23 be adults. Adults of all ages. And the intake 24 process is managed in a democratic way by the camp 25 itself, with a code of conduct and an intake process. 14 1 >>>: I don't understand that. Is the 2 camp already here? 3 POLLY TROUT: Oh, yeah. The camp has 4 been at the site since July. 5 >>>: I've never integrated any of that 6 and I'm trying to my best to learn more about 7 (inaudible). 8 POLLY TROUT: Let me give you my card 9 after the meeting and we can talk more. I think my 10 time is up. 11 >>>: They ever never asked permission to 12 be there. They broke into the fence and there was no 13 community involvement. That's why you had no idea. 14 (Applause.) 15 GEORGE SCAROLA: We're going to try to 16 stay with this -- the people that come tonight have a 17 chance to talk about stuff. 18 >>>: Can we have the questions repeated? 19 We can't hear the questions so that we'll try to do 20 that more carefully. 21 All right. Property site issues. Mike 22 Ashbrook is going to talk about the issues that have 23 been raised. 24 MIKE ASHBROOK: Hello. My name is Mike 25 Ashbrook. I'm the director of facilities operations 15 1 for the department of finance and administrative 2 services. I want to thank you all for having us here. 3 Once again, I seem to have talked to a lot of you and 4 have gotten to know you and want to also express my 5 condolences for all of you that know Cass. We're 6 really going to miss her. I've worked with her quite 7 a bit. 8 As you know, the site is at Myers Way, 9 and basically I'm here to kind of characterize that 10 and answer any questions that you have. Currently 11 Camp Second Chance is on the kind of southern end 12 right, where the main entryway is to the camp. What 13 the plan is is to kind of quarantine off the wetlands 14 and any known sensitive areas we have and expand the 15 camp kind of north wards into -- into the property 16 along the kind of graveled area that we have. 17 Once it's in there, then the services 18 will be provided in that entryway and that gate area, 19 along with trying to fence off easy access for Seattle 20 City Light and other departments that need to get into 21 that site. 22 I'm sure all you guys are probably 23 interested and have some concerns about the site, but 24 we are kind of trying to protect and delineate the 25 wetlands so that those are protected. We also 16 1 understand that the site has some contamination 2 issues. We've been working with King County health to 3 try to mitigate those issues and come up with a plan 4 to address them. 5 >>>: The EPA doesn't have a plan. What 6 do you think you're going to do? 7 MIKE ASHBROOK: We are working with a lot 8 of people. We've actually characterized that site, 9 have a really good understanding of the site. We've 10 done Phase I and Phase II environmental on the site. 11 We know that there is kiln dust -- a layer of kiln 12 dust between five and 12 feet in a really defined 13 area. We've done more than 19 borings and 17 test 14 wells and we've tested that over the last year, and 15 have documented that the contamination is contained 16 and is not spreading out. 17 >>>: Washington State Department of 18 Ecology disagrees. Their latest report from the 19 sediment traps indicates that the contaminants are 20 leaching from the property and that they are in the 90 21 $60 street sediment trap. I've got a report right 22 here you can have a copy. 23 >>>: Wait. We're all -- 24 (Applause.) 25 >>>: Anyone else want one? 17 1 MIKE ASHBROOK: They have been placed on 2 the mockup list, and will be kind of interesting in 3 the sense that the last containment that 4 identification of that leach field has yet to be 5 determined. 6 Along with that, we have taken steps to 7 work with the various departments in helping bring in 8 potable water and sanitation devices that would not 9 lead to drain. I can answer any questions. 10 >>>: Yeah. When are you going to get 11 realistic about the sediment? 12 >>>: Why do you realize -- (inaudible). 13 >>>: Why didn't -- according to current 14 world knowledge and information from other bad 15 situations, why didn't you people plan these things 16 about water and garbage before you started, instead of 17 waiting till now to say we're going to -- we're going 18 to, we're going to? I've lived here -- right next 19 door, I walk around here. I deal with this. I pick 20 up garbage and all that. But I've understood this for 21 50 years of my life, that garbage isn't a good thing 22 to have laying around. Why is it the City isn't more 23 connected? You guys are all working together, but I 24 don't see you all doing very much. I'm sorry, I'll 25 shut up. Just wonder why they didn't start out more 18 1 organized than they did. 2 MIKE ASHBROOK: And you've got a great 3 question. I'm sure a lot of that will be answered 4 further on, but I can tell you that once the City gets 5 in and the camp gets sanctioned, that's when we can 6 provide a lot of these services, get the garbage 7 picked up, provide the water, and do a lot of care for 8 these people. 9 GEORGE SCAROLA: I'm going to move to -- 10 we'll try and have as many questions at the end, but 11 don't have a formula. 12 Next Susan is going to talk about the 13 garbage problems, especially along. 14 Along Myers way, and for the encampment. 15 SUSAN FIFE-FERRIS: Hi. Thanks for 16 coming out. I'm from Seattle public utilities, and we 17 provide generally for Seattle residents. We do 18 drainage, drinking water, surface water, and then 19 garbage recycling. I'm here to talk garbage tonight. 20 The second chance site has up to this date gotten bag 21 service, which has been on a weekly basis. You 22 probably see -- seen bags piled up there. As of 23 Friday we're delivering a dumpster. We -- once an 24 encampment becomes sanctioned, we can work with the 25 actual site organizer or the site sponsor, in this 19 1 case you've met her, and then also we can work with 2 our other partner departments at the City, who -- 3 Jason is representing to make sure that we get garbage 4 service out there, just like any commercial customer 5 gets. So this site will be treated like a regular 6 commercial customer. They will have a dumpster there, 7 it will get at least a minimum of weekly pickup and 8 possibly more off. Just like any commercial customer, 9 if they need daily pickup, they would get daily 10 pickup. They need twice a week pickup, they get twice 11 a week. In addition to that, along Myers way we have 12 been having a litter crew coming out. Maybe you've 13 seen them. I was out here last week while they were 14 out there. They're coming out and they're cleaning up 15 one side and then they're going back the other side. 16 So you'll see a litter crew out there at least weekly. 17 If you see an illegal dump, then call -- or use our 18 find it fix it mobile app or call the illegal dumping 19 site. You will get on a list for that site and we 20 will clean it up within 10 business days. If you 21 see -- and this is on public property. If it's on 22 private property, then you can go onto our website and 23 see what you can do about that. There are actions 24 that you can take to try to get it off and cleaned up. 25 But if it's in a public right of way, use our find it 20 1 fix it app, use our illegal dumping hotline, and I 2 have brought a flier here that basically is for our 3 sharps program so we have a sharps collection pilot 4 that we've been running, and you can also use the find 5 it fix it app. If you see a sharp in a public right 6 of way or on a sidewalk, if you use the find it fix it 7 app or you call the illegal dumping hotline or you go 8 online and you report it, we will pick it up within 24 9 hours. We will have somebody out there cleaning up 10 shows sharps within 24 hours. 11 We also have sided around the City six 12 locations where we have drop boxes, so that if you 13 know or if somebody has sharps, they can drop them at 14 those drop boxes, you can also go to the south 15 transfer station, you can drop them off at the south 16 transfer station. So we're trying to do what we can 17 to clean up the city, make sure it's cleaner, but I 18 also encourage you to be a participant in helping. 19 And then also I know that the campers will also be 20 participants to try to ensure that their site is 21 clean. I know they want to be good neighbors. They 22 want to be good residents here while they're here. So 23 having the dumpster there, they will work to help make 24 sure the scatter or anything gets picked up and put in 25 the dumb as if sister and we will make sure it gets 21 1 picked up. So I'm going to leave these at the back, 2 and I don't know if I have one for everyone, but if 3 you're interested, this is the sharps collection pilot 4 program, and tags the telephone number for the illegal 5 dump, and it also has the website that you can go to. 6 So I'll take two questions. How about 7 you back in the back. 8 >>>: I know this is going to sound maybe 9 like a funny question, but how do homeless people have 10 so much garbage? 11 SUSAN FIFE-FERRIS: So the question is 12 how do homeless people have so much garbage. 13 That's a personal thing. I don't -- 14 >>>: I'm looking at myself and what 15 garbage I produce in my house. How do homeless people 16 have -- I mean, it's a legitimate question. Why is 17 there so much trash? 