By Tracy Record

West Seattle Blog editor

On the way to today’s Camp Second Chance Community Advisory Committee, we were in an Arrowhead Gardens elevator with former camp resident Zsa Zsa, who remarked that she’d just visited C2C and noticed a lot of new faces – because others had exited to housing, as had she.

How many? At the meeting, the city-sanctioned camp’s manager/co-founder Eric Davis announced the latest numbers:

-53 residents (16 women, 37 men)

-All 50 “tiny houses” built, no more tents

-5 more people placed in housing in July, with help of new LIHI case manager Billie Jean Hendricks

-New security shack provided by LIHI

-New kitchen on the way

-One 911 call in July (“medical reasons”) from the camp

He also had gratitude for help from organizations and other donors, from local churches to “even Bobby Wagner from the Seahawks.”

EXTENSION/RENEWAL? Committee chair Willow Fulton said the city wants to have meetings next month as part of the extension/renewal process. She said the city asked if they wanted to incorporate a community meeting into a CAC meeting or have a separate meeting. She said the CAC asked for the latter, and they want it held at the nearby Joint Training Facility, no date yet but likely “early to mid-September,” which would be close to the end of the six-month extension the city announced in March. With a community meeting expected, the CAC likely won’t meet next month, Fulton said. If you have comments about the renewal in the meantime, said city Human Services Department rep Shawn Neal, email homelessness@seattle.gov

OTHER REPORTS: CAC member Grace Stiller followed up on last month’s report of possible noxious weeds in the area. She said one stand of poison hemlock was found and has to be removed – that might already have happened. She expressed gratitude for the responsiveness of the King County Noxious Weed Program. She’s visited the camp and says it “looks great.”

CAC member Aaron Garcia expressed concern about the plans for greenbelt areas near the camp, including the space across the street that was cleared last fall but which, as noted at last month’s CAC meeting, has seen some new unauthorized camping. Are there plans to activate the space? Regular visits by the Navigation Team? Recurring trouble in that area “takes so much air out of the success of Camp Second Chance,” Garcia observed. Neal promised to share that feedback with others at the city (for which he was the lone rep again this month). A community member agreed that the problems outside the camp tend to color community discussion of the camp, even though C2C has no control over what happens outside its gate.

Garcia also had some community notes: Friday, August 9th, 3-6 pm, school supplies, food, entertainment at Greenbridge Plaza, and Saturday, August 10th, Cine en el Parque (Spanish with English subtitles), “Spider-Man,” at Dick Thurnau Memorial Park. The White Center Community Development Association, for which he works, continues to plan the 8th/108th affordable-housing project, which requires a Comprehensive Plan Amendment; another community meeting will be coming up regarding that, he said, but no date yet. Though “people don’t want to come and talk about zoning,” it’s “important that we get our communities out there and have our voices heard,” he said.

NEARBY: Chair Fulton, who lives near the camp, said she’d reported some dumping elsewhere on Myers Way via Find It, Fix It and it had been cleaned up. She also noted an incident last month with a fire call to the Myers Way Parcels in the evening and then an injured person found later. And she observed that fencing placed on the roadside many months ago to deter illegal parking and dumping has been effective but is also forcing some pedestrians to walk in the street when going to and from the transit center that’s adjacent to Arrowhead Gardens.

Maybe some other form of barrier? “What’s there now is a really unsafe situation for people who need to use the transit center,” she said. It’s also an aesthetic problem too, she noted.

Garcia said that dovetailed with his concerns about activating the greenspaces – a more holistic look at “fix(ing) Myers Way,” maybe with the city and state working together.

COMMUNITY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS: Zsa Zsa took the mic and said that “because of Camp Second Chance I got a second chance to move forward in my life.” She’s now living in Kent. But the camp is a vital place to “get people off the street” and offering “stability” in many ways – even an address at which people can receive mail. She’s also trying to give back by serving on advisory councils, including one related to health care for homeless people.

The Camp Second Chance Community Advisory Committee meets first Sundays most months, 2 pm at Arrowhead Gardens (9200 2nd SW). As mentioned above, a September meeting is not likely because of the expected community meeting on renewing the camp’s permit.