Enough is enough with this Nickelsville and the group behind it and one doesn’t need any further proof that this is a scam than this quote from Leo Rhodes (the man photographed here on this site with the long dark hair) that can be found here http://www.realchangenews.org/2008/2008_05_21/nickelsville_v15n22.html

Leo (as reported above in the Real Change) has been homeless for 20 yrs, living for 9 of those years in Tent City 3 & 4. Leo is a treasurer for SHARE/WHEEL and is now living at Nickelsville and has been one of the organizers of that movement over the last week. Leo is seen in the King 5 video as the large man with long dark hair.
Nickelsville is a scam brought to us by the same people that brought us Tent City 3&4, SHARE/WHEEL. These people don’t want to follow rules and that is why they are not in shelters.
All is not as it seems.

If the operators of Nickelsville (SHARE/WHEEL) are planning on going to court on Monday to t ry to stop their eviction, then any concerned citizens need to get up to speed on this issue as quickly as possible. The group behind this is SHARE/WHEEL. Scott Morrow is the founder of SHARE and they operate both Tent City 3 & 4. Leo Rhodes is the Treasurer for SHARE and he has been homeless for over 20 yrs, 9 of those living in Tent City. There are at least 12 residents of Tent City 4 (currently on Mercer Island) that were bused over to live in Nickelsville. Many others were brought over from Tent City 3 (currently in Shoreline). Neighbors on the Eastside have been fighting many illegal moves of Tent City 4 during the course of the last four years. Tent City 4 in on church property and moves every 90 days. There are over 78+ police reports from the last year involving individuals that either lived or were trying to live in Tent City 4.
SHARE/WHEEL and there operators care only about their political agenda in an attempt to extort public land on which they want to squate. They want to duplicate the Dignity Village model in Portland.

I encourage anyone who has any questions about this group to read this article from the Seattle Weekly:
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-08-20/news/welcome-to-nickelsville-population-unknown/

And for those concerned about safety read what happened just a few days ago at the previous Nickelsville site when a man went up in flames:

http://www.nickelsvilleseattle.org/AseriousincidentatNickelsville.pdf

The operators of Nickelsville are all about threats as is evident from this quote from the above Seattle Weekly article:

Though Tent City denizens are Nickelsville’s primary organizers, Corey doesn’t expect the shantytown to draw many residents from them. “They have a cush place to stay,” he explains. “They don’t care. They’re lost in their own problems.” He adds that Nickelsville, like the Hoovervilles of the past, will have to be open to everyone, even if that means accommodating some “rough characters.”

“We’re not always talking about civilized people here. We’re going to have to come to terms with that at some point. But we’re not going to kick people out. This is the end of the road. People who will come to Nickelsville have no other place to go,” Corey says, tugging on his beard a little.

“You can chase a dog from this yard to that yard, and sooner or later you’re going to corner this dog and he’s going to bite you,” he adds. “We’ve been cornered. The greenbelt was the last yard. This is it.”

KIRO 7 news is reporting that an extension until Monday was granted because the operators of Nickelsville went into King County Superior Court today and got one.
It also reports that Nickelsville is being represented in court by the Northwest Justice Project.
The link can be found here:
http://www.kirotv.com/news/17611790/detail.html

Interesting that Leo Rhodes is quoted yet again, as if they media checked this out, they would find out that Leo, as reported in the above links has been “homeless for over 20 yrs” 9 of which he has spent living in SHARE/WHEEL’s other tent cities. In fact, up until the time Nickelsville opened, Leo has spent since May 2004 living in Tent City 4. He was bused over from Tent City 4′s current location in Mercer Island.