18 SUSAN FIFE-FERRIS: So here's what I 19 would hope, that moving forward, when we have the 20 dumpster there, once we have an advocate and we have a 21 structure that's working with them, once we have the 22 services that are being provided on a regular basis, 23 that you will see a significant decrease in the amount 24 of garbage that's being generated. And with the 25 dumpster being picked up -- I can't guarantee but 22 1 that's what my hope is. And so that's what I hope 2 moving forward. So one more question. 3 >>>: In your instruction on the sharps 4 sheet, it says to -- if you don't have a collection 5 container, you need a pop bottle, but then it says 6 that can't go in the garbage. At those six sites that 7 are around the city, can you take those there or -- 8 SUSAN FIFE-FERRIS: Yes, you can take 9 those there, and you can take them. You just have the 10 south transfer station right up here. You can take 11 them there too. And the rest of the questions, I will 12 be at the end because we want to keep this moving, and 13 then I will be happy to entertain any questions that 14 you want when you get to it at the end. 15 GEORGE SCAROLA: The City is committed to 16 picking up sharps within 24 hours of your 17 notification. 24 hours. 18 >>>: I have a question. If we could 19 have one more meeting maybe just to apiece everyone, 20 that's just a lot of people have been asking that. 21 Just throwing it out there. One more meeting. 22 GEORGE SCAROLA: Question. Can we have 23 one more meeting. 24 I want to get to Chief Davis -- 25 >>>: Captain. 23 1 GEORGE SCAROLA: Captain Davis. I just 2 gave you a promotion. 3 CAPTAIN DAVIS: I like that. 4 GEORGE SCAROLA: And you're the captain 5 of this whole southwest precinct? 6 CAPTAIN DAVIS: That's correct. 7 GEORGE SCAROLA: So we may need a little 8 more time for you, but let's see. 9 CAPTAIN DAVIS: We'll see. 10 Hi. Name Captain Davis, and I the 11 precinct commander of the southwest precinct for all 12 of West Seattle. 13 (Applause.) 14 CAPTAIN DAVIS: I brought with me members 15 of my community policing team and my second in 16 command, which is my operations commander, Lieutenant 17 Ron Smith. 18 (Applause.) 19 CAPTAIN DAVIS: CPT officer John O'Neil. 20 (Applause.) 21 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Officer Todd Whippy. 22 Where are you, Todd? 23 (Applause.) 24 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Obviously everyone knows 25 Todd, because he is our point of contact as we try to 24 1 navigate through our homeless issues and dealing with 2 the second chance encampment that's there. I have to 3 tell you having dealt with encampments such as 4 Nickelsville and others, the second chance encampment 5 has been run very, very well, and it's very, very 6 smooth, and my officers have said nothing but praises 7 about how it is structured. 8 Now, like I said, Todd is our -- 9 basically our point of the spear. He's our point of 10 contact for this whole endeavor. So if you have any 11 specific questions, I would direct them toward him, 12 only because he has dealt with this thing from 13 beginning to end, number one. But I have to tell you 14 as well, we have a navigation team that's going to be 15 up and running soon, that's going to be taking the 16 lead for our whole Seattle Police Department. I 17 believe it's eight officers, and with a supervisor, 18 and they are going to -- like I said, take lead as far 19 as all the needs, enforcement needs, in dealing with 20 the various encampments in Seattle as a whole. Okay? 21 So I can item you this. We've been 22 through several community meetings and a lot the type 23 of questions that we get are tenfold, about the same 24 type of questions. Not only are we here to service 25 the needs of the individuals that are trying to do 25 1 better by these encampments. We are also bee holding 2 to our community members that are out in West Seattle 3 as well. So if there's anything that happens as far 4 as a criminal nature that we need to know about, 5 please don't be bashful, let us know about it. 6 Sometimes it takes a little bit more of a solution and 7 more of a roundtable-type discussion to get to the 8 root of a lot of the problems, but we are aiming to 9 get there and we'll get there one way or another 10 together. And that's the only way we can do it. 11 So I'm not going to take too much more 12 time. I know there's a lot of questions out there, 13 but I'm willing to take questions. Go ahead, sir. 14 >>>: You say you're committed to 15 providing a better response. Could we get number 16 specifics, because so far I've been experienced 17 hours-long response times on Myers Way. It generally 18 seems like a joke out there. At one point I was 19 attacked with a sledgehammer, called 911 for dispatch, 20 waited an hour for a police officer, gave up, went 21 shopping, came home, had my dinner, and then got a 22 call back from dispatch three hours later asking if I 23 was still waiting on the side of the road for an 24 officer to come. So you can't possibly describe that 25 as a good experience. Do you have any numbers for how 26 1 much better it's going to get? Because you could 2 improve by two hours, I'm three hours and I'd still 3 think it was a joke. 4 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Understood. No one 5 should have to wait that long for that type of 6 response for that type of issue. I agree with you 7 there. But unfortunately, and we explain this almost 8 a million times, we do not dispatch from our precinct. 9 Any calls for service goes through 911, and it is 10 prioritized at that point in time depending on what is 11 told of them. And then there's patrol officer 12 availability that we have to account for, and 13 oftentimes we run into issues just like that. If I 14 had the ability to dispatch from our precinct, mind 15 you, we would probably have a lot better response, but 16 we just don't have that capability or that ability to 17 do that. 18 >>>: Given those facts, how can you 19 possibly commit to any kind of improvement? 20 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Well, you know, we can 21 only try. We can only try to do better. 22 >>>: That is not acceptable. 23 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Well, it's going to have 24 to be at this point in time because that's the only 25 explanation I can give you, but we have to do better. 27 1 I agree with you. 2 >>>: What can we do to get this rolling 3 so that it works better for all of us? 4 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Well, again, like I said, 5 we don't dispatch from our precinct. Our officers are 6 dispatched from our 911 center. And they're basically 7 told where to go. And that's also based on 8 availability. Now, I've often said this about my 9 precinct. I'm a greedy person. If I can get 10, 15, 10 20 more officers to my precinct, that's all the more 11 better. It really, really is. But oftentimes we just 12 don't have that luxury. So we're working with what we 13 have to work with. Oftentimes if we're tied up doing 14 whatever in the greater West Seattle corridor, 15 oftentimes we are cross dispatch. And what that does, 16 that sends officers from yet another precinct over 17 here to help us with a lot of our crime issues, 18 depending on what the issues are. And mind you, a lot 19 of dispatch calls are prioritized. They really are. 20 >>>: Captain, one of the -- 21 GEORGE SCAROLA: We're going to take like 22 five more questions. 23 >>>: One of the things that we 24 requested, actually, and I'm from Highland Park action 25 committee, is a understanding of how you're going to 28 1 work with the sheriff's department, because this piece 2 of land is bordered by three communities of 3 unincorporated King County. I don't see anyone from 4 King County here, and so one of the issues I know that 5 folks and other folks that live in those neighborhoods 6 have dealt with is that if someone perpetrates a 7 crime, and I'm not saying it's by second chance, which 8 will get to the second part of my question, but they 9 go over, they cross the line, and so then folks feel 10 like, who am I supposed to call, what happens, you 11 know, what -- you know, when -- who do I call, what do 12 I do, and then my second part is that the question 13 around crime and dealing with issues on Myers Way is 14 not so much second chance, because I feel like they've 15 been running themselves well. It's actually the RVs 16 which you saw coming in and the folks that are living 17 down in that greenbelt. And, you know, we've had 18 stories from folks who said, you know, this particular 19 person, this RV, don't come at you with a machete. 20 When you hear those things and they're on your block 21 because they have been kicked out of King County and 22 they just cross the border, how is that handled? 23 That's a question that we asked the first meeting 24 which is not being addressed. Thank you. 25 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Okay. Now, what we've 29 1 done -- having noticed that there's a lot of real 2 estate that's out there, some of it's state property, 3 some of it's Seattle property, and some of it's King 4 County property. We've looked at that. King County 5 are great partners, but understanding just like 6 they're under a constraints as far as their resources. 