SHARE has announced that after three nights of protesting in front of Councilmember Tim Burgess’ Queen Anne home, tonight they will be moving to sleep in front of City Council President Richard Conlin’s Madrona home. In a press release, SHARE gave credit to Councilmember Burgess for speaking openly with the group over the last three nights, and writing about his experience on his blog, and called Council President Conlin “pedantic and patronizing.” They wrote:
This evening, the homeless men and women of SHARE will be sleeping on the sidewalk outside of City Council President Conlin’s house.
Last night’s sleep out protest in front of Councilman Burgess’ home went well despite the torrential rain. Mr. Burgess is keeping the line of communication open with the people.
Councilman Burgess seems to have some trouble understanding why we refused the strings on a proposed advance from the City: They expected us to promise that we would not be closing down the shelters when we run out of money.
Our expenses in November and December (not including bus tickets) will be over $80,000. We have $14,000 in bills outstanding today. If we spent the last $50,000 from the City in October there won’t be enough to pay the bills in November and December.
Councilman Burgess called the City’s Offer a ‘Sound Financial Practice.’ How does telling people to spend their last dollars on new expenses when old expenses aren’t paid equate to ‘sound financial practices’?
Do the math….Our budget already relies on SHARE raising $30,000 in October on our own with no City help. We cannot guarantee that we would raise more than this.
At least, Mr. Burgess has been blogging about his experience with us and is willing to talk to us rationally about our bus tickets crisis.
So far all we have heard from Councilman President Conlin is a pedantic and patronizing reaction to our request for an extra $50,000 in funding. On September 28th in the Seattle Post Globe he called it “a bizarre proposal” and said that we should ask King County.
With all due respect, Mr. Conlin is bizarrely ignorant of the fact that King County Metro has been giving reduced rates on bus tickets to organizations such as SHARE and that the City has been supporting this program!!!
What’s more, METRO gave SHARE 20,000 free tickets in January and the King County Council people located in Seattle wrote to Council President Conlin in March asking for his help – bizarrely, Council President Conlin blew them off too!
Until we can afford a steady supply of bus tickets, we will “bizarrely” keep sleeping outside of these “bizarre” politicians’ houses.
There have been a lot of community reactions to SHARE since their first protest in front of Mayor Nickels’ home on Monday night. In the comments section following our story on Tuesday night’s protest and those thereafter, discussion arose over whether or not SHARE members are forced into participating in these protests. tstcman wrote,
i am a member of this so called SHARE group. its not fell will thats puts these people in this mix. it is mandated by the SHARE office THAT ALL shelter dwellers HAVE to BE INVOLVED i.e. sleep out until funds are found.
tstcman also responded to speculation over the uses of the bus tickets SHARE is fighting over, saying that at times in the past people have stolen and resold them. Name wrote,
SHARE is requiring the homeless they proclaim to serve to attend the protest. One member even reported in the comments section of a related article on the Seattle Times online that SHARE was closing their indoor shelters and shifting people over from both Tent City 3 and Tent City 4 in order to have people at Nickelsville and Burgess house.
What do you think about SHARE’s three-night protest on Queen Anne? Or their week-long camp outs that will move them to Council President Conlin’s house tonight? Comment or email us at tips@queenanneview.com.
Tonight homeless men and women from SHARE will sleep outside of City Councilman Tim Burgess’ home for the third night in a row. The group announced their plans in a press release today, saying that they will continue their protest until their “transportation crisis is over,” and dispute the claim made by many in the Seattle community that their actions are merely a “publicity stunt.” SHARE wrote,
Last night, there was a police presence at the sleepout not because of our actions (as usual our protest was quiet and peaceful) but to appease the unsubstantiated paranoia of one of Mr. Burgess’ neighbors. It is unfortunate that with the current recession and budget cuts, the City can still afford to dispatch its public servants to serve as personal body guards.
We will continue our protest until our transportation crisis is over. This is NOT a publicity stunt, but a sad truth. The bus drivers union realizes it too and has invited us to come and meet with them tonight at 8 PM at the Labor Temple to see how we could work together.
There are some in the over-privileged strata of society who naively see our actions as a theatrical extortion tactic, which shows how disconnected some people are from the harsh realities of life. Too many Americans are one paycheck away from homelessness. Without transportation, we cannot access our safe place to stay at night. We choose instead to sleep out and protest at the houses of those (the politicians) responsible for our predicament.
