The Seattle Times has details of how the King County Health reports CHS examined Friday may lead to the expulsion of the Occupy Seattle camp from the Seattle Central Community College campus at Broadway and Pine.
The Times reports that the State Attorney General’s office has drafted an emergency rule that would create a 120-day window for removing the camp from SCCC:
A draft of an emergency rule prepared for the state says the college needs to take action because of unsafe conditions at the encampment, including syringes and needles on the ground, drug and alcohol use, lack of hygiene facilities and other risk factors near the college child-care center.
“This overcrowded and unsanitary camp requires these emergency rules to protect the public health, safety and general welfare of the college community and the inhabitants of Occupy Seattle,” says the draft.
Last week, CHS reported that the college was consulting with the AG about a solution to remove the camp amid growing concerns about its condition and its impact to the campus.
Occupy Seattle has said the college’s allegations about costs and unsafe conditions associated with the camp are false. “We are committed to being respectful of the school and the community and look forward to continuing what we thought was a good working relationship to address all concerns,” read an Occupy statement released last week.
I really think they need to start setting up camp in Olympia where the politicians are.
Emergency rule? And so it begins, society…
What impact will it have if this is broken up? The only people who even know this gaggle of 80 people are still having a camp-out on the front lawn of a community college are a few hipsters and readers of CHS. I’m sure the regional VP of BoA down on Third Avenue has never once, and probably never will, see them, nor will 99%+ of the 3 million people in the metro area.
There are plenty of designated Department of Parks campgrounds in King County they could move to if they just want to have a camp-out which, at this point, is really all this is about.
The childcare center won’t even be on campus in 120 days, so it is interesting if the school is using this as a rally cry against the Occupy camp.
Yes, I agree that things like needles and drug use need to be dealt with, and that the area around the outdoor childcare space needs to be kept clean & clear & safe at all times. Absolutely. And as a parent of a kid who goes to that center, I plan on talking with people at the camp about that, to learn what they are doing and what can be done.
But please, don’t use my kid as some emotionally-charged push to get those people evicted, especially when the school president has such a blatant disregard for the 30-year old childcare care center, the students and families and kids who use the facility, the childcare staff, and sustaining a long-standing community resource.
I don’t think anyone is changing any BoA executive’s mind about anything.
On the other hand, a high percentage of Seattle residents in their 20’s–the ones who will be voting, paying taxes, starting families and small businesses in the next few years–will pass through the Pine and Broadway intersection at some point while that camp is there. Many of those people and their peers attend classes at SCCC and SU, and the camp’s visibility has provoked some fair bit of thoughtful discussion among the people who are most open to changing their minds about the status quo.
I thought I was going to hate the camp moving to SCCC, but I have to say, I’m impressed with the way the protestors have handled themselves (drunken, homeless hangers-on notwithstanding) and it’s difficult to find fault with the move.
Vote for who? Obama? The guy who took $1 million in Citi contributions in 2008 and is on-par to surpass that in 2012? Stop kidding yourself, they were all going to vote for him anyway.
I wasn’t talking about a presidential election, specifically. Politicians at every level fall all over themselves to pander to what they think is the prevailing sentiment among voters. If taking money from big banks is seen as a bad thing, then neither side will be so eager to accept it.
lmao okay, hon
Doncha love the new national obsession with neatness and cleanliness? It’s spreading like wildfire, much like Occupy.
In fact, our new found fastidiousness is spreading EXACTLY like Occupy, with the hygienic hue and cry singularly directed at Occupy sites nearly as soon as they set up their tents.
Thanks to Occupy, not only is cleanliness now *greater* than godliness, it also trumps the First Amendment.
The rest of Broadway may be strewn with garbage and dog shit, but that little park at SCCC is gonna be spotless, mister. Think of the children!
… personal hygiene is a problem.
What the hell does that mean as an interest of Public health? I can agree totally about food handling, but the rest is blather.
Each time I have been there, people were cleaning, talking and inter acting, the food was good, so what is the rub?
SCCC is afraid of conservatives on C. Hill – amazing.
Among all the rah rah about needles, I live and work on the Hill, and have yet to find a needle. I guess I have missed something. How about a needle exchange on the corner couple of hours a day …. Health dept, I call your bluff.