7 So are they. Now, we do collaborate and we do share 8 information all the time. Whether they're able to 9 service the White Center and or top hat area on a 10 prudent basis, we just don't know, because we are 11 Seattle and they are King County. But if there's an 12 issue where we can collaborate so we can have a better 13 response, then it all depends on the storyline of 14 what's going on. Oftentimes our -- bad people do 15 commit crimes over in Seattle and then they cross the 16 border, and the only thing we can do at that point in 17 time is make sure that King County is well aware. 18 Now, the crime -- 19 >>>: It's quite the opposite. They 20 commit crimes in our area and beat feet back to your 21 side of the border, when you guys don't do anything. 22 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Yes, they do. They do 23 that as well. 24 >>>: Two sheriffs in White Center. 25 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Yes, that's right, they 30 1 only have a finite number of sheriff's in white 2 center. 3 But what we do, we put the best effort we 4 possibly can with the resources we can to get out 5 there and get after our bad guys. Right now we have a 6 bike team that's up and running. We're getting 7 equipment for them right now. And it consists of a 8 sergeant and six officers. That took a little bit to 9 do. We just didn't have the luxury of staffing 10 manpower to do that, but hopefully that will help us 11 in the response times and/or just a general response 12 in dealing with some of our issues. Todd here has 13 taken leave as far as our homeless issues and purchase 14 vague basically the landscape that's out there on a 15 daily basis, a weekly basis, he's out in the field 16 with other CPT officers, our community place team, and 17 we're going into the -- we're going down just to see 18 exactly what's up. The thing is, once you clean them 19 out, oftentimes they trickle back. So sometimes it is 20 a revolving door, but we're trying to keep tabs on the 21 individuals that are there. 22 >>>: As I understand the Seattle PD is a 23 stand-down situation with the homeless in regarding 24 crimes unless it's something very egregious. Could 25 you tell everybody here what crimes the homeless can 31 1 commit and you guys will do nothing about it? Because 2 personally I witnessed one person who was a security 3 for Camp Second Chance, the first day think showed up 4 and arrived on private property and he hit my 5 neighbor. I watched him this far away, him come up 6 and elbow him, and Seattle PD finally showed up. What 7 was it, an hour later, two hours later, and basically 8 Seattle PD, they immediately sided with the homeless, 9 they ignored -- they didn't even want to hear my 10 eyewitness account from this far away, and then they 11 basically told both, it's like, well, if -- Tim, if 12 you want to file charges against this guy, then we'll 13 take you both to jail. So my other neighbor was going 14 to go to jail with the homeless guy who fricking 15 slammed him. That's one -- that's first day second 16 chance camp showed up. But the thing is we see crimes 17 happening all the time for prostitution, drugs, on 18 down the line, down on Myers Way. It's not -- to the 19 most part it's not Camp Second Chance, but you guys -- 20 it seems like, and I know for a fact, you know, you 21 have a stand down policy. So could you describe that 22 to the people, what you will not oppress or go after 23 them? 24 >>>: Also, we get an ex. 25 CAPTAIN DAVIS: First of all, there is no 32 1 stand-down process for SPD as far as taking care of 2 the problem. 3 >>>: Oh, really? Okay. 4 CAPTAIN DAVIS: We don't stand down, by 5 the homeless or anybody else. We can only go by the 6 information that's given us, and information that is 7 prudent and factual enough to make a good-faith arrest 8 and we will do that, barring probable cause to do it. 9 I'm not sure exactly what that incident entailed that 10 you're talking about, just from what you're telling 11 me, it sounds a little bit different. I would hope of 12 that any of our officers wouldn't just take a blind 13 eye and let an assault go by. 14 >>>: Another witness right here. 15 >>>: Indeed it went down much as he 16 described. 17 CAPTAIN DAVIS: But like I said, it's 18 something that I'd just love to work with you people 19 on, just to see how we can do things a lot better. 20 >>>: Just trying to properly and -- 21 >>>: Another example. We had a guy pull 22 a knife on -- 23 GEORGE SCAROLA: We have to get other 24 people. It's fair but let's get some other people -- 25 did offer to work with you so that's a pretty good 33 1 offer. 2 >>>: I live in the neighborhood and 3 frequently when I do make a call because I see some 4 suspicious activity or anything happening, this guy 5 has no idea how to connect where we are. Is there any 6 way that you can work with dispatch so that they can 7 be like, hey, Myers Way parcels, and know where that 8 is, a landmark in the system so that it's easier to 9 communicate to them what exactly is going on and 10 where? 11 CAPTAIN DAVIS: We'll do our best. I 12 know a lot of our officers, who are so familiar with 13 the area -- 14 >>>: The officers, maybe, but 15 dispatchers -- you're saying everything has to go 16 through dispatch. 17 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Yes, yes. Once the call 18 is made to us, and mind you, we're oblivious to 19 anything that's going on until that dispatch comes 20 through. And we're only as good as the information we 21 get. 22 >>>: And we're trying to give it to you. 23 Sounds like we have a problem connecting. 24 CAPTAIN DAVIS: That sounds like that's 25 something we need to work on as far as that parcel. 34 1 If there's some type of confusion about what landmarks 2 are what, maybe we can go down to dispatch and see 3 exactly what's going on there. 4 >>>: I think the neighborhood would 5 greatly appreciate it. 6 CAPTAIN DAVIS: No worries. We'll do 7 that. 8 GEORGE SCAROLA: Two more questions, 9 Captain, and then we'll -- 10 CAPTAIN DAVIS: And someone brought up a 11 really great point, and like I said, we do lots of 12 community forums and lots of community leads, and a 13 lot of the issues that a lot of community members have 14 centers around 911 and how they do things. I think it 15 would be prudent at one of your next meetings to have 16 a representative from 911 dispatch center here to 17 answer those questions. 18 >>>: King County sheriffs. 19 >>>: I call a lot too. If we stay city 20 of Seattle, send PD, they often bounce us around. 21 >>>: I would say that's the best thing 22 you guys can could. When we say specifically this 23 happened inside Seattle city limits, send a PD 24 officer. They frequently say well, where do you live? 25 And I say I live in unincorporated King County but the 35 1 crime happened across the bored in the city of 2 Seattle. And they say, I'm sending King County. 3 >>>: And they bounce us back and forth. 4 CAPTAIN DAVIS: That's obviously 5 something we can work on and deal with. 6 GEORGE SCAROLA: Two more questions. 7 >>>: Not a question, more a comment. 8 Because there's so much alternate -- two people 9 request see the same thing and see a different 10 situation. And I was there on that first night when 11 Camp Second Chance was there, and I saw a different 12 situation. So I don't want people to go away thinking 13 that these people were assaulted and abusive. So I 14 just wanted to clarify, that, remember, two people can 15 see the same situation and see it entirely 16 differently. 17 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Of course. 18 >>>: Which I did, and I felt very 19 threatened myself as a community person brought a hot 20 meal to them. But I felt very threatened by the 21 people that were coming into the neighborhood. I've 22 since come to know the neighborhood in the 23 neighborhood and I have heartfelt sympathy for what 24 they go through and the confusion in their lives. So 25 we all need to just learn to talk together -- 36 1 >>>: We mended our -- 2 >>>: And work together. 3 (Applause.) 4 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Thank you for that. 5 GEORGE SCAROLA: Captain, how about one 6 more question and then we'll take up the next two 7 speakers. 8 >>>: I'm not sure if is a law 9 enforcement question, but when we had Nickelsville we 10 had a particular issue that no matter how well run 11 that camp was, they created attractive nuisance, and 12 people who couldn't qualify to be in that encampment 13 set up camp a block away. What are we doing to 14 address those issues? 15 GEORGE SCAROLA: Can you repeat that 16 question? It's a very good question. 