Unsheltered people die outside. Already this year, WHEEL/Church of Mary Magdalene Women in Black have stood for 29 homeless people who died outside or by violence. This morning we just heard of three more deaths which occurred recently, including the death by immolation of a homeless woman in Woodland Park. Next Wednesday at noon our sisters will have to stand for them too.
SHARE members have been sleeping outside houses in protest since Monday night, when Tent City 4 residents camped outside Mayor Nickels’ home. On Tuesday protesters from Tent City 3 moved Burgess’ home on Upper Queen Anne.
Councilmember Burgess shared his experience talking with the campers on Tuesday night and speaking with four of them further during his morning power walk on Wednesday on his personal blog.
We’re still waiting on a comment from a SHARE representative as to why they’ve chosen to continue their protest at this location rather than move on to the home of another politician. Meanwhile, readers have delved into conversation via comment on yesterday’s update. Many have expressed distrust in SHARE’s management, while others say this is an issue not about one organization, but about homelessness in a larger sense. Michaelkelly wrote,
In the end, SHARE/WHEEL is not the issue here. The issue is that we don’t have enough affordable housing in Seattle to meet the (growing) need. The 2009 One Night Count found 1977 people living unsheltered on the streets of Seattle. That’s a 2% increase from the year before. This is in addition to the thousands of people staying in shelters and transitional housing on any given night.
We need to provide more housing that the most vulnerable and lowest income families and individuals in Seattle can afford. VOTING YES on Prop 1, the Seattle Housing Levy, will help us to do this. The bulk of the Housing Levy will help to provide or preserve thousands of units for people earning less than 30% of the area median income ($25,300 for a family of four). It will keep people in safe, decent, and affordable housing and off of the streets.
Homeless men and women from SHARE (Seattle House and Resource Effort) camped outside of City Councilmember Tim Burgess’ Queen Anne home last night and the organization has just announced that protesters will return to his house again tonight. After camping outside of Mayor Nickels’ West Seattle home on Monday night and having the opportunity to speak face to face with Councilmember Burgess outside his home yesterday, the group said they were able to straighten out some misinformation and will return in the hopes that tonight’s repeat performance will bolster awareness even more.
In a press release sent out just after 10 a.m. this morning they wrote:
For the second night in a row, the homeless men and women of SHARE are sleeping outside of City Councilman Burgess’ house.
Last night’s sleepout protest was a far cry from Monday. First and foremost, there were no police cruisers posted outside of Mr. Burgess’ house. Apparently, the powers that be realized what a waste of taxpayers money it was to assign 6 police cars to watch people protesting peacefully. A few SHARE participants also had the opportunity to talk at length with Councilman Burgess. It seems that he was under the mistaken impression that the offer of a $50,000 advance on our regular funding was with no strings attached. He was not aware that we would have had to promise not to close down our shelters if/when that money ran out during the coldest months of the year. Mr. Burgess also told us that he would look into the matter. It seems that finally, the correct information is starting to come forward.
SHARE is a grass roots organization of poor people empowered by our system of self management. We provide more than 500 shelter beds every night in 15 indoor shelters and 2 tent cities. The City funds us only in the amount of $300,000. Meanwhile, the City spends $400,000 a year on its Roy Street shelter which only houses up to 50 people. You do the math…
The sad reality is that unsheltered people die outside. So far this year, the Women in Black stood for 29 homeless people who died outside or by violence.
Until enough affordable housing is available, interim survival mechanisms such as the SHARE shelters and Tent Cities—and also Nickelsville–are necessary.
The reality of our sleepout is that it is not political in nature. It is about survival of the poorest in our community.
But despite the organizations claim that their cause is not a political one, but rather a social issue, many disagree. One reader, SorryButNo, commented on last night’s story against the SHARE/WHEEL protests. They wrote,
They already receive $300,000 from the city, and are using this media event to extort more money from the city in a time of dire financial crises. Just say no, Seattle.
SHARE/WHEEL has long ago moved away from its mission to help the homeless, and has instead moved into political activism, at the expense of the very people it is supposed to help. They have people who have been living in tent cities for YEARS. They have become a con game, and a haven for scam artists.
Other groups are far more effective in assisting the homeless. Donate your time and sympathy to them.
According to SHARE, the group did receive $300,000 from the city for the 2009 year, money which they say ran out when the Metro bus fare went up, rendering them unable to provide around 16,000 bus tickets for their 500+ members. With protesters returning to Upper Queen Anne for the second night in a row tonight, we’d like to hear what you think. Comment or email us at tips@queenanneview.com
At around 8 p.m. last night some 40 homeless men and women set up camp outside Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess‘ Upper Queen Anne home in peaceful protest. They are members of the homeless-advocacy group SHARE/WHEEL (Seattle House and Resource Effort and Women’s Housing, Equality and Enhancement League), the same group that protested by sleeping outside Mayor Greg Nickels’ West Seattle home on Monday night as a plea for additional funding for their program.
