Quarrel over Tent City policies leads to new homeless camp
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KIRKLAND, Wash. -- A new homeless camp has sprung up on the Eastside after part of the group got fed up with security issues and political protest requirements at Tent City.
"Camp Unity" was created 10 days ago when two-thirds of the homeless residents abandoned Tent City over disagreements in how the Kirkland site is being run.
Frank Bauer was one who came to Camp Unity to escape the oversight of Seattle Housing And Resource Effort - or SHARE - which requires Tent City residents to take part in political protests involving homeless causes.
Bauer says those who refused were sometimes denied subsidized bus tickets, which homeless campers depend on.
"It feels like everybody's under some sort of pressure by them to just do what they say, because they own you," Bauer said. "They have your housing. They have this; they have that."
None of the organizers on-hand at Tent City would talk to KOMO News about the split, which also involves a disagreement over running criminal background checks.
Tent City checks campers' histories when they first arrive, but the discovery of a rape suspect convinced Camp Unity organizers to check campers' backgrounds on a weekly basis.
"We will continue to weekly to do sex offender checks on the entire camp, and people have to agree to this when they come in," said Steve Wiggins, Camp Unity operations officer.
Camp Unity is just getting up and running at Lake Washington United Methodist Church and is trying to establish its non-profit status to keep donations pouring in. They have worked out an agreement with the Methodist church to stay at that site until mid-February.
SHARE did not return our calls for comment, but in a statement on its website, SHARE claims the split at Tent City 4 has to do with disagreements over organizational policies and decisions.
SHARE also says the lack of weekly sex offender background checks doesn't make SHARE's encampment unsafe, and says no one has been harmed at Tent City 4 since it opened in 2004.
"Camp Unity" was created 10 days ago when two-thirds of the homeless residents abandoned Tent City over disagreements in how the Kirkland site is being run.
Frank Bauer was one who came to Camp Unity to escape the oversight of Seattle Housing And Resource Effort - or SHARE - which requires Tent City residents to take part in political protests involving homeless causes.
Bauer says those who refused were sometimes denied subsidized bus tickets, which homeless campers depend on.
"It feels like everybody's under some sort of pressure by them to just do what they say, because they own you," Bauer said. "They have your housing. They have this; they have that."
None of the organizers on-hand at Tent City would talk to KOMO News about the split, which also involves a disagreement over running criminal background checks.
Tent City checks campers' histories when they first arrive, but the discovery of a rape suspect convinced Camp Unity organizers to check campers' backgrounds on a weekly basis.
"We will continue to weekly to do sex offender checks on the entire camp, and people have to agree to this when they come in," said Steve Wiggins, Camp Unity operations officer.
Camp Unity is just getting up and running at Lake Washington United Methodist Church and is trying to establish its non-profit status to keep donations pouring in. They have worked out an agreement with the Methodist church to stay at that site until mid-February.
SHARE did not return our calls for comment, but in a statement on its website, SHARE claims the split at Tent City 4 has to do with disagreements over organizational policies and decisions.
SHARE also says the lack of weekly sex offender background checks doesn't make SHARE's encampment unsafe, and says no one has been harmed at Tent City 4 since it opened in 2004.
There's an old saying "never argue with stupid people - they'll beat  you down with experience".
Let's see if I got this straight. These people refuse to get jobs and support themselves like normal people, but feel that they are "entitled" to live anywhere they want for free and that the rest of the taxpaying society is required to succomb to their demands.  Screw that.  It is time for them to get their big boy and big girl pants on and grow the hell up. Also, I really hope that any children have been removed from this situation.Â
@The WA Mama Children are not allowed to live in the camp, but the children in our neighborhood, including my own, have been put at risk for years, in my opinion, by these groups. The pastor of this church has informed me he allows his own children to help out in the camp, but his family does not live here, so they don't have to ride the bus, go to the store or just take a walk on a regular basis with these 40+ new neighbors. We cannot remove our children from this situation, and a Jr. High school is located about ONE block away...The neighborhood has no recourse except pray and cross our fingers...
 @The WA Mama I wish more people felt the same way as you do.  I feel that way. Put on the BIG PANTS.
Many problems associated with so-called tent cities could be easily mitigated if all the work-shy residents of these so-called "homeless" camps were relocated to "labor" camps.
