Announcements

Around 11:00 AM on June 9th the Washington State Department of Transportation posted Nickelsville with Official WSDOT Notices that, in their opinion, we are trespassing. That's the bad news. The good news is that there has not YET been any time and date set for forcible expulsion, or d-day.

This is new territory for State Government, and they are trying to come to grips with the issue in a way very different than the Nickels administration: They are LISTENING to people.

The Nickelodeons thank Ron Judd of the Governor's Staff for coming to the camp and talking with us. We have been listened to.

Mayor Nickels, meanwhile, told KING TV that there was enough shelter and that the Nickelodeons should 'follow the rules.' Most of us share allegiance to the commandment against bearing false witness against one's neighbor. Is Mayor Nickels, with his claims of enough shelter in Seattle, bearing false witness against his homeless neighbors? Is he the one breaking a basic rule?

Please give the State of Washington a chance to listen to you. Alert your community to this opportunity to speak from the heart and make a difference. The Governor needs to hear from all kinds of people - young and old, rich and poor, workers and businesspeople, churched and unchurched.

Nickelsville's future depends upon convincing Governor Gregoire that supporting Nickelsville is the right thing to do. Tell her TODAY your opinion of Nickelsville, what you think its future should be, why it is important, and whether the state approach should be negotiation or arrests. You can bet that the Office of the State Attorney has been overly focused on the 'law & order' aspects to the detriment of the right of each human to food, clothing and shelter.

There is a chance that the darkness will, briefly, overcome the light, and the police will descend on Nickelsville. For this reason we ask you to keep in touch, check your email from Nickelsville and plan to stand with us if things go south.

Here is the contact information:

Governor Christine Gregoire
(360) 902-4111
(360) 753-4110 Fax
cc Ron Judd, Ron.Judd@gov.wa.gov
cc Nickelsville, scott@nickelsvilleseattle.org

State Attorney General Rob McKenna
(360) 753-6200

State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond
(360) 705-7000
hammonp@wsdot.wa.gov

Mayor Greg Nickels
(206) 684-4000
greg.nickels@seattle.gov


Help Needed

Supplies are needed and include nails, plywood, 2x4s, food and water.

Funds to help cover toilets, garbage, and cell phone bills.

Information


During the One Night Count of January 2008, it was found that 8439 people were homeless in King County. 5808 had shelter through existing programs but 2631 were without, a 15% increase over last year. 34 homeless people have died outside this year alone.

Nickelsville will keep operating due to the inescapable fact that there are people on the streets with nowhere better to go. They are taking the initiative to organize so they can provide for themselves a basic level of safety and sanitation when their government steadfastly refuses to do so for them.

As concerned citizens, please contact the Mayor and the Governor and ask them to positively engage in solving this problem. Other administrations have managed to look past prejudice and work with the homeless community to help solve this problem.  Encourage our current government leaders to do the same.