SHARE is local non-profit that helps 500+ homeless people find housing every night at one of their 14 self-managed shelters and two Tent Cities, providing services like Metro bus passes so that members have a reliable and safe means of transportation from shelter to shelter or to and from their work every day. The organization had applied to the city for $50,000 in additional funding to support the bus tickets, but said their application “Mysteriously disappeared in the Mayor’s office and never made it in front of the City Council to be voted upon,” in a press release earlier this week. Without additional financial support SHARE said it must take “direct action” to keep the shelter program alive, and has pledged to continue their protests on a nightly basis until their “financial crisis has been solved and the solution of purchasing bus tickets is found.”
Despite the rain, participants lined up on the grass beside the sidewalk and built beds out of mats, tarps and plastic garbage bags used to cover their belongings and keep them dry through the night. Most of the protesters settled on the opposite side of the street, although a few set up in front of the homes on either side of Burgess’.
The majority of the protesters are from Tent City 3, a temporary encampment of up to 100 homeless people that began in 2000. TC3 is currently located at All Saints Episcopal Church, located at 5150 S. Cloverdale, in Rainier Beach. (Last night and tonight members of different shelters have taken turns protesting. Last night’s camp out was comprised of primarily Tent City 4 residents, which began in 2004 on the Eastside). Steve Friberg, Thomas Bolander and Darlene Kembitskey (pictured below, left to right) are all TC3 residents who were participating in last night’s camp out.
All three said that they hoped to have the opportunity to discuss the vital role bus tickets play for homeless men and women with Councilmember Burgess.
“It’s really important because a lot of people are trying to find jobs and housing and you can’t get around without it,” Bolander said.
“He said that he’d be more than happy to speak with a couple of members,” said, Friberg, who is the Camp Advisor to Tent City 3 and serves as liaison between the SHARE staff and the five TC3 committee members. According to Friberg, although the protesters were around 40 at the beginning of the night, they were anticipating the arrival of another group in the event that they were unable to find a ride to their shelters.
“We’ve approached the bus drivers as a group and asked for rides,” he said. “If the bus driver says yes, they get on the bus and ride. If the bus driver says something else, they get off the bus and call us up and we arrange a ride to get them here.”
Friberg is just one of many who can attest to the need for SHARE’s shelter program. He joined SHARE two years ago after breaking his ankle, an injury that rendered him unable to work until healed.
“If it wasn’t for Tent City, I’d be bad off. They took me in. I’m back to the point where I can work, but unfortunately I’m a carpenter, and there’s not a lot of work for carpenters right now,” he said. “Without additional funding, we won’t be able to purchase any more tickets.”
And so, with no bus passes to help him look for work, Friberg is protesting. And he is not alone. 45-year-old Irish Kelly, a native or Orlando, Fla., had a place to stay tonight, but instead he chose to weather the wind the rain with other protesters for the second time (he also participated in Monday night’s protests).
Kelly (speaking about his experience in the above video) is an activist with Food Not Bombs, an international grassroots movement that aims to feed the hungry and protest war. He has been living in Western Washington for the last four weeks. Kelly stays at one of SHARE/WHEEL’s host churches in the University District and says the accommodations are both safe and comfortable.
“We’re in by 7 [p.m.] and out by 7 [a.m.] and we leave the place exactly the way we found it,” he said. “Every day I get a bus pass to get to and from.”
Kelly said he plans on staying in SHARE shelters, if he can, until he leaves Seattle in two months. He believes so strongly in the program, he thinks the city should not only find the money to support it, but that it should be expanded to the rest of the country.
“It’s great! They don’t have this on the East Coast,” he said.
And waiting to fund SHARE with money from the 2010 budget won’t help the 500+ members who are on the streets today.
“They wanted to give us money from next year’s budget, so these people would have been out here anyway,” Kelly said.
Lantz Rowland (above, left) has been a TC3 resident for years. Unlike protest opposition who have said the camp out is invasive, he is of the mindset that a peaceful protest, where participants are making a conscious effort to call attention to their cause without disturbing the neighborhood, will help garner support.
