FOLLOWUP: Under the West Seattle Bridge, city to clear remaining Spokane Street campers next week

Two and a half weeks ago, the city announced it would gradually close the encampments that remain under the West Seattle Bridge, along Spokane Street, mostly in the SODO area. And this afternoon, on the website used for updates on the city’s response to homelessness, there’s an update. It begins with a recap of outreach and notification efforts, and then gets into the timeline:

… The area has been divided into four zones to be addressed separately:

Zone 1: Airport Way to Sixth Avenue
Zone 2: Sixth Avenue to Fourth Avenue
Zone 3: Fourth Avenue to Second Avenue
Zone 4: Second Avenue to Colorado Avenue

Monday, Sept. 11, will be a day of outreach only. On Tuesday, Sept. 12, the Navigation Team will begin outreach at 8:30 a.m. Field coordinators will be on hand to provide storage of personal belongings. Other City crews and contractors will be ready to remove all bio-waste, garbage and debris from a zone as soon as campers have moved out of that area. Once a zone is clear, the City will install temporary fencing.

While the Navigation Team will conduct outreach along the entire corridor as necessary, the closure and cleanup will address one zone at a time. As Zones 2 and 4 have the greatest number of people, tents and structures, they will be addressed first and are expected to take the longest. The tentative schedule is:

Tuesday, Sept. 12: Begin Zone 4
Wednesday, Sept. 13: Finish Zone 4 and begin Zone 2
Thursday, Sept. 14: Finish Zone 2 and begin Zone 3
Friday, Sept. 15: Begin Zone 1

Should the cleanup extend into the following week, the City will repost appropriate notice around the impacted area.

As noted above, once a zone is completely clear, the City will install a mix of temporary and permanent fencing along the corridor. Several sections will be fenced off to protect infrastructure and/or to limit access to certain areas for authorized individuals (e.g., maintenance crews). The temporary fencing around several blocks under the Spokane Street Viaduct (installed following the removal of the RV encampment at the west end of Spokane Street in April) will be extended west to Sixth Avenue, though it will still allow entrance for commuter parking, which is an intended use of those rights-of-way.

Sad September 9, 2017 (6:33 am)

Visible from the street, needles needles everywhere! While I’m aware drug abuse is a major issue in our city- being able to see needles strewn about so visible was still shocking to me.

flimflam September 9, 2017 (7:16 am)

unfortunately we get what tolerate as a city.

KT September 9, 2017 (8:29 am)

Here’s a thought … arrest them for trespassing if they return. Enough is enough. And it is not “criminalizing homelessness”, it is holding people responsible for their behavior when they refuse to change it even though given opportunity after opportunity.

“…once a zone is completely clear, the City will install a mix of temporary and permanent fencing along the corridor…”

Mark September 9, 2017 (8:41 am)

Its an eyesore, enough already.

Cynical girl September 9, 2017 (11:24 am)

Whew, thank goodness for the plastic bag ban. I was losing sleep worried that they would cause litter. Much more enviromentaly better with the plastic needles. I personally got rid of homeless trying to live behind the lower ballfields at Riverview.

Mark September 9, 2017 (11:31 am)

KT I second your comment

Junction Lady September 10, 2017 (11:20 pm)

It should not have been allowed to happen in the first place. It is beyond upsetting that these situations continue to happen repeatedly with all the residual crime, hazardous waste, associated risks to neighboring busineses such as fires, unpredictable behaviors of addicts, not to mention human waste.