I sent the below email out yesterday to the City Council Members, the Mayor and Seattle Police Department.
Alex & All,
This is not “Pride Overflowing in Seattle” as you Alex stated in your last “Friends and Neighbors” email I just received from you. You stated below “I appreciate the Harrell Administration’s recent efforts to intensify outreach to occupants of illegally parked RVs, while also eventually enforcing parking laws. RV encampments have been prone to fire hazards and, in some cases, illicit activity.”
However, Seattle has become unsafe, embarrassing and disgraceful!
As a lifelong resident of West Seattle I can’t believe that with no budget deficitas you stated, you and our City Council are allowing our city to be destroyed. Why do you think many individuals and businesses are relocating away from Seattle to places like Bellevue and the eastside? Why have large conventions have canceled plans to come to Seattle and are not planning to have them here in the immediate future?
Harbor Avenue and the Alki Trail is signed as a “Seattle Scenic Drive”. See the pictures of Harbor Avenue below. Is this what you all call scenic?
Harbor Avenue SW should not be allowed to be used as a RV park or to allow encampments to grow and multiply. The Alki Trail was designed for the public to enjoy, not for anyone to set up camp or for their living quarters. When the City moved the RV’s and campers from SW Andover recently, many of them just moved a few blocks away to Harbor Avenue SW. It is even more important for the City to move them out of this area immediately. If they are not moved out immediately and allowed to stay, it will just attract others to join them as is happening today. Crime has already increased rapidly over the last few weeks since their arrival. Please take action and do something now to remove them.
By allowing this to continue and grow you might as well install a new sign that should read something like “No Fees! No Taxes! Set up your campsite or encampments here! Free parking, free garbage collection, simply litter and throw anything on the parking strip and it will be picked up with no charge to you. You may urinate and defecate on the parking strips or if you want some privacy feel free to use the bushes across the sidewalks. Throw your needles and drug paraphernalia anywhere you want”. No need to ever pick up after yourselves, we’ll do that for you”. It seems our City Council has decided they would rather use our tax payers monies to pick up after the encampments, homeless and lawbreakers than enforce our laws as written and properly maintain our parks and public spaces for the rest of the tax paying citizens to enjoy like in the past.
This was once a place that was designed to show off our once beautiful city. Please do something to remove these vehicles ASAP. This is not safe and should not be tolerated. Don’t wait for something serious to happen here before acting.
Many of the motor homes currently parked on Harbor Avenue SW are sticking out into the street and damaged in the left rear from already being hit previously by passing cars. It has created a dangerous place for walkers, joggers, bikers and vehicles to use as was originally intended. It should one again be a beautiful safe place for individuals and families to enjoy and to show off our city that was not long ago called one of the country’s “Most Livable Cities”. Let’s return Seattle to what it once was.
Mike Gain
Lifelong West Seattle Resident
