SEATTLE — The City of Seattle’s Unified Care Team has started clearing an encampment in north Beacon Hill less than a week after a man was shot and killed.
It's a stretch of road near 25th Avenue South and South McClellan Street that many neighbors have long called dangerous.
Marine Kleven and Joyce Mork-O’Brien are just two of many neighborhoods that have lobbied the city to do something about the encampment in their neighborhood.
“It’s heartbreaking but in a way that is so difficult to manage. We’ve been talking about the situation for several months now,” Kleven said. “I feel very strongly that we all deserve to feel safe and that I also feel that we should be able to live in peace with each other but not at the expense of safety."
They’ve called police for everything from drug use in public to lewd acts and cars blocking the roadway – but they said it’s likely it wasn’t their complaints that motivated the city.
“I’m also still angry that it took so long for anything to happen, and I really believe the only reason it did happen is because a man was murdered on Friday,” Mork-O’Brien said.
Seattle police said a 39-year-old man died Monday after the weekend shooting – days later, several notices were posted in the area warning of a looming eviction.
In a written statement the mayor’s office called the encampment a “threat to public safety,” that outreach workers are engaging with individuals living onsite to connect them with “available shelter offerings,” and added that the work is expected to last several days.
Neighbors are left to wonder how long the clear street will last.
“Well, part of it is a sense of relief that it’s finally going to be over I don’t have any confidence that they won’t come back or some group won’t come back,” Mork-O’Brien said.