17 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Well, the residual 18 encampments and RVs that he's speaking of, when 19 they're not eligible for like some of the bona fide 20 encampments, when they go in the fringe areas and they 21 basically set up camp, what are we doing about that. 22 Now, earlier on, whether it be RVs, 23 whether it be just a basic encampments that are just 24 setting up in various areas, especially here in West 25 Seattle, there was a lot of planning that went into 37 1 place, and it's a very polarizing situation. It's a 2 very polarizing issue. We see people here on both 3 sides of the spectrum, trying to figure out exactly 4 how to tackle that. 5 Now, what we did as SPD, even from the 6 glass shards that was supposed to happen for the RVs, 7 we said, okay, we're going to designate an area so we 8 can keep these individuals from infiltrating and 9 permeating the neighborhoods, and going in and 10 stealing power and things like that, and some of the 11 other crime and nuisance issues that we know have a 12 strong likelihood to occur. And that worked out very 13 well. In fact, officer Whipkey took lead on it and he 14 did a very, 72 good job. When that didn't come to 15 fruition, we had a very good basic framework in how to 16 police that, and those of you that remember old past 17 community police team officers, John Keene, did a 18 very, very good job in policing a lot of that hill 19 area and looking to see exactly who is who in our 20 neighborhoods and our areas. Up to and including 21 getting with our state partners from Washington State 22 and dealing with a lot of the issues that they have 23 down farther into that hillside because that's not 24 City of Seattle property. So we are talking. We are 25 talking, and those areas have been cleaned up, but 38 1 unfortunately, like I said before, they tend to come 2 back and trickle back again. And what we're dealing 3 with, again, we're dealing with some of the 4 individuals that just want to stay out of the freeway 5 and set up camp, but it's -- so now we have a 6 framework in which to deal with. Now, we have a team 7 that's going to be dedicated and dealing with some of 8 those issues with our navigation team. 9 GEORGE SCAROLA: Captain, let's let the 10 next two speakers. I'm sure there will be more 11 questions that will be directed at you and your team. 12 Thank you. 13 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Thank you so much. 14 (Applause.) 15 GEORGE SCAROLA: We only have two more 16 folks, and then we will -- we'll have a line and let 17 people do questions. We'll form right down the 18 middle. But right now we're going to hear from two 19 more people. Rodney Maxie is going to speak to 20 infrastructure improvements. There's a lot of pent-up 21 demand and need in this general area for 22 infrastructure, kind of a hard topic to take up in a 23 couple of minutes, but give it a shot. Rodney? 24 RODNEY MAXIE: Hi. My name is Rodney 25 Maxie, and I'm the division director of Magnuson 39 1 operations for SDOT. The workers under me are the 2 street maintenance group, so all pavement and 3 sidewalks, as well as the urban forestry group and the 4 right of way and our street signs and markings, so 5 signs -- regulatory signs, street name signs, 6 crosswalks, things of that nature. 7 So it's my understanding that we have a 8 find it fix it walk coming up in the neighborhood, and 9 usually we do that with all the department heads or 10 deputy directors. 11 >>>: Which neighborhood? 12 GEORGE SCAROLA: We're announcing it now. 13 RODNEY MAXIE: In your neighborhood is my 14 understanding. 15 >>>: In Highland Park? 16 RODNEY MAXIE: Yes. So we will be coming 17 with all of our department heads for the entire city 18 as well as their deputies, the mayor himself, and 19 obviously probably several of your City Council 20 members, and we will be looking at all aspects of the 21 right of way, so we'll be looking at any issues around 22 landscapes, any issues around trees, any issues around 23 garbage, drainage, road safety, crosswalks, signal 24 lights, all of those things, and from that we will 25 create a list and prioritize and try to give those 40 1 things correct for you as quickly as possible. 2 So I've been on a few of these. We just 3 did one in Georgetown and it went really, really well. 4 We got a lot of issues addressed for the Georgetown 5 community, and we're -- we also did one up in Crown 6 Hill recently and it went really well as well. So 7 we're looking forward to that. 8 In general, I understand that there's a 9 lot of issues with the borders with King County and 10 there's a lot of issues with state borders. The Parks 11 Department, FAS, mayor's office, SDOT and SPU have 12 formed a new partnership with WSDOT where we're 13 assessing these things together so that we can have 14 more of a unified response. 15 With that said, I'll go ahead and take a 16 couple questions. 17 >>>: I understand that WSDOT has the 18 highway garbage properly, and that's where the major 19 garbage issue is. So Seattle doesn't have anything to 20 do with the garbage that we're dealing with, actually. 21 So what's the plan? 22 RODNEY MAXIE: So you're right there. 23 That has been one of the hiccups from the past, but as 24 we went through and we were dealing with the issues 25 with the outreach, with Union Gospel Mission and 41 1 working with the state parks, when we went through the 2 area, the greenway underneath I-5, we were able to 3 form a partnership where we could correct many of 4 these things. So now you're starting to see more, as 5 opposed to just state cleanups or just M cleanups or 6 S cleanups, you're seeing us come together regardless 7 of whose right of way it is, and we're doing those 8 cleanups together. We're just getting ready to deal 9 with one on I-90. We're getting ready to deal with 10 one off Mercer, and a lot of those areas are -- you 11 know, that's really the challenge, is that most of the 12 places that you see, unfortunately, in the Seattle 13 area where you see large areas of garbage encampments 14 are WSDOT property, but they've come to the table now 15 as a partner and here looking forward with the new 16 policies that we put in place with the mayor and City 17 Council to start addressing those issues in a very 18 deliberate systematic manner quickly. 19 >>>: I think you could take care of a 20 lot of problems if you put up signs saying no 21 overnight camping along our way. Because then they'd 22 have to leave every day. 23 RODNEY MAXIE: Well, I think you 24 could -- you know, to a certain extent it just 25 depends. We have to assess everything and assess the 42 1 constitutionality of everything and make sure that 2 we're treating everybody fairly. We have, you know, a 3 lot of this any way you slice it, is public property, 4 and those are, you know, some of the things that we 5 have to navigate. 6 I will say that we are coming together on 7 the RV situations, we've opened sanctioned RV places 8 where we can provide mental health services, drug 9 services and others, and then we're dealing with 10 parking -- those other parking issues, where to kind 11 of constraining where we have different places where 12 RV parking is -- maybe shouldn't park. Where anyone 13 shouldn't park, for that matter. We're looking at 14 maybe addressing those as new no parking zones. 15 >>>: When you were talking you said that 16 you're looking forward to doing things, you will be 17 doing things, but I'm just curious as to why the 18 encampments are being opened and these things that you 19 are looking forward to doing haven't been done yet. 20 (inaudible) I live in Georgetown and I couldn't make 21 the Georgetown meeting and I'm trying to get all the 22 information I can to get caught up on what's being 23 imposed on us. You mentioned you did some things in 24 Georgetown, but at the Georgetown meeting I wasn't 25 able to make there were a number of issues brought up 43 1 about sidewalks, crosswalks, walking accessibility in 2 the Georgetown encampment area going into South Park 3 that are huge problems, so that encampment looks like 4 it's starting up in February. Are you guys looking 5 forward to doing more stuff there, and when is that 6 going to happen, and what exactly are you going to do 7 and when exactly are you going to do it and why hasn't 8 it been done before you guys tried to open up the 9 encampment? 10 RODNEY MAXIE: I'll try to take that in 11 Order. Like I said, we haven't opened that encampment 12 yet. I went down there with George and one of our 13 traffic engineering managers. We've assessed 14 everything around there and we are going to make some 15 improvements, some low cost sidewalks m barriers, some 16 traffic colony, and that plan is being diagrammed as 17 we speak. 18 In terms of the other improvements down 19 there, we -- 20 >>>: Before you go on, that plan is 21 being diagrammed. When will it be implemented? 22 RODNEY MAXIE: That plan probably will be 23 implemented in the next few weeks. It's going to be 24 real quick. 25 But when you come to these other 44 1 situations, like this particular encampment, you 2 have -- this was already City property. At first it 3 was not a sed encampment. So it was started before 4 without the City's approval, and so when you have a 5 situation like that on City property and then we 6 decide to sanction the encampment, that becomes a 7 whole, you know, different situation. 