Tent City Tries to Prove Its No Haunted House

by Indy · 2010-11-01 11:10:00 UTC
Topics:

Although the city of Seattle has mapped out seven potential permanent sites for the self-sustaining tent city of Nickelsville, residents, or "Nickelodeons," are very well aware of the discrimination that local homeless people face every day.

Fear tends to be the emotion expressed the loudest, as neighbors cry out "not in my backyard!" at the thought of tents popping up next to their pools. In an effort to address this issue, Nickelsville held a Halloween Open House on the afternoon of Halloween. The event included a tour and one-on-one chats with residents to help future neighbors quell their fears of the unknown by getting to know the tent-dwellers.

Nickelodeons understand that no matter which site is chosen, someone will be upset. What better time than now to ask friends and supporters to educate those who have misplaced fears about Nickelsville? They can tell people, for instance, that a Nickelsville resident has never caused harm to a neighbor, no matter where the regularly moving Nickelsville was located. Other neighbors have quickly learned that campers are quiet and pose no threats. The only thing Nickelodeons are asking for is to be given a chance. An open letter and invitation to attend Nickelsville's Halloween Open House tells neighbors to "be there or be scared."

Due to the fast-approaching move date of November 15th, it is hoped that Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith will meet with Nickelsville leaders soon to settle on a permanent location. But opposition has already begun to rear its ugly head. One potential neighbor said, "It's not my fault they're homeless. They shouldn't be impacting my property value." Another man considers the sight of tent cities to be a "blight" and, although he recognizes that homeless people need help, he doesn't want to be the one to do it.

Nickelsville is waiting for the City Council's review even though Mayor Mike McGinn has already shown his support for a permanent site. For now, all the very non-scary Nickelodeons can do is wait. Tell Seattle to settle on a permanent location for Nickelsville!

Photo credit: Indy

Indy is a single mother of two, working on a degree and occasionally teaching herself how to repair cars. She has been homeless since 2004.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Teach Mom to Read and the Kids Will Follow
NEXT STORY:
Is the NCAA Putting Student Athletes at Risk?

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.