Sims OKs new tent city to be set up
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County Executive Ron Sims said yesterday he has agreed to let a new tent city use county-owned land beside the Brickyard Road Park-and-Ride for up to 90 days.
The first of what may be 100 campers will move Thursday onto the property at 15530 Juanita-Woodinville Way N.E. in unincorporated King County.
Sims expressed mixed feelings about the venture, saying he is "personally opposed to the concept of a nomadic existence for the homeless. I prefer permanent solutions."
In December, he vetoed a Metropolitan King County Council budget proviso that called on him to offer three sites for consideration by tent-city sponsors.
But because as many as 2,000 people go without shelter each night in King County, Sims said he supports the tent city as safer and more humane than letting people live on the streets.
Tent City 4 will be in addition to Tent City 3, which has moved from site to site in Seattle since March 2000. That encampment, currently at Lake City Christian Church, is scheduled to move to Cherry Hill Baptist Church on May 17. Two earlier tent cities, created in the 1990s, are closed.
Sims began discussing possible sites with tent city organizers SHARE/WHEEL after the homeless-advocacy organizations said they would move to a King County park Thursday with or without the county's permission.
Sims said he will not allow tent cities in county parks. But yesterday he sent the County Council a proposed motion authorizing him to sign an agreement for creation of Tent City 4.
Because the County Council may not be able to act on the motion by Thursday, Sims said he offered the Brickyard Park-and-Ride as a temporary site.
The motion would direct Sims to work with faith-based and other nonprofit groups to find a longer-term location. Noncounty properties are described as the preferred option for the next site.
King County Councilwoman Carolyn Edmonds, whose district includes the temporary encampment site, said she will sponsor the motion.
"We've never had any problems with the residents of Tent City," Edmonds said. "They're self-policing, there are stringent rules, they are only adults. Most are the working poor who need a little break to save up money to get into something more permanent."
But Joe Fuiten, pastor of Cedar Park Assembly of God, which operates a school 300 yards away from the site, wasn't so sure. "It seems very irregular," Fuiten said. "I don't have opposition or support, I have questions.
"Does crime go up when these sites come to town? Does the county have permits for this? Why didn't they come to us before they made a decision?"
Dan Maloney, a Tent City 3 resident for the past year-and-a-half, said the new encampment will provide a safe place for people who are camping out under bridges or in greenbelts. "I'm happy for them," he said. "It' s just an opportunity for somebody to be off the street and not be stabbed or shot or raped.
Seattle Times reporter Leslie Fulbright contributed to this report.
Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com
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