8 As far as the other improvements in 9 Georgetown, we did do a lot of new crosswalks, we 10 filled a lot of voids, we did some paving. If anybody 11 else is familiar, you can look. We removed and 12 replaced signs that had been taken down for scrap. We 13 did a number of things. We trimmed a lot of trees, 14 we're planting new trees, and we hope to do that in 15 your neighborhood as well. 16 >>>: At the last meeting we enumerated a 17 lot of issues that were still ongoing specifically 18 around the encampment site, and I haven't seen any 19 improvements around there, so I will look forward to 20 that. 21 RODNEY MAXIE: Okay. You will. 22 >>>: One of the questions that we asked 23 at the last meeting I'd like you to address. The 24 lighting here on Myers Way, and if there's 25 improvements planned for lighting on Myers Way. 45 1 (Applause.) 2 RODNEY MAXIE: Like I said, with those 3 attempts and that's something we should do in the find 4 and fix it walk with City light. 5 >>>: I'm sorry. That find and fix it 6 walk is not going to be for Myers Way. That's a 7 Highland Park thing. So that's -- please don't say 8 that. That's not a Myers Way -- 9 RODNEY MAXIE: I'm not trying to be 10 disingenuous. If you want us to walk down Myers Way 11 we can do that. I think the one thing you want to 12 keep in mind, however, when you talk with lighting is 13 you have a lot of issues, you have a lot of issues 14 where a lot of other neighbors don't want additional 15 lighting, there's lighting pollution rules, there's 16 all kinds of other things that you have to address 17 along with the crime issues. So that's just something 18 to consider, but, again, I'm open. 19 >>>: There's a street right across from 20 this facility. The only people that are going to 21 complain are the campers living in the forest, and 22 that's kind the whole point of getting some 23 streetlights. 24 >>>: They're sleeping on the -- 25 GEORGE SCAROLA: I remember -- 46 1 >>>: When will we get the answer, 2 George? We are now going on a month to answer the 3 question. 4 GEORGE SCAROLA: We should have had an 5 answer. I know. Sorry. We'll get one. 6 >>>: What's the timeline? Friday? 7 GEORGE SCAROLA: My guess is we can give 8 you a pretty quick answer on that, because it's a 9 tough task to do lighting. 10 >>>: So Friday? 11 GEORGE SCAROLA: Well -- 12 >>>: I want a date. We need a date. 13 We've been asking for stuff. We need dates. 14 GEORGE SCAROLA: I can give you a date. 15 You know, at the end of February -- the end of 16 February. Is that good? I mean, if someone needs to 17 look at it very closely. My mistake. We should have 18 done it. We didn't. I will own that, but I would 19 rather have it done right than give you an answer no 20 just because that's the easy answer. I just don't -- 21 it's my mistake. Sorry. 22 All right. We have done a pretty good 23 job of getting through -- oh, no. We have one more 24 speaker and that's Robert Stowers, whose speaking on 25 the long-range plan for what becomes of this 39 acres 47 1 of green space. 2 ROBER STOWERS: Hello. Good evening. 3 And thank you for coming down again. My name is 4 Robert Stowers and I'm the vision director of parks 5 and environment, and parks consist of park maintenance 6 of over 400 parks, 185 athletic fields, hundreds of 7 trails, and hundreds of hard scapes, which include 8 tennis courts, basketball courts, skateboard parks. 9 Also under knee is also our horticulture landscape 10 crew and heavy crew and also urban forest, and 11 additionally, we -- I'm responsible for utility 12 conservation and the environmental issues that address 13 Seattle Parks Department. 14 So my role in this whole thing is 15 everything else is going to be done before we have to 16 do anything. And we actually get the fun part of 17 the -- of this situation. So once FAS transfers the 18 land to Parks, which will be probably in a few years, 19 Parks will then begin to look at their funding 20 sources, and we have some ideas of how we're going to 21 fund a park, but we're going to have the community 22 engaged in planning that park, so we will be coming 23 out with our planners in our development people and we 24 will be talking about what you want in a park. 25 >>>: We want it now. 48 1 ROBERT STOWERS: Yeah. So do I. I want 2 it now. 3 >>>: We want engagement now. 4 ROBERT STOWERS: Well, first we have to 5 get -- we don't have the land yet. So it's not our 6 land yet. FAS has the land. So we'll have to wait 7 for that transfer to occur. But I can promise you you 8 will be engaged, and it will be a park that will be 9 developed with your input. And until then, once we 10 get it, we believe probably have to land bag it for a 11 few years until we find the funding. We currently 12 have about -- at least a dozen land bank sites right 13 now waiting to be parks around the whole city, so it's 14 a -- it will be a funding issue that we will have to 15 overcome. And we will overcome that. 16 So I'll take a couple of questions. 17 >>>: The Seattle green spaces coalition 18 helped drive the effort to land bank these 33 acres 19 and four parks, and we are conducting a visioning 20 exercise with stakeholders from South Park all the way 21 over to White Center. 22 A. We invite you to join us. We have a 23 flier here that we'll be happy to give you and you can 24 participate with us. And I think that will help 25 kickstart your efforts to come to conclusion with the 49 1 stakeholders about what visions they want for this 2 land when it becomes a park. 3 ROBERT STOWERS: Okay. 4 >>>: So one of the problems in this area 5 is that we're under invested website City. The City 6 doesn't know we exist. So at first they tried to sell 7 the property and take away an asset which we have, and 8 now they've cited an encampment. So is the City going 9 to thank us for hosting the camp by giving us some 10 money? 11 (Applause.) 12 ROBERT STOWERS: Well, I don't know about 13 that. 14 It's fairly hard to sell any City 15 property. The City rarely sells any property, so I'm 16 not sure. 17 >>>: This property was considered for 18 sale. 19 ROBERT STOWERS: I'm just saying usually. 20 It's very difficult for the City to sell property. 21 But they didn't sell the property and we 22 will get this on -- from FAS and you will then be 23 engaged to have a park. 24 >>>: Sir, is there a list of this land 25 banked properties? I mean, like on your website? Is 50 1 there somewhere -- 2 ROBERT STOWERS: Yes, there is. 3 >>>: See what you have ahead of our park 4 and what -- 5 ROBERT STOWERS: There is a list on our 6 website. 7 >>>: What's the date that FAS is 8 transferring? 9 ROBERT STOWERS: I have no idea. 10 >>>: When will we get the date? 11 ROBERT STOWERS: You'll get the date 12 probably when the encampment leaves. 13 >>>: I'm interested in your involvement 14 with ham creek, and with the campers that are actually 15 living in the creek and using the creek as their 16 latrine. This has been going on for a long time and 17 there's really a lot of people down there on the east 18 side of Myers Way, above 509. Why haven't you 19 addressed those people? 20 ROBERT STOWERS: Well, I'm not familiar 21 with that because it's not park property. So I 22 wouldn't be familiar with that. 23 >>>: The ham creek hero. 24 ROBERT STOWERS: I wouldn't be familiar 25 with that. But anyway, I'll be around for questions 51 1 about parks. 2 GEORGE SCAROLA: So this has been very 3 orderly, and if it makes sense, since a lot of people 4 are comfortably seated, I will take the mike to people 5 and I will start questions towards the back here. 6 >>>: Can you answer his question? 7 GEORGE SCAROLA: Yes. Let's start with 8 that one. 9 >>>: Did you ask us to line up? 10 GEORGE SCAROLA: I did ask you. So if 11 you prefer, then hang out right there. You're going 12 to be behind. We'll do it that way. That's very 13 orderly. But let's answer that first question -- that 14 question that just got raised. Which is ham creek, 15 and it's the property on the other side of Myers Way 16 from Camp Second Chance. 17 >>>: Belongs to WSDOT property, correct? 18 GEORGE SCAROLA: Yeah. But -- so this 19 is -- this is a police issue, because we have criminal 20 behavior on that side. It's City property in one 21 place and state property in the other. 22 Do you want to talk about that, officer 23 we have the key? 24 >>>: Do you have an answer? You want me 25 to -- 52 1 >>>: I think we all know which property 2 belongs to who, but it's just how it's being taken 3 care of. 4 GEORGE SCAROLA: He'll need a mike. 5 JASON JOHNSON: Sorry. 6 >>>: I can yell. 7 So I'm officer Whipkey. The property 8 that's right across from SHAG on the north end of this 9 church, 30 feet in is ours, and that belongs to the 10 State of Washington. The property to the south of the 11 church belongs to the City of Seattle, except for the 12 90 feet next to the roadway. There are some basic 13 game fences in there that have been -- I mean, 14 obliterated by blackberry and people and whatever 15 else. So I don't really know exactly where the 16 delineation lines are. There are people that are 17 camping down there. Basically moving people -- it's 18 going to be whackable. So if I go down there and move 19 them up one property, they move to the other. We move 20 them up to this property, they move to the other. 21 Because we don't have the resources to go down there 22 and stand as security. 23 >>>: When was the last time you went in 24 there? 25 >>>: It's probably been a couple weeks. 