For most elections, 20-somethings have a very low voter turnout. Instead of participating in our democracy by getting informed and voting, or even by getting involved in individual campaigns, some of them prefer to do useless things like camping at a community college. They would rather whine and complain, instead of doing the hard work that results in real change.
It’s a real exaggeration to say that Broadway is “strewn with garbage and dog shit.” I have lived one block off Broadway for 30 years and it has never been cleaner…thanks in part to the BIA, which employs Cleanscapes to keep it that way.
And what exactly is wrong with a clean and safe city? Do you prefer dirty and dangerous?
I was curious about this scene so I walked by last night. What a blight. No wonder the state and city are sighting cleanliness ordinances. Time to shut this down. Move along.
Don’t buy the BS. They want Occupy out ONLY because of the political message. The banksters won’t give them their campaign contributions of they don’t apply the fascism. It’s that simple. Fight back. Fight corruption. Fight the power.
God, you people act like we don’t mean it. Got news for you, bad guys!
Boycott broadway and anyone associated with the BIA ro the chamber. They only care about there % they collect from 75% of capitol hill for “protection”.
Thank God the Governor is directing the state to take care of this situation. McGinn clearly doesn’t give a shit about the true citizens of seattle. This homeless camp has got to go.
After 20 years as a business owner, I think I’ve been fortunate to have never attempted to join a chamber. Everything I’ve ever heard has been negative. However, my business model does not require anything they offer.
Social movements provide clarity. It’s clarifying to learn that all the so-called “liberals” and “progressives” that live in Seattle are actually closet conservatives. I can respect conservatives. At least they’re up front about how shit-headed they are. The faux libs and progressives, on the hand, are cowards.
A line is drawn in the sand the good little Nazis, er, Democrats on Capitol Hill scurry to hide behind the police.
I gotta say a big FUCK YOU to jseattle for using this blog to attack the Occupy Movement in the same way as the corporate media is. First, to discuss Occupy Seattle outside of the context of this growing national and international movement is to lie. To mention concerns about “health and safety” without mentioning these same tactics being used against protesters around the country is to lie.
Yo, JSeattle, grow a pair. Instead of sucking the dicks of important people just to get quotes, why don’t you report from the perspective of the 99%. If we want to know what so and so person with a title thinks, we can go to any of the hundreds of websites and get their corporate news. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but people on Capitol Hill are suffering. People are losing their jobs, or they’ve been looking for a job for a long time. People are sick and can’t afford to get treatment. People can’t go to school.
I notice there’s nothing on this blog about DEMOCRAT Ross Hunter’s work to make sure Microsoft continues to pay NO taxes in Washington. You may not agree, but you are definitely a mouthpiece for the 1%.
Mario Savio on the operation of the machine
There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!
You silly little troll.
Thanks j, for running this blog. It is a great source for neighborhood news. Must take a crapload of work to do also.
Your post makes me think of the time a progressive (or whatever liberals who are too scared to use the word call themselves) told me I was going to hell for voting for Nader. Really? Hell for voting?
Humans are social animals. To thrive we need each other. That means coalitions. That means other people may not agree with you in total. Deal with it.
Two things can be equally true. Wall Street may be a problem. You may be a fucking joke. Organize. Vote.
But for whatever supreme being is in charge’s sake, quit acting like you are doing one tiny thing to help effect change. Making the conversation “I wish those people who shit on the sidewalk and feel strongly about the banks in a way that isn’t immediately evident to me or evidently them” isn’t “people are now discussing the corrupting power of the financial sector.” And if you were paying attention, you’d know and accept this.
And please, go camp in Magnolia. See how your stunts play over there instead of around us “armchair liberals” or whatever you want to call the citizens of the hill who are too busy to playact with you.
I support and agree with the OWS movement… That being said, Seattlites have a funny way of throwing their hands in the air over something they want to belive in. It’s the path of least resistance. You want to support OWS, why set up camp on CapHill? Why set up on the lawn of one of the most diverse community colleges in Washington (or country)? Way to fight the man! Seattle has the big three bulldogs at its disposal to get rid of things it doesn’t like/want around any longer. The police. The liquor control board. The Health department. Between these three, the city gets what it wants. Knowing this, why isn’t the encampment really taking the fight to the 1% instead of the backyard of the 99%? Path of least resistance is why.