I encourage anyone who has any questions about this group to read this article from the Seattle Weekly:
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-08-20/news/welcome-to-nickelsville-population-unknown/

And for those concerned about safety read what happened just a few days ago at the previous Nickelsville site when a man went up in flames:

http://www.nickelsvilleseattle.org/AseriousincidentatNickelsville.pdf

The operators of Nickelsville are all about threats as is evident from this quote from the above Seattle Weekly article:

Though Tent City denizens are Nickelsville’s primary organizers, Corey doesn’t expect the shantytown to draw many residents from them. “They have a cush place to stay,” he explains. “They don’t care. They’re lost in their own problems.” He adds that Nickelsville, like the Hoovervilles of the past, will have to be open to everyone, even if that means accommodating some “rough characters.”

“We’re not always talking about civilized people here. We’re going to have to come to terms with that at some point. But we’re not going to kick people out. This is the end of the road. People who will come to Nickelsville have no other place to go,” Corey says, tugging on his beard a little.

“You can chase a dog from this yard to that yard, and sooner or later you’re going to corner this dog and he’s going to bite you,” he adds. “We’ve been cornered. The greenbelt was the last yard. This is it.”

Dear Ms. Campbell et al.,

In light of your comments in the blogosphere as well as some comments made to local media, I felt compelled to email you some of my gleanings from volunteering with Nickelsville the past 11 days.

Contrary to the media’s depiction, the majority of Nickelsville are hard working citizens. Many have lost their homes due to the economic crisis. I would say that the majority that stay their are employed, working full-time. Many have recently lost their home or apartment due to either poor economic choices and being laid off due to the recession. I have met several who have thousands saved up and are trying to get enough to get back on their feet. Many, after foreclosure, have horrible credit score and must not only provide first and last month’s rent on an apartment but also the deposits for electricity and water, etc…

I am sure you are aware that many in America live paycheck to paycheck, but happens to those we know that have no families or faith communities? I cannot imagine what some of these people go through, having first lost their jobs and then possessions, and now being forced to sleep outside in a tent because the city does not have enough beds for them or their family. What would you suppose that these people do?

So, before passing judgment, please consider these people. If you would like, I can arrange a tour of Nickelsville for you. Please be advised though that it will be later in the evening as most do not get home from work until late.

If you have any questions about the camp, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks for the time,

Dustin Cross
318-349-6535 Cell

Dustin Cross-
Before you pass judgement on those of us who are ppposed to have a homeless population set up residence in our overpopulated neighborhood, please stop and think abut how this plan would work in an area where there is more room for them, and more opprotunity for people who wish to volunteer to truly make a difference. I believe the first step for the volunteers,and churches, not to mention the many peopel who support Sustainable Ballard, including Mary Lou Dickerson, take the time to call on the church members and pastors as well as their own support staff and open their homes to these “decent hardworking folks” who have fallen on hard times. Is’nt that the first step in being a concerned citizen and volunteer…Imean why should all these folks sleep in tents in the wind and cold when they could be in your living room , freshoy showered,in front of your fire? If you have trepidation or concerns…then please know how we feel…otherwise open your homes and property to these folks and truly make a difference, while waiting for them to get on their feet..

Actually, I am a local minister and my wife and I have a man who lives with us who until recently was homeless in Seattle.

As far as the area, Discovery Park isn’t exactly an “over populated” area and Nickelsville is on a very, very small piece of land.

In regards to being judgmental, if I have come across in that manor that I do ask forgiveness. My intention is to simply encourage residents of Magnolia to investigate Nickelsville themselves instead of relying on word of mouth from others who have never been there.

On a side note, we have begun having visitors from community leaders in Magnolia. They have been quite surprised at how Nickelsville is nothing like the negative image in which it has been often portrayed. I encourage others to visit as well.