53 1 I do go down there -- it comes down to resources, and 2 both my will the captain have had to admonish me 3 personally because I go down there alone sometimes, or 4 I'll go down there with an FAS worker alone. And 5 while I have confidence in the folks that live down 6 there are not going to be violent with me because I've 7 met them on numerous occasions, that's not our 8 position as police officers, I have to be safe. So I 9 have to have resources with me. I rely on other CPT 10 officers that have other duties they have to perform, 11 so I have to wait for one of them to free up or a 12 patrol officer in the area comes over and assists and 13 we go down there and talk to people. 14 The State property was cleared I think 15 last -- at the beginning of December. I couldn't give 16 you a specific date because I went on vacation, but 17 I'm sure you remember seeing the tractors over there. 18 >>>: The tractors and everything. 19 >>>: So we went in there, it was a two 20 year project, and there's a myriad of resources that 21 have to be brought in before we can do a cleanup. 22 It's very organized and it's very professional, it's 23 very much geared towards making sure we don't run over 24 people's rights. Once that's all secured and 25 everybody's been removed properly, then we go in there 54 1 and we do a cleanup, and I don't think I've ever been 2 to a cleanup where we've gotten everything. I think 3 somebody was asking how much -- why there's so much 4 trash generated. A lot of these folks are outdoor 5 hoarders. They have -- there's some mental 6 impairments out there and they go out with shopping 7 carts and they collect things, and I have found some 8 very strange items out there. And they have bags and 9 bags of clothing that they're taking out of some of 10 the drop sites, bags of shoes. I see everything. At 11 one point, I don't know if they've gone or not. There 12 was a question about bicycles and bicycle frames. I'm 13 sorry. There you are. So that was an issue. And I 14 looked and I was running bicycle frames for a while 15 and I got zero hits on it because most people don't 16 register their bicycles. So that was a question. I 17 find propane tanks out there, I find all kind of 18 stuff. Recently I stumbled across some huge propane 19 tanks, I didn't know what they were, and just by 20 happenstance I was down at our South Park police 21 substation and saw a e-mail chain, last page of it was 22 a picture, and I read the e-mail chain and realized 23 they were stolen off the forklifts, was able to 24 recover these things, and it was likely walking 25 through a waterfall. But I brought them back, got 55 1 them back to the business. They never filed a police 2 report. 3 But I was able to do that. So ham creek, 4 with people that are living down there, I will -- I 5 think there's been a lot of agencies that have been 6 down there and tested the water and tested the soils. 7 I don't know if the last time that occurred. But to 8 my knowledge, nobody's coming back with a pollution 9 problem. I will tell you that the base area down 10 there is referred to as the got owe because there was 11 a -- I don't think he's left. There was a fellow that 12 actually cleaned it up down there, did some work down 13 there, whether it's his right to do this or not. It 14 looks very nice. It's clean. 15 So I don't think they're being directly 16 in the stream or defecating in the stream. In the 17 property somewhere out there, I'm sure I've never 18 stepped in anything, I'm not smelling anything, I'm 19 not encountering anything. 20 >>>: You can't smell anything down 21 there. The whole area is -- 22 GEORGE SCAROLA: So now we're going to 23 take questions. These can be general and you can ask 24 anybody -- 25 >>>: Most of this is probably going to 56 1 go to Polly Trout. It's kind of a three-part 2 question. You mentioned something about a dumpster 3 coming in. If you have 70 people living there, a 4 dumpster is not going to be enough. I'm sorry. That 5 could be to the Seattle public utilities. So that's 6 kind of a bother some number. But it was repeated 7 more than once that it would be a dumpster. So I'm 8 concerned about that. 9 Then another thing, Polly, I think I'm 10 wrong. It's this woman -- Susan that the questions go 11 to. 12 GEORGE SCAROLA: The questions have got 13 to be short. 14 >>>: I'm trying to get it. A dumpster, 15 then you mentioned something about litter crews 16 weekly, which obviously is not enough, and if we 17 report something, you'll be there within 10 business 18 days, which to me is totally unacceptable and very 19 bother some, and then I think I'll leave it at that. 20 That's enough. 21 SUSAN FIFE-FERRIS: Okay. So, again, it 22 would be like -- to answer the first part of your 23 question, and you'll have to remind me so I get all 24 three parts. The first part of your question is a 25 dumpster if it's not enough. So a dumpster can get 57 1 picked up daily. Again, we look to Polly as the 2 sponsor for the site. Like any commercial business, 3 to work with the hauler and us to make sure that 4 they're getting adequate frequency of collection, so 5 it can be one dumpster pickup daily, it could be two 6 dumpsters picked up every other day, it could be one 7 dumpster picked up weekly, depending on what the need 8 is. So we don't have the need, necessarily, defined 9 yet. So it will take a little while to get the need 10 defined. Once the need is defined, then we will 11 service as needed. 12 POLLY TROUT: When I talked to waist 13 management today, I actually got one trash dumpster, 14 one recycling dumpster, one composting dumpster. I 15 think I calculated it right but for no charge we can 16 upgrade to larger bins or more frequencies. We'll be 17 on top of it, and I got extra room so that we can keep 18 the stretch of Myers Way picked up better as they were 19 shut just for the camp. 20 >>>: And then there was part two to the 21 question. 22 SUSAN FIFE-FERRIS: Also I want to 23 emphasize. A dumpster comes in different sizes. 24 There's a four yarder up to an eight yarder. Again, 25 one -- so you also -- another part of your question. 58 1 >>>: If we're reporting the litter, 2 you're saying that once reported on the -- 3 SUSAN FIFE-FERRIS: So that -- 4 >>>: 10 days? Business days? 5 SUSAN FIFE-FERRIS: That's a resource 6 issue. That's what the city has resources to -- in 7 order to deploy. We get illegal dumping all over the 8 city. You can go onto the website, you can actually 9 see where all the reported legal dumping reports are, 10 and right now our response is about two and a half 11 days, but we guarantee -- our guarantee is that we 12 will get it within 10 business days. But if you go on 13 to the website and you actually look, there is a map 14 there. It will show you all the dots of the currently 15 reported illegal dumps, and then you can also see like 16 how frequently, and then when you're -- that dump is 17 picked up, that goes away. So you can go ahead and 18 do that. 19 >>>: Possibly we're not reporting 20 frequently enough. 21 GEORGE SCAROLA: Oh, I do want to 22 introduce council member Lisa Herboldt, who has been 23 patiently -- 24 (Applause.) 25 GEORGE SCAROLA: The entire time. Thank 59 1 you very much. 2 >>>: Are these -- this text, is this 3 something that we're going to retain or is this just 4 for us now? 5 GEORGE SCAROLA: We can retain it. 6 >>>: I think it would be helpful, 7 because I would like to make sure that the commitments 8 that are being made that we can sort of put some dates 9 next to some of them and keep an eye on fulfilling 10 those -- 11 GEORGE SCAROLA: Because this has been 12 so -- 13 (Applause.) 14 GEORGE SCAROLA: Because this is so 15 orderly, it's very easy to keep track have who said 16 what, so there should be no problem with doing that. 17 Great suggestion. 18 >>>: Hi name is Pat, I'll accept your 19 lawn if you're next door. Basically my question is 20 about the budget for this camp, and what it's going to 21 be. I'm hearing a whole bunch of stuff going in for 22 the water and obviously garbage pickup, and I saw 23 something about sidewalks or something or whatever 24 that was. I'm not sure what that was. But anyway, 25 there's going to be a lot of money going into this, 60 1 and I got a plan here, and I figure for under $600,000 2 we can get everybody in Camp Second Chance in homes 3 within the next week. I believe we can. I've got a 4 plan. It's handed out. My friend Carol can pass you 5 a copy if you're interested. I e-mailed it to all the 6 council members, yourself, George, without getting 7 into too many details, but I would like know, what is 8 the budget for this camp? 9 GEORGE SCAROLA: Do you know -- do you 10 have that in your head? 11 JASON JOHNSON: I don't have it in my 12 head. It's -- because we're developing it now, but 13 there is an allocation of funds in 2017 for the three 14 encampments. Actually, it's for four total 15 encampments. And it's roughly -- do you remember? I 16 want to say it's -- 17 GEORGE SCAROLA: 800,000 for -- 800 or 18 900, now. 19 JASON JOHNSON: Less than a million for 20 all four. 21 >>>: You had the RV camps at $1,900 per 22 person per month, the one in Ballard. 23 GEORGE SCAROLA: And we closed it because 24 of that. 25 JASON JOHNSON: Yeah. 61 1 GEORGE SCAROLA: Actually, that's a very 2 good suggestion, and we will look at it. It is one of 3 the approaches that we are taking, moving people as 4 fast as possible into housing. 