 @TheTruncheon Why SURE!!! "Arbeit Macht Frei"!!!
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Why not maybe work to get people hired to REAL jobs? And while you are at it, please consider how many in these tent cities are actually physically and/or emotionally disabled in some way?
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I say, take your truncheon and whack yourself in the head about 50 times to show us all what a "manly man" y'all are! And go work in a labor camp.
 @JLS1950 Why are some always so quick to bring the specter of the Nazi's into conversations? It's becoming rather predictably inane.
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My earlier comment references the labor system set up in the British Isles to deal with their problems of public indigents and the chronically "poor".
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Great Britain's system of work-houses for the "homeless" dates back hundreds of years to the 1600's, and in various other forms, even before then to the 1300's. The English government set up housing with beds, food, medical care and educational opportunities, only asking those availing themselves of these "free" services, to provide labor.
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Please educate yourself and realize that it's not automatically "Nazi"Â when society asks segments of it's population to demonstrate some degree of personal responsibility in providing for their own welfare and well-being... rather than encouraging these layabouts to dump the problems of their care and feeding upon the dwindling resources of other, more responsible, citizens.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workhouse
 @JLS1950  @TheTruncheon You don't have a solution, do you ?  Let's just keep throwing money and resources at this problem;  hope for the best, right?
 @JLS1950  @TheTruncheon You been huffing the paint again haven't you JLS?  : )  What's up with the Nazi references?  Since your standing on your pedestal, you'll have to look down to see me.....What is your solution?  I understand your a proud member of an evangelical pentecostal christian churchthat has a tent city on it's  premise.  Do you volunteer your time/and or your money?  Can share with us any success stories?  I bet you can't, right?  Do you just "give" at your Sunday service and leave it at that?  You offer no alternatives.  If you don't have a solution, step back, make a ham sandwhich, and have a cream soda.  Let  others give this problem a shot.  What your church is doing is noble in it's ideal, it does not make the problem END.  Understand?Â
 @TheTruncheon "Why are some always so quick to bring the specter of the Nazi's into conversations?"
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Why are some always so quick to suggest "solutions" so very like those pursued by the Nazis? Did you imagine that the Nazis had a patent on inhumanity?
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Whenever society selects any group for special oppressive treatment (based on anything other than actual harmful crimes against others proved in a court of law) that is essentially equivalent or at least very similar to the acts of the Nazis. As for the English workhouses and poor houses, you would do well to "educate yourself" to the actual conditions in these institutions and understand precisely why Charles Dickens wrote so aggressively against the practices in his classic "A Christmas Carol". (Recall also that GB then used to hang pickpockets as young as 8 years old.)
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"As the 19th century wore on workhouses increasingly became refuges for the elderly, infirm and sick rather than the able-bodied poor." --we call that "warehousing" - usually in place of actual healthcare and treatment. It is thus the same function that tent cities are performing today.
 @TheTruncheon Your welcome.  : )  I would like to hope that happens too - but I think sometimes that this will never happen -  the society we live in today is very confusing to me. Â
 @Pegasus Thanks Pegasus. That's a very nice thing to say. I hope that one day the Nation will find it's center and promote attitudes, ideas and actions that are responsible and positive for everyone, not just selected demographics.
 @TheTruncheon  @JLS1950 I want you to run for office!!!  I had once thought that such a solution as you described was what was needed here.Â
 @JLS1950  @TheTruncheon I just had to respond...... Let me ask you a valid question: Give me ONE REASON why you, me, or anyone else should "work" to get these people hired?  Not sure about you, but I have rent, bills, food and Christmas gifts to pay for.  SO I really am stacked as to wanting make time for lazy sob's. As for being physically /emotionally disabled - please.  WE ALL have problems - we work them out; not by crying to others with excuses why we can't do this or that.  BTW; shame on you for using the slogan from the Auschwitz camp.  No comparison. Period.  I presume that when your not working, paying bills, that you are helping these campers?  I think you need a few whacks in the head yourself. Your part of the problem.  Tell you what....I will spring for the space, hire you as the director of my new homeless camp. Let's see how fast your idealism goes away.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it before you respond. Â
 @Pegasus  Actually, my wife and daughter spent 4+ hours on Thanksgiving day serving a fine turkey dinner with all the trimmings to the inhabitants of a tent city near our home while I minded our own turkey at home and watched the other two offspring. Whack to you...
