There has been a recent rise in homeless activity along the Burke Gilman Trail and near the Ballard Locks and it has some residents wondering what can be done to help the situation.

Mark, a Ballard resident who asked not to be named, has used the BGT to commute to his office downtown for the last six years. He said that just this summer he has noticed more individuals camping along the trail.

Last week Mark was running the Burke Gilman trail with his wife and four-year-old daughter. Mark said he was ahead of the two when he heard a man yell at his daughter for riding her bicycle in the “wrong” lane of the trail. Mark said the man was erratic and agitated.

Since the incident Mark has asked his wife to stop running the trail with their daughter without him.

“It makes me fearful of my wife running alone and also I fear what I ‘m capable of if something like that happened again. No one should ever yell at a four-year-old child like that,” said Mark.

Neighbors have reported camps near the Ballard Bridge, along the railroad tracks near the Yankee Diner and northwest of the locks along the Burke Gilman Trail to Golden Gardens Park. There are reports from neighbors that there has been more and more people camping along the trail near Golden Gardens.

Other neighbors are concerned about large heaps of trash building up allow the trail near NW 45th Street and 11th Avenue NW and other areas in the Ballard industrial zone.

Sola Plumacher is the acting Division Director of the Community Support and Assistance Division with the Seattle Human Service Department. She said the individual making the trash heaps is well known to the City.

“Our friend is making a very large mess,” said Plumacher.

She said the man has a long history of building up trash heaps that the City eventually cleans up, then he moves to another location and starts another pile.

Plumacher said that the City first became aware of this site in early August after the Fred Meyer Corporate office called the city to report the heap. Plumacher said that the man has mental health issues and that the city cannot place him in a mental health facility because the law says that there is a self determination clause, meaning it’s his choice to go to a facility. And since he is not posing any threat to anyone, legal action cannot be made.

“This individual is connected with social service and has mental issues. He’s a real challenging individual, and we are trying to figure out the best service for him.”

The law is very rigid about harm to self or others. For instance defecating in a public place may be a health hazard to the self and others, but it is not considered a threat.

Plumacher said that the City takes different action for encampments and accumulating trash.

For trash heaps it’s up to the property owner to report it to the City. If it’s on City property then SDOT sends a crew to cleanup up the mess.

Encampments are a different story. The City considers an encampment as a place where there are a group of tents and personal belongings. Once an encampment is reported, the City logs the location and sends a notification to various City departments. Plumacher said that after that point the city sends social service staff to make contact with the campers. If the campers are not there the staff leaves a notification letter that states the campers have 72 hours to leave and where their belongings will be taken. Within two weeks a clean up crew is organized and coordinated with Seattle Police.

Plumacher said that she gets a list of trash and encampment sites every week. Last week she said that there were forty sites logged and that that volume is pretty high for an average week.

“Weekly we get a list of all of the sites that’s been addressed. It ebbs and flows and depends on if individuals are making reports.”

One common challenge the city faces is that as soon as the site is cleaned it’s not long before either the same individuals or others are back at the same site that was just cleaned. Then the whole process starts over.

Plumacher said the best thing for citizens to do is call the Customer Service Bureau and report illegal camping or trash heaps at 206-684-CITY.

She also noted that greeting people camping along the trail and hearing their stories is another way to help.

“I think it’s very important for people to say ‘hello.’ Just because these people are sleeping outside does not mean they are dangerous. I think it would be great to galvanize a community of individuals that can reach out to folks and understand what their needs are.”