Have you ever even set foot in Occupy, Calhoun? I rather doubt it, because there is nothing dirty about the place. Or dangerous. except to the 1%.
This fixation on the “dirty” Occupy sites seems more and more like what psychologists refer to as “projection.” (Look it up.)
And regarding the condition of Broadway in general, it’s certainly more pleasant since our brief late summer dry spell ended and the rains have returned. But back in September, during a walk through a particularly odorous Capitol Hill, my wife and I decided that an appropriate motto for the neighborhood would be, “Please ignore the urine smell.” That was before Occupy began.
Sadly quite true, Valdemort.
Before I shopped at the Sunday Farmer’s Market, I observed a large pile of trash bags (about 20, or more) next to the public trash can on the south side of the camp, just east of the bus station.
So, it appears that OS expects the city to take care of their significant amounts of trash. Their “Good Neighbor Agreement” is a joke. The least they can do is haul their own trash to the transfer station.
Blarg,
Let’s be very clear here. Occupy Seattle DOES NOT represent the 99%.
Garbage collection is a RIGHT not a privledge Calhoun. Don’t you know this by now? Ocuupy Seattle seems to think this stuff happens by magic and ‘agreements’.
Or somewhere actually remotely near the financial district. Occupy WALL STREET – of which the SCCC campus is nowhere near Seattle’s. Neither is occupying Westlake btw. Neither is blocking traffic and bridges that the rest of the 99% who work need to use.
“Central District News is reporting on Occupy Seattle’s claim that a group has taken over an empty duplex they say is “abandoned” at 23rd and Alder across the street from Garfield High School.”
Can they do one thing that makes them look like activists and not transients?
Dude please, you’ve been grasping at straws for weeks, but this statement is just absurd.
Here is a hot news story off of the presses: people don’t want to live in trash. When a bunch of homeless people move into your neighborhood and shit all over the place, it tends to cultivate a big frowny face from the people who pay to live in the area. This is not an emerging trend and it will be around long after the “occupiers” have found a new place to shoot up and pass out.
And don’t you find it interesting that Pres. Killpatrick has been able to come up with more than $20,000 PER WEEK to deal with Occupy, but wasn’t able to come up with that money to help save the child care center?
It is true that the school really does not care about the children or they would have set rules about the Occupy space in regards to the childcare center BEFORE Occupy moved in. Obviously, the safety of the children was not a part of any decision here.
That said, I would love it if OS could get their stuff together without anybody telling them to do so and make the outdoor child care space safe.
I would be much happier with the Occupiers if they would stop claiming to represent me. I am offended every time you refer to yourself as the 99%. If you represented me you would be in Washington DC and actually making a difference. Instead you are at my school wasting it’s time and resources.
…SCCC never seemed to be all that concerned with the alcoholics and needle-users who’ve been frequenting that location – LITERALLY FOR DECADES – but, because OS has been camped out there for three weeks, all of a sudden NOW it’s a problem?
Riiiiigggggghhhhhhttttt.
120 needle-users at one time is a problem…
Ug… I agree.
Don’t they realize that there are real problems that need to be fixed in this country, that Congress is broken, we’re about to get our credit rating downgraded again, and unemployment remains high? The majority of Occupy Seattle that we’re seeing at SCCC doesn’t care about that – it’s more about camp life, setting up camp, defending camp, finding a new place for camp. Just because the Occupy movement seeks economic justice, doesn’t mean you get to stop paying rent and live in a park. Closing bridges, getting arrested in banks – totally pointless. You know what movement actually had some traction last month? The “Bank Transfer Day” movement…. that got the attention of Bank CEOs and the general public. Figuring out if you can squat in an abandoned building is not scaring anyone, and shutting down traffic is just pissing people off.
Why don’t you all go home, and figure out a way to make this movement last for the next 6 years so there is a possibility some real change might be made. God Damn this is so frustrating because our federal government is so messed up and this is such a missed opportunity.
We, as homeowners, renters, or tuition paying students pay for the trash to be removed up to a certain amount. All the excess amount is incurring an additional fee. Are these homeless people paying for it at that location or just expecting us, the 98%, to pay for it??? Why didn’t they rent a dumpster as SCCC told them to? They are hurting the people they say they are helping. All that excess trash is attracting rodents, which in turn brings disease!!!