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Year-Round Calling Many Americans enjoyed Thanksgiving with friends and family. But on Thursday, I followed multiple FAITH based groups and volunteers for one of their busiest days of the year in #Seattle, trying to help homeless by offering more than a meal. All In a Day Yes, I shot in less than two hours on Thanksgiving day. These encampments are nearby in SODO and Pioneer Sq, including problematic spot near #Seattle City Hall. @MayorofSeattle has done at least 10 sweeps here this year. Many are “trap tents” used for drugs. Happening Now Monday morning “blues” in downtown #Seattle as people smoke fentanyl. @MayorofSeattle w/probably dozen sweeps this year on 3rd Ave near City Hall. Many here say they are not Read More ›

Two weeks ago I wrote about English homeless policy during the century before the Pilgrims voyaged to America. Here’s a little more examination of what we can learn from that period, starting in 1531 with the way Sir Thomas Elyot, an English diplomat, peered at homeless people through a coach window. Elyot reacted like some of us respond to those holding at spotlights signs requesting cash: He called them “beasts brute and savage.” Pamphleteer Philip Stubbes countered with a compassionate approach: “God commandeth in his law that there be no miserable poor man, nor begger amongest us, but that everyone be provided for and maintained of that abundance which God hath blessed us withal.” Stubbes scoffed at the stingy: “We Read More ›

Squatter City #Seattle‘s Wallingford neighborhood has 5 houses on same street w/homeless people staying w/out permission. Many are breaking in from @WSDOT‘s Ship Canal Encampment. Once again @weheartseattle is back trying to help. Dropping FULL STORY this week. Following Up @KC_RHA says outreach workers are checking in on campers at @WSDOT‘s Ship Canal encampment. But right now, even the house squatters say @weheartseattle volunteers are only ones trying to help them find other options. Update Saturday morning, neighbors in Wallingford say SQUATTERS from @WSDOT‘s Ship Canal Bridge encampment started a fire inside a house on 5th Ave NE. Today, the squatters came back. But neighbors MOBILIZED and had a message for them. Now the house is boarded up. Saturday’s Fire Read More ›

Ballard Problems RV’s removed months ago on NW Leary near @JackBox are back. Encampment next to @albertlee1939 on 8th Ave NW is blamed for fires as homeless try to stay warm. And multiple tents popping up elsewhere. Gonna be LONG WINTER. Blocks and Planters Making a Difference I understand this is a CONTROVERSIAL method to keep RV’s away. But streets near Fremont Brewing are now pretty clear. And look at those new metal planter boxes going in near Camco Electric.

Exclusive Look at this inferno at homeless encampment Friday on Jackson Park Perimeter Trail. This is right next to Greentree Village Condos in #Seattle. Listen to neighbor’s frustration on 911 call. @SeattleFire once again saves day. On Going Problems Last summer, my series HIDDEN CRISIS IN THE WOODS showed numerous homeless encampments along Jackson Park Trail. But neighbors say city continues to ignore them.