5 >>>: Hi. My name is Miriam. I have two 6 questions but they're quick. One was about the 7 collaboration between King County sheriff's and 8 Seattle PD. I was really, really encouraged to hear 9 in terms of the infrastructure development there's 10 this kind of warm partnership and handoff and joint 11 approaches to the walk-throughs and things like that. 12 Is there a similar sort of structure in place for 13 your -- for the SPD to collaborate with the King 14 County sheriffs? Meetings, is there task force, is 15 there just some sort of continuity across cases? 16 CAPTAIN DAVIS: At this point in time, 17 usually it depends on whatever happens across the 18 borders. Obviously if it's something very dangerous 19 in nature or some lingering issues, we constantly meet 20 with King County. We have what we call a C stat 21 meeting. C stat meeting is held at the Seattle 22 headquarters. Seattle PD headquarters. On a 23 bimonthly basis. And what that does, that brings 24 everybody to the table, not only from the prosecutors 25 to the Seattle PD. We have UWPD that's there, and 62 1 oftentimes we have King County sheriff's office there, 2 as well. And we talk about a myriad of different 3 things. One of the things that we talk about is a lot 4 of things that are happening in my neck of the woods, 5 which is bordering White Center and beyond. Everyone 6 knows that we're contemplating an X'ing that issue 7 over there. And it is quite an issue because we 8 talked to King County sheriff's office all the time 9 about that. So -- and we are strategizing back and 10 forth about different things that are happening that 11 we see over on our jurisdiction and what they see as 12 well. Years ago, at least three years ago we put 13 together a task force, and that task force consisted 14 of Seattle PD, our federal partners, as well as King 15 County sheriff's office, and a lot of our judges, of 16 what that did, I'm sure you guys have seen that, that 17 put together a sizable task force that went after a 18 lot of your prolific offenders that are over there. 19 And basically what it was structured for was drug 20 sails and a lot of would be thieves and a lot of guns 21 that were over there as well, and they did a fantastic 22 job, and they made that area very, very quiet for a 23 long period of time. So that's the type of 24 collaborations. Depending on the issues that we're 25 able to see that we're able to do. This is basically 63 1 pretty much the same type of scenario. We just have 2 to make sure that we keep that going. 3 >>>: Sorry. Bimonthly, does that mean 4 every other month? 5 GEORGE SCAROLA: We have a lot of people 6 in line. 7 >>>: I understand. This is a follow-up 8 question. Does bimonthly mean every other month. 9 CAPTAIN DAVIS: No. This is twice a 10 month. 11 >>>: Thank you. 12 >>>: Hi. I'm Carol. I helped Pat with 13 the plan. We basically came up with a plan that would 14 instantly house people and it's a model that can work 15 anywhere. So it's not just right here. But it's on 16 next door, and you need a copy of it, we have a few 17 over here. Also, I was curious about the sinkholes. 18 That was back on January 11th, RVs were gone that day, 19 so does anyone know about that, that there were 20 sinkholes on the east side of the woods. Workmen 21 there. If you don't know, that's fine. 22 >>>: I actually know. So can you guys 23 hear me without the microphone? All right. I get 24 yelled at all the time for my inside voice. 25 The sinkholes were actually -- we were 64 1 doing the cleanup on the state of Washington property. 2 One of the homeless ladies that was down there, 3 there's a secondary creek that's right there. The 4 hillside was collapsing, and she goes, hey, come here, 5 and I walked over there and there was a hole about 6 eight feet across -- or in diameter and it was about 7 30 feet deep. And I was like, ooh. So we got 8 every -- 9 >>>: That's south or north? 10 >>>: Right where the guardrailing is. 11 >>>: Oh, yeah. Okay. 12 >>>: To the north of the church. Maybe 13 a hundred, 200 feet. 14 >>>: I saw the tape from the church's 15 fence. 16 >>>: So right there where that 17 guardrailing is, behind it there was a gigantic sink 18 hole. There's a bunch of piping that goes in there. 19 I don't know if it was determined that something 20 had -- you know, one of the pipes broke or whatever, 21 but SDOT came out and I can't remember who else came 22 out there. They mapped it out, they were able to 23 figure out what was going on and they filled the hole 24 back in. But that was point out by a homeless lady 25 that's living right next to it. She says based on the 65 1 soil structure -- I don't know if you guys have really 2 balked back there a whole bunch. I've never kicked a 3 rock the whole time I've walked back there. It's all 4 sand, there is no rocks. She says at night you can 5 hear the trees twisting and turning because the soil's 6 moving. 7 >>>: So not so safe -- 8 >>>: Yeah, I don't know what the soil -- 9 I'm not a ground soils engineer, but the ground's 10 moving, and that would have to be a question for the 11 engineer. The engineers were out there, they assessed 12 it, they fixed it, and they took the tape down. 13 >>>: Thank you. 14 And so my last question was -- 15 GEORGE SCAROLA: No. We're going to 16 try -- 17 >>>: I didn't really get to say what I 18 have to say. I have a sign-up sheet going around for 19 friends of Myers Way for only positive things and it's 20 on -- I'll contact you. Thank you. 21 GEORGE SCAROLA: We're taking two more 22 questions and then we're going to wrap up. 23 >>>: So I've been chased with a 24 sledgehammer, threatened with a knife, headset but, 25 chest but, and generally accosted by many of the 66 1 forest campers and RV campers that are down there. 2 I've had both SPD and King County sheriffs suggest 3 that if I'm going to continue going down there to file 4 find it fix it reports for things like dump TVs, 5 couches, abandoned vehicles, et cetera, that I should 6 open carry a firearm. That's like completely 7 ridiculous concept. Now, I would restate my question 8 to you, sir. What kind of commitment can you give us 9 to make our neighborhood more safe? Because getting a 10 suggestion to open carry a firearm if I want to go for 11 a walk is probably one of the stupidest things I've 12 ever heard a cop say. 13 GEORGE SCAROLA: And then the last 14 question. The gentleman behind you. And then we'll 15 talk just a second about next steps. 16 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Yeah. Not sure exactly 17 where that came from. 18 >>>: It's come from several King County 19 sheriffs and SPD officers. 20 CAPTAIN DAVIS: And I'm not sure -- 21 >>>: I can verify that. 22 CAPTAIN DAVIS: I'm not sure what type -- 23 >>>: He was with me when I was attacked 24 by a knife. 25 CAPTAIN DAVIS: I'm not sure what type of 67 1 dialogue you were having with individuals down there, 2 for what reason you were down there. That's not for 3 me -- 4 >>>: We're doing find it fix it stuff. 5 CAPTAIN DAVIS: But I can -- I can only 6 hope that we're giving you good prudent advice, and I 7 don't want to see anybody be that type of vigilante go 8 armed anywhere. If you're going to do a find it fix 9 it and you want us to be involved in that, please give 10 us a call. If you're going to do something that you 11 know you've been accosted before by individuals down 12 there, please give us a call. That's what we're there 13 for. And we can go down and look at different things 14 and make those suggestions for you without you having 15 to be accosted by -- 16 >>>: What kind of response can we expect 17 if we and for a police he is cart if we want to do 18 find it fix it walks in the future. 19 CAPTAIN DAVIS: Hopefully -- 20 >>>: Can we get a commitment. 21 CAPTAIN DAVIS: I can't say I'm going to 22 drop everything. 23 >>>: Can we get some kind of a 24 commitment that when we make a request you guys will 25 make an attempt to service that request within a 68 1 specific period of time rather than saying, well, you 2 know, we'll give you a call back whether we got some 3 time. 4 CAPTAIN DAVIS: I'll tell what you we do, 5 because this is what we do. Give us a call, and we'll 6 have that dialogue. 7 >>>: All right. Fair enough. 8 CAPTAIN DAVIS: All right. 9 >>>: George, do you have people here who 10 want to talk, and it's only fair that they stand in 11 line and people get -- say what they came -- 12 GEORGE SCAROLA: We have an agreement -- 13 we have an agreement with the people who run this that 14 we have to end at 8:30. We can take -- if the 15 questions were very fast, we could do it but -- 16 >>>: Let's just go. 17 GEORGE SCAROLA: Go. 18 >>>: And can we have more meetings? 19 GEORGE SCAROLA: Go. 20 >>>: First, I need to disclose I'm a 21 city of Seattle employee and resident and landlord. 22 GEORGE SCAROLA: It's got to be quicker. 23 >>>: We have an assurance that there 24 will be more representatives from I think county and 25 the state, because as much as the city says that 69 1 they're going to support this whole project, they 2 still flow over and we keep getting that nonassurance 3 that they're going to bring other agencies in here so 4 that we can talk to them in coordination with the out, 5 especially since they're considering annex. 