“This isn’t about causing trouble. It’s a civil protest,” he said. “SHARE’s indoor shelters are the cheapest and most cost effective, and we’re housing more people than anybody else…It’s SHARE’s indoor shelters that we’re supporting here. At SHARE shelters we always promise that we’re going to leave the neighborhoods in the morning, and to do that the bus ticket is critical.”
The $50,000 the organization is asking for, would break down to around $100 a person, a small price worth fighting for for the hundreds of lives it improves daily.
“Share is all run by participants. The staff in SHARE can’t vote and can’t veto votes,” Rowland said, explaining that Tent City and shelter participants protest because there are very few bodies who will speak for them.
Tent City 3 will move from its current home in Rainier Beach on Saturday, October 24 to the new site across town at St. George Episcopal in Lake City. Rowland is currently organizing a Facebook campaign to gather support for housing TC3 at the University of Washington Seattle campus in the future, a push supported by student organization Students for Civic Engagement on Homelessness. And, with locations changing every 90 days, SHARE’s need for reliable transportation is only greater.
“Our budget didn’t have any fat to be cutting off,” Rowland said. “We don’t have a $120,000 a year director. The money we use goes to where we need it.”
Among the protesters present last night were three legal observers wearing bright green hats with the words “National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer” printed in large type on the front. They declined to comment, saying they were not supposed to speak with the media.
SHARE staffer Carolyn was passing out large pieces of paper that were slightly damp from the rain and markers, encouraging protesters to make signs and hold them up as cars drive by. “You could write ‘I’d rather be in my shelter tonight,’ or ‘Am I not worth $100?’ she suggested to one young woman, named Elise. When asked if she was staying the whole night, she responded “For the most part.”
In the morning, she and the other protesters will pack up and leave. According to Friberg, SHARE’s committee members, who are all democratically elected amongst the homeless community the organization serves, will meet tomorrow to decide the next course of action and if, and where, the next protest will be.
Last night some 50 homeless men and women, members of the homeless-advocacy group SHARE (Seattle House and Resource Effort) camped outside Mayor Greg Nickels’ West Seattle home in peaceful protest of the city’s denial of funding for bus passes used to get from shelter to shelter. (See the West Seattle Blog coverage here). Tonight they’ll be bunking down on top of the hill, in front of Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess‘ home starting at 8 p.m.
The video above is from the West Seattle Blog’s coverage of last night’s protest outside Mayor Nickels’ home.
SHARE, a grassroots organization, helps 400-500 homeless people organize together and find housing each night at one of their 14 self-managed shelters and two Tent Cities. In a press release sent out prior to last night’s protest, the organization explained that last year they submitted a request for additional funding from the City for bus tickets for their members so that they could travel between shelters, service organizations and tent cities safely. On September 22, their bus fare money ran out. Here is what they wrote:
A year ago, SHARE, a grassroots sheltering and organizing effort of homeless people, submitted a green sheet asking for additional funding from the City. Our green sheet mysteriously disappeared in the Mayor’s office and never made it in front of the City Council to be voted upon!
The politicians failed to heed SHARE’s pleas for an additional $50,000 in funding to keep 500 men and women going to and from their shelters with bus tickets. This is only $100 per person and shows the overt contempt the City Officials have for homeless people.
Our elected officials are inept in more ways than one especially when it comes to practicing the three tenets of good government (Justice, Compassion, Common Sense). They are more likely to respond to corporate pleas for bailouts than to the needs of the poor.
$50,000 is a ridiculously low amount of money for a City which wastes millions of dollars on a useless computer tracking survey and is wasting 1.6 Million bailing out an underused and useless light rail.
Apparently our leaders are more interested in monitoring homeless people’s activities than in keeping them together and safe at low cost.
Our shelters cost less than 3 dollars a night compared to the City “sweeps” shelter which costs over 21 dollars a night
Having been ignored, this leaves us with no other choice but to close down our shelters due to lack of transportation and sleep outside of the Mayor’s and the City Council members’ houses.
All we can say is SHAME!!!
(206) 448-7889
According to SHARE, all neighborhood bus shelters except one got to their safe places without a bus ticket, due to the kindness of city bus drivers. (The organization is keeping a tally of member riders who are given transport to their shelters without bus tickets so that they may reimburse METRO as soon as funds are available). Those who cannot get to their shelters will spend the night outside Councilmember Burgess’ home.
The protests were planned at a SHARE meeting on Monday morning (see Seattle Post Globe coverage here), in an attempt to take direct action and alleviate homelessness in Seattle.
Queen Anne View will be covering the protest tonight, so check back for updates.
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