 @TheTruncheon An excellent idea!  I like your use of the term "work-shy". It is a very good way to describe the Urban Outdoor Camper.  : )Â
I previously posted the Kirkland City planner to contact was Sean LeRoy but he is out of the office.
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Please contact Nancy Cox at ncox@kirklandwa.gov for questions about background checks, identification requirements and how the city determined the allowable distance between a school and a homeless camp...If Rose Hill Jr High school is in the "allowable" distance, it's by INCHES. Parents, please take notice.
Reading about these people is really getting old.
 @ObsidianOne I agree 100%. Â
If I read the story correctly...and I think I did, The Urban Outdoor Campers are upset that they are required to take part in political protest.  BOO HOO.  I feel like I am reading an article from The ONION.  Don't want to take part n protests that by design are created to shed light on the homeless issue?  Really?  Too much being asked of you? I guess that  being given a location to pitch your tent (for free), not to mention receiving free handouts from hardworking people,  and bus tickets etc.is not enough to motivate you to give back a little?  Sounds  to me like all the Urban Outdoor Campers really want is "give me sympathy when I ask, give me money, food, a place to sleep, but don't put any expectations on me".  There's a reason these campers are in the situation they  find themselves in: consistently making bad choices - drugs/alcohol, etc, and  these campers know that there is an extensive amount services and programs in place that will help them. Why change?  If you think about it, these Campers are just on one long camping trip, only it's free to them - we have to pay to do that.  Think about that.
 @Pegasus Let me get this straight: by the tone of your post, I tend to guess that you count yourself a "conservative" in some sense or other. And from the wording of your post, I gather you think these homeless people have a responsibility to go out with their "Liberal" masters and participate in protests in favor of "Liberal" causes instead of just taking those bus passes and going out to temporary jobs and job interviews where they just MIGHT be able to get real jobs and ultimately escape the cycle of homelessness...!
But of course, you probably would not some "former homeless person" to get a job and rent the apartment or house - or even buy the house - next door to YOURS, now would you?
 @JLS1950 Boy you are way wrong Bucky.....  I am neither a "conservative" nor a "liberal" - I don't like labels. If it helps you, call me a "middle of the road kind of guy". Ironic that you infer to the camp leadership as the "liberal Masters.  Funny. So the "liberal ,masters", who are actually making an effort to help these campers are now the bad people.  Interesting.  As far as free bus passes for temp jobs or job interviews -please. The Urban Outdoor Camper  in this state has NO INTEREST in escaping the cycle of homelessness; why should they?  Everything is free - you don't have to do much to get something. Everything they do is a show for us to generate sympathy - which equates to giving them something.  Screw that.   If a person is serious about escaping the homeless experience, they can - like you or me, they just have to stop making excuses, buck  up and make it happen - do you understand that concept?  I go camping 4 times a year - same setup they have - a tent, food, water, sleeping bag, etc.  But the difference is I pay for that experience.  Also, in my naivete, I (twice) tried to hire a outdoor camper - only to be told (twice) that "they were not interested in actually working. Â
 @Mark Little By the way... am I "talking over my head"?  I think  you are part of the problem.  All talk, no solutions. Â
 @Mark Little Really.  Where did I use "a lot of labels"? You really need to read thoroughly through the comments. As to your question (i think), that I assume that  "homeless are some kind of "physiological condition instead of a socioeconomic issue".  Here's an answer; being homeless is one's choice.  There was a time when I faced the specter of being homeless  - what prevented that from happening was my determination to succeed.  I am a veteran, and as such, I have dealt with my own PTSD.  Instead of taking drugs, drinking, or feeling sorry for myself, I sucked it up, and worked things out. When help was offered, I took it.  I paid that help back by succeeding in life.That's the way it should be for anyone.  Haven't you ever heard of the saying "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink"?  Well, these Urban Outdoor Campers need to be led to the well, and have their heads held underwater until by necessity they need to drink.  By the way, I really don't like big words - especially when the person using them can't even use proper grammar in a sentence.  Understand? Â
 @PegasusÂ
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Wow...,
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 - For someone who don't like labels, you sure do use a lot of them. What's a 'Bucky' and are you assuming that the homeless are some kind of physiological condition instead of a socioeconomic issue that it is? Let me know of I'm talking over your head... :/
@Pegasus I'm sick of protestors so I agree if they don't want to protest they shouldn't be made to.
