First on Magnolia Voice: We just learned that Fred Corbit, the attorney representing three of campers at tent city, has worked out a deal that allows the campers to stay at Discovery Park until the end of the week and avoid a sweep by the city if they leave voluntarily. The city previousely planned to sweep them out of the site on Wednesday at noon.
Here is the email that he sent to Phill Brenneman at the City Attorney’s office this afternoon:
I just finished a client meeting. I also just got off of a telephone call with Debora Juarez, the attorney for the United Indians of All Tribes. My clients agree that they will voluntarily leave the encampment near the Daybreak Star Center, by noon on Friday, October 10, 2008, and they will encourage other people in the encampment to do the same. Also, I have confirmed that the United Indians of All Tribes have given the people in the encampment permission to stay until noon of Friday, October 10, 2008.
With the agreement of my clients, and the permission of the United Indians of All Tribes, I assume that the City will take no enforcement action against the encampment prior to noon on Friday, October 10, 2008. If my assumption is incorrect please let me know immediately.
Fred Corbit, Northwest Justice Project
Even though Corbit only represents three of the current campers at Nickelsville, he says he expects the other members of the encampment to follow their lead and leave the site.
This email follows an offer from Brenneman to give the organizers until noon on Friday if they agree they will not organize or participate in any other unpermitted encampment in the City of Seattle. He also expects that the campers not represented by Corbit will leave the park by that time.
5 responses so far ↓
1 happy // Oct 7, 2008 at 4:04 pm
deal? since when is a deal reached w/someone is in violation of the law? i thought deals were reached after someone is convicted…..this city is pathetic sometimes.
2 happy // Oct 7, 2008 at 4:05 pm
maybe fred should host them all in his yard/home…
3 Nidwaldner // Oct 7, 2008 at 4:26 pm
So where are they going next? Will another round of city tax payer paid legal action be required?
4 vanderleun // Oct 8, 2008 at 3:04 pm
They should be relocated with their lawyer to Portland.
5 Loretta Pirozzi // Oct 19, 2008 at 12:07 am
These people are homeless and have no other options. They all have had problems over the years with crippling injuries or diseases, Post Traumatic Syndrome from fighting a war that wasn’t their idea, incaceration because of manditory drug laws, spousal abuse, child abuse, alcoholism, addictive drug use (alchoholism and drug abuse is often the RESULT of homelessness, NOT the cause), and each has a story to tell about how they ended up where they are.
For what used to be a compassionate city I am appalled by the selfishness and ignorance of people who are so much more fortunate.
Give a listen to “There but for Fortune” by Joan Baez and think about how different you life would have been if you had not grown up in a nurturing environment.
I think that if our mayor had his druthers he would line them all up and shoot them so to rid himself of the problem.
Stealing possessions from people who have so little is cruel and inhumane. Then the sweeps call it all debris…How dehumanizing is that?
Our mayor refuses to even discuss the issue while insisting that there are enough shelter beds. Yet the one-night count found over 2600 people attempting to survive on the street on a bitter cold night when all our shelters and emergency shelters were full.
We’d save a whole lot of taxpayer money if the city would leave them alone and concentrate on providing more low-income housing instead of giving tax incentives to builders of condos with prices “starting at $1,000,000″ on property where low-income homes used to be.
I am a Bleeding Heart Liberal (and proud of it).
Leave a Comment (read our comment rules)