Sincerely,

Dustin Cross

Dustin- encourage more people to take in families and make a difference..as a minister reach out toi famillies in your churches…start there, and have a baseliune in which to make it work….pretty simple

The effectiveness of any program providing temporary housing to the homeless is demonstrated by the number of people that successfully transition to permanent housing. By that measure, Tent City and their operators, SHARE/WHEEL have been a monumental failure. (SHARE/WHEEL is behind Nickelsville) There are other providers of transitional housing for the homeless in Seattle that are much more worthy of our support than SHARE, as they have a proven track record of transitioning the homeless out of homelessness and into temporary housing with supportive services. These worthwhile organizations are overshadowed by the antics of SHARE/WHEEL.
SHARE/WHEEL and Scott Morrow are parading these homeless around (many of who were indeed in other shelters and moved over by Scott Morrow from those Tent City 3 & 4 shelters to fill up Nickelsville)

If you would like to help the homeless, there are wonderful programs with proven track records. United Way currently has a campaign called “Tackle Family Homelessness” where they have partnered with the Seattle Seahawks. Springboard Alliance offers wonderful programs and transitional housing. YWCA has programs for women. Congregations for the Homeless has programs for men. KITH has programs for families. Friends of Youth offers services for homeless youth.
All of these fantastic programs could use help.

Here’s the problem with this group over at Nickelsville and the people behind it. Often what they tell people is FALSE. They make numerous false claims that are not verified by the main stream media.
For example, last week one of the Nickelsville homeless was quoted in papers and interviewed on television. He was named in those quotes.

One of them appeared on King 5 and can still be found on their site.

The man quoted in this story, George Clement Williamson, has been living in Tent City 4. He and his wife were involved in a “domestic incident” that generated a Kirkland Police Department Report on January 20, 2008. (Case # 2008-00002028) At the time of the police incident, George Clement Williamson and his wife reported that they were “newlyweds and had just recently moved to the Seattle area from Las Vegas, NV in search of work. Both are homeless and are currently residing in Tent City 4.” (taken from the Kirkland Police Report narrative.)
Nickelsville is a scam and the people being quoted in the news were bused over from Tent City 3 & 4.
George Clement Williamson has been living in Tent City 4 since January 2008. Perhaps his time would be better spent looking for work, as oppossed to being an unpaid activist. After 9 months of living rent free in a tent, I would think that he and his wife from Las Vegas, Nevada could have saved up some money for a deposit on an apartment.

In another quote this same man reported this:
One family who was recently homeless was asked, “Do you want to stay here”? The husband George replied:

“Of course I don’t want to stay here. Do you want to live in a tent? Would you want to have to keep your family in a tent? I hate it, I can’t buy my wife the things she deserves. There is no other choice. For us to go to a shelter means I have to go one shelter and my wife has to go to a different shelter blocks or miles away . I have to leave my wife on streets if I want her to have a bed. I can’t watch after her, I can’t protect her. Here at Nickelsville is the first time in months that I’ve even been able to sleep next to my wife. It’s the first time I’ve been able to be with my wife in months.”

This was simply not true, as there is documented evidence via the above police report which proves that this man and his wife had been living in Tent City 4.

All is not what it seems. Too many of these “Nickelsville” residents are from the other SHARE/WHEEL Tent Cities and a great deal of that population is from OUT OF STATE. Washington and King County spend millions dealing with the issue of homelessness, but since the word is out that they can come here for a free ride, the problem increases.

Most of these organizations are full or have waiting lists. What should be done about those who have recently lost their homes and are currently living in the streets?

Finally, we do agree on one thing. There are programs out there who do fantastic work and could use your help. Giz, may I ask you what you do to help the homeless?

Once again Share/Wheel is not directly responsible for Nickelsville. If you spent any time at all at Nickelsville to research this then you would realize the error of your comments.

SHARE/WHEEL is directly responsible for Nickelsville and the majority of that camp is made of from individuals who were brought over from SHARE/WHEEL’s Tent City 3 & 4. Again, don’t take my word for it. Read the article written in Seattle Weekly:
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-08-20/news/welcome-to-nickelsville-population-unknown/

The only reason SHARE/WHEEL and Scott Morrow are trying SO hard to disassociate with being the organizers of Nickelsville are that they enered into a LEGAL AND BINDING consent decree with the City of Seattle on March 13, 2002 ( King County Superior Court Case # 01-2-10396-2SEA) Nickelsville is a breach of that agreement.

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Cheers for this posting, guys, retain up the fantastic operate