 @justsayin  @Pegasus So by that logic, we should just keep a smile on our faces, and give the Urban Outdoor Campers everything they want (free everything).  Maybe your right; we should just leave these screw ups alone (but keep helping them so they can maintain that "free spirit" lifestyle).
I live in this neighborhood and have questioned and had concerns about Tent City since they came to our community. There is little we can do as a community, as religious groups who own land have different regulations about how they can use the land. I have felt that SHARE and WHEEL have used these religious exceptions to promote their political agenda for years...Only neighbors who live 500 feet from the property have the opportunity to comment or even be notified. Our first notice was seeing the portapotties going up last week.
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I do not understand how such a camp is allowed to be so close to a school area, but Rose Hill Jr High school is maybe one block from this camp...I'm not sure parents were notified about this, unless you live 500 feet from the church. All the kids who walk to and from school found out the same way we did that Tent City was back.
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And now this confusing story about background checks and criminals and "free spirits". I would like to ask my neighbors, those who have children attending schools in the area, and anyone who has these moving camps in their comminities at different times of the year...Please join me in asking the City of Kirkland and the pastor of this church to be clear about background checks, identifications and if they know who exactly is walking the streets and standing at bus stops with our kids.Â
City of Kirkland planner, Sean LeRoy 425-587-3260 sleroy@kirklandwa.gov
Pastor at United Methodist, Kelly Dahlman-Oeth pastorkel@hotmail.com
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A child rapist was found in the other Kirkland camp on Nov 14 AFTER background checks were done. To me, that means the checks are not being done as they had been promoted when this all started years ago. Not suprising to me. We are told over and over that crime has not increased because of the tent cities, but my deep worry is that we can do nothing UNTIL something terrible happens.
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I want the City of Kirkland and this church to have as much pressure as they we can enlist to be responsible to keeping our community safe.
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 @Harper2 I hope the more comprehensive news coverage has helped clarify that the leaders and residents of Camp Unity (currently at Lake Washington United Methodist Church) were and are committed to screening every new resident and following up with weekly checks. Â
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It was not particularly clear from the initial stories, but the suspect in the Tacoma case had not been charged prior to the initial screening at Tent City 4.  However, I believe that when the Tacoma police began looking for the man, they were able to find him precisely because TC4 had conducted the check. If anyone needs any other questions answered or information, my number at the church is 425.885.3311 ext. 12.
Dang, things are getting tough when free stuff is denied for not participating in sign making...
 @Windowseat Right!! The nerve of those SHARE guys!  : )
Having once been homeless myself and having volunteered for homeless organizations for years I have to say that SHARE drives me nuts with their political agenda and their often unwillingness to work nicely with other organizations. When I say that I'm talking about the SHARE leadership not their residents. One of the biggest gripes many of us supporters have had is their lax security (and anger at being asked to provide more) and their animosity toward so many other people/groups. More power to Camp Unity! I will look into what it takes to help support their efforts.
Step One:Â Drive around until you find the neighborhoods with the most Obama bumper stickers.
Step Two:Â Put Tent Cities in those neighborhoods.
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This will give Obama voters a chance to actually show their compassion and liberal tendencies in action rather than just prattling on and on about how superior they are.
 @Mumblix Grumph substitute "evangelical" for "obama voter" to witness some true hypocrisy.
 @unobtanium Actually, I am both an evangelical Pentecostal Christian and an Obama voter, and the church I attend is presently hosting a tent city for the third time. But then you probably would not understand Matthew 25 at all - especially verses 31 - 46.
You mean the liberal /democrats who run Tent City are forcing their "homeless residents" to take part in political protests involving homeless causes??? And if they don't do what they say, they deny them help?????????
 @Robinsnest It's not the liberal Democrats who are doing that it is the small portion of people who lead SHARE. They are a small group of people and I would describe them more as anarchists than anything else. A huge portion of us liberals who work to support people who are homeless to better themselves and pull themselves out of homelessness have had problems with SHARE for years. Maybe if you were involved with the solution to this problem instead of just bitching about liberals over the internet you would know some of this stuff.
Trouble in Activist Paradise? Say it isn't so...