by Liz Steen

Special Correspondent

District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka gave the Seattle City Council’s teetering RV permit plan one last shove Tuesday, sending it over the cliff and crashing onto the rocks below. Opposed by homeless advocacy groups, members of the transgender community, domestic violence advocates, Columbia Legal Services, the Church Council of Greater Seattle, B Seattle, three councilmembers, and Mayor Katie Wilson, the controversial plan disappeared in a puff of smoke as Saka handed the Mayor the vote she needed to avoid a council override for her veto.

Saka Flips Council Showdown into Cooperation

Speaking Tuesday from the glass-walled city hall, where the council and mayor’s office are most often found whipping stones at each other, Saka offered a surprisingly simple solution. Saka said things in the city work better when the council and the Mayor collaborate. "I voted in favor of the council's recent RV legislation because I believe the status quo is totally unacceptable. I stand by that vote and the urgent need for action that motivates it," Saka stated. "But I've also learned through my experience in public service that we achieve the best results when the executive branches and the legislative branches are aligned around a shared strategic approach." Mayor Wilson vetoes controversial RV permit bill, pivoting to executive strategy and safe lot expansion | Westside Seattle

Cooperation was the theme Tuesday. Standing with Saka, council member Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Deputy Police Chief Yvonne Underwood, ACLU Executive Director Michele Storms, and the directors of three city departments including the Human Services Department, Wilson cited legal risks, lack of a plan, and the impacts on other city services for the program. The council approved the RV permit plan after six months debate without apparent coordination with affected city departments, a count of RVs facing towing, or estimates for safe storage to accommodate fire, biohazard, and security risks.

Link here: Council drives RV-sized spending hole into city budget | Westside Seattle

$1.9 Million Later, Seattle's Prior RV Safe Lot Becomes “Pickle at the Palms”

Cooperation between the executive and legislative branches is not, however, the normal way of things in Seattle for addressing homelessness or anything else. It’s been 25 years – a generation – since the city elected a mayor who would go on to serve more than one term. More relevant to Tuesday’s announcement, it’s been a year and a half since the city closed Salmon Bay Village the RV safe lot that was open only briefly before its transformation into an indoor pickleball court.  

The RV parking lot was located in District 6 and represented by Dan Strauss, who sponsored the now-vetoed RV permit program. The city spent $1.9 million developing the Ballard lot with the Low Income Housing Institute and the King County Regional Homeless Authority. After a one-year search for a location, the city signed a 2023 contract with a developer that allowed the lease to be terminated by the developer after two years. LIHI and KCHRA coordinated to bring in electricity, heating, bathrooms, showers, laundry, and a communal kitchen to the lot before opening Salmon Bay Village in December 2023. Then in May 2025, the developer ended the city’s lease under the contract and converted the RV lot to an indoor pickleball court named “Pickle at the Palms.”  Link Pickle at the Palms - Seattle Pickleball  The city estimated that 67 RVs were destroyed and 26 residents moved to permanent housing during the lot’s brief tenure. Link here: Salmon Bay Village RV Safe Lot Celebration KCHRA is currently under fire for not being able to account for, or repay to the King County interfund lending pool, about $17 million in funds that will be repaid by taxpayer funding in an as-yet unclear process.  There’s been little explanation of how the funding disappeared, but watching the RV permit legislation unfold, it’s not hard to see how it could happen.

Without Safe Lots, City Outreach Workers Had Nowhere to Send RV Residents

The 2025 RV safe lot to pickleball transformation complicated the city’s response to homelessness by removing an option for people who are living in vehicles, according to Seattle Human Services Department Director Tanya Kim who spoke on Tuesday.

“"We have not had a safe lot for over a year and a half. So that means that when we have been engaging folks, we didn't have a place that was a realistic option for them,” she said, describing the work of contractors U Heights and the Salvation Army as the city’s two contracted service providers working with vehicle residents. The city provides free monthly RV sewage pump-outs, garbage and debris removal, limited vehicle repairs and relocation assistance, and outreach connecting residents to shelter and housing services. Hygiene facilities, including showers and laundry, are also available. Hygiene support helps both the people who have nowhere to go and the neighborhood surrounding the RVs. The city’s relocation and outreach have been impacted by the lack of safe lots and the plan is to change that.

“"The mayor has asked us to have better outcomes, not move people around," Kim said on Tuesday.

West Seattle Bears the RV Burden—and Hosts the Next Safe Lot

Saka said he backed away from Strauss’s controversial RV permit program because his district had been the most impacted by RVs in recent years, as crime and complaints climbed steeply in West Seattle, Georgetown, and SouthPark - in  some areas more than 300% over the last two years. Neighbors packed city meetings complaining that families with children have to leave parks before 8 pm, even in the summer, and that police response times are slowed by the Southwest Precinct’s reduced staffing. Link to Westside Seattle Crime Tracker: Westside Seattle Crime Report | Westside Seattle and story West Seattle neighbors air raw safety fears at community forum | Westside Seattle

“I know that D1 has the highest concentration of problem RVs in Seattle, and I’ve seen firsthand the challenges associated with RV homeless,” he said in a statement released Wednesday. “D1 residents deserve a clear account of recent City decisions affecting RV homelessness and what comes next.”

Saka’s district will host Glassyard Commons, the city’s next attempt at a safe RV lot located at 7200 2nd Ave SW in Highland Park/Southeast West Seattle. The project is being developed and operated by the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) to provide up to 72 RV safe-parking spaces and 20 tiny homes, serving approximately 140 individuals.

Link here: Construction advances at Glassyard Commons RV and tiny home village ahead of mid-November opening | Westside Seattle

Saka said he wants to avoid another Pickleball court or funding snafu as the city promotes more RV safe lots. "I'm prepared to give the mayor and her workgroup the time and space to develop their recommendations," Saka said. "But that patience must be matched with progress. Our residents deserve results, not just another process."

$420 Million Later, Can City Hall Learn to Work Together?

Saka may have identified the one factor missing in the city’s $420 million budgeted for homelessness in the last two years: collaboration between the executive and legislative branches. The council sets the budget, but the mayor spends the money. When two sides aren’t talking to each other, the people getting the money have less oversight. Every kid with divorced parents knows conflict can be exploited for personal gain.

Saka’s collaborative approach is championed by members of his district, as well, where concerns about being the next safe lot host have centered on sanitation and crime. Jordan Crawley, chair of the 34th District Democrats and West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Board member, said,  “Compassion, accountability, and community safety are too often treated as competing priorities, but this shouldn't be the case. We can reject the criminalization of poverty, support evidence-based interventions, and insist that projects are developed collaboratively and operated responsibly. Our goal should not be to pit vulnerable people against their neighbors, but to bring communities together around solutions that protect human dignity, address legitimate concerns, and deliver meaningful results.”

Government matters. Every decision affects people who deserve fairness, and safety: a family living in an RV to keep their children in the same school district after losing their home; a business owner paying to replace another window smashed near an encampment; or a city employee working without adequate safety staffing because the budget falls short, again. If Saka is right, whether Wilson's new approach succeeds may depend less on another round of legislation than on cooperation among the council, city departments, service providers, property owners, and neighborhoods expected to host the safe lots.