6 >>>: And 911. 7 GEORGE SCAROLA: If it's quick like that, 8 we can handle all of them. 9 >>>: Fred Miller, and my question is for 10 you, George. One of the concerns we had before was 11 our representation for down south in the county. Did 12 you send out any invitations to our elected officials? 13 GEORGE SCAROLA: In south -- 14 >>>: South of us, in King County. Did 15 any invitations go out to King County? 16 GEORGE SCAROLA: No. 17 >>>: Thank you. 18 GEORGE SCAROLA: Sounds like I'm going to 19 fix that. 20 >>>: I'm Randy, and Road Street from 21 South Park. I want to say I've worked with community 22 police efforts for 15 years, and the problems you're 23 having with the disconnect between 911 and the actual 24 precinct officers are chronic and affect everywhere in 25 the city. It's not unique here. It's mind boggling 70 1 that it can't get fixed. 2 The other thing is -- can I just say to 3 everybody here is we're in the -- one of the richest 4 cities in one of the richest countries on the face of 5 the earth, and we could all tell our elected 6 representatives we want permanent housing for homeless 7 so they don't have to live in an encampment. 8 (Applause.) 9 >>>: And it's up to us, we the people, 10 to prioritize what we want our elected officials to be 11 working on and how they're spending our tax dollars. 12 So it's up to us. 13 >>>: Amen. 14 (Applause.) 15 GEORGE SCAROLA: It's got to be quicker. 16 >>>: So I'm curious what the community 17 outreach with this encampment that I never really 18 heard anything about before it got passed. I know 19 that it was -- they were there illegally and then it 20 suddenly became a thing, so somebody had totaled, they 21 had to sanction it. Then the City sanctioned this 22 larger encampment after sort of throwing this here in 23 my neighborhood, on the street I have to go by every 24 day, and now I'm hearing Polly talk about, yeah, once 25 this encampment, this bigger one is in place, we're 71 1 going to do community outreach and work with the 2 community to find out what they want. I'm just 3 curious, how does that community outreach work in a 4 day and age where a lot of people don't use normal 5 just free television anymore, we're connected through 6 mobile apps and through the Internet and how do you 7 guys keep that dialogue open with the most amount of 8 people in the neighborhood that are actually going to 9 be affected by this homeless encampment right in our 10 backyard, in addition to all the RVs and all the 11 trash. I'm just curious how to do it. 12 GEORGE SCAROLA: It's an ongoing process. 13 We start with the community advisory council, which we 14 have representatives from the local community. This 15 is a pretty well organized community, or I should say 16 group of communities, so that would be one place. But 17 let -- we just need a larger plan. We're going to 18 work with the folks at White Center development -- 19 >>>: I didn't even hear about this 20 meeting until tonight. It was a fluke that I even 21 heard about it. And then to hear that you guys have 22 already planned out this whole community of homeless 23 people, and I hear the police talking about, well, we 24 have to make sure of their rights to move their stuff, 25 but what about the rights of the homeowners that are 72 1 paying the property taxes and everything else? 2 GEORGE SCAROLA: Next question. We have 3 to do a better job. Fair enough. Very difficult to 4 get to -- 5 >>>: It's not a question, it is just 6 merely -- 7 GEORGE SCAROLA: And no one else joins 8 the line. 9 >>>: We are in a state of emergency of 10 homelessness. This was declared November 2015. Okay? 11 The only difference between the people that are 12 camping is they are unhoused. Housed and unhoused. 13 We are in a state of emergency. We are human beings, 14 and it is a human right to have affordable housing, 15 and that is the problem, is we do not have affordable 16 housing, and that's what we -- 17 (Applause.) 18 >>>: So tomorrow to the housing and 19 homeless advocates day, and let's talk to our 20 representatives, because that's how we're going to get 21 this done. We are human beings and we deserve to live 22 with dignity. 23 (Applause.) 24 GEORGE SCAROLA: He's not letting go. 25 >>>: Mr. Sauers, thank you very much for 73 1 coming. Thousands of people were involved in 2 convincing the mayor not to sell this land for 3 commercial warehouses. Thank you, everybody involved 4 in that effort. 5 (Applause.) 6 >>>: We are engaged now in putting 7 together a broad coalition of people who want to start 8 working in cleaning up the site. We have met with a 9 board member, Patrick, from Camp Second Chance, a wide 10 diverse group of people, stewards from wetlands, 11 people from the Duwamish tribe. We'd like your 12 commitment to meet with us and work with us now, 13 following the principles of the equity and environment 14 agenda. Do not delay us for four years. Will you 15 come and meet with us? 16 ROBERT STOWERS: Yeah, I'll come and 17 meet -- yeah. I don't have a problem. 18 (Applause.) 19 ROBERT STOWERS: I don't have a problem 20 with meeting with you at all. But I just want to 21 reiterate that it's not our property until FAS -- it's 22 their property until that transfer occurs. But, yeah, 23 we can start talking right now. 24 >>>: Yes. 25 GEORGE SCAROLA: Very good. 74 1 (Applause.) 2 >>>: I think my question is actually for 3 you. It's about the two years maximum for the 4 homeless encampments. So how many are still left at 5 the Ballard encampments? 6 JASON JOHNSON: So those encampments have 7 been in place for one year. They were just extended 8 and have a permit through all of 2017. 9 >>>: So where do those residents go at 10 the end of the two years? 11 JASON JOHNSON: So it's not a static 12 number of people. There are people moving in and out 13 of each of those encampment communities every day. I 14 wish I had brought data with me today to tell you how 15 many of those individuals have moved on to shelter, 16 transitional and permanent housing, and that's 17 something I can offer to this community. There's good 18 data to show that when people have a stable safe place 19 to be, then they're able to work with providers and 20 transition their lives to something much more stable 21 and typically to something permanently indoors. 22 >>>: And I would like to request another 23 meeting because clearly there's a whole lot more to 24 discuss for all the encampments, not just here but 25 Georgetown especially. 75 1 Thank you. 2 GEORGE SCAROLA: Last speaker. Quick, 3 though. 4 >>>: Yes, my name is Christopher Carter. 5 I'm not a camper inside second camp, but I am 6 houseless. And I don't care how you work it. You can 7 take enough of money in this room together to not get 8 everyone at any campsite all tonight, but you can -- 9 you, you, and maybe you will be in there day after 10 tomorrow. Homelessness, houselessness is a 11 never-ending problem if we don't come together as a 12 human instead of fight it. 13 >>>: That's right. 14 >>>: I'm sitting back there and I'm 15 appalled at the people I hear that's kicking people, 16 good people, while they're down, I know the people in 17 second camp. They're good hearts. And, man, I'm 18 appalled at that. And I tell you what, now that I 19 know there's a great plan here and this is the richest 20 community of Seattle, I'm calling my friends. 21 >>>: This is a delicate issue. 22 GEORGE SCAROLA: Actually. 23 >>>: That's crazy. This is not in 24 Roswell or Magnolia. This is in -- 25 GEORGE SCAROLA: This has been a 76 1 respectful and positive audience, and the issues that 2 have been raised are all legitimate, and they deserve 3 a hearing. So people sometimes hear what they hear, 4 but what I heard was a lot of respect, a lot of 5 acceptance, and a lot of consternation with the way 6 the City has handled some of the issues in the area. 7 That's fair. 8 That leads me to this. 9 One of the questions that was asked is 10 who can I call if there's a problem. This little card 11 talks about -- you can call if you want to know about 12 the encampment. You've seen this? 13 >>>: , I'm foyer sorry. I was talking. 14 GEORGE SCAROLA: It says if you see 15 garbage, you can report it. And you heard about that. 16 And if you are not getting satisfied with any of the 17 responses -- and, of course, you can call your 18 councilman. But at the end of the day, if it's about 19 homeless issue, whether it's Camp Second Chance or 20 across the street down the ravine, that's me. You can 21 call me and you can say we're not satisfied with 22 what's happening, or tell me what the issue is. There 23 is -- I think I've got all the numbers on this. So 24 just a little handy card. Try it, use it, and we will 25 take up this idea of a second meeting. I think I'll 77 1 start with your community council leaders and say, you 2 know, what would that look like. 3 >>>: Tomorrow night -- 4 >>>: A few days would look nice. 5 >>>: Tomorrow tonight we have a meeting 6 at -- 7 GEORGE SCAROLA: So it seems like that's 8 something we need to do, and we'll do it. And I want 9 to thank everybody for their patience in listening to 10 each other tonight. Thank you. 11 (Applause.) 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25