Nicole Brodeur / Times staff columnist
Tent City is coming to town

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But here in King County, it means the arrival of a tent city: some 100 homeless people performing high-flying acts of survival for a community that sees them as animals and clowns, and balks at the price of a ticket.

On Monday, SHARE/WHEEL will bring Tent City 4 to county-owned fields near Bothell. This, despite the offers from two churches to host the homeless community on their properties, and despite a hail of protests from those who live near the site.

SHARE/WHEEL chose the property, adjacent to the Brickyard Road Park & Ride, because it can stay there longer than churches would allow, and because the site is larger.

But there are politics behind the move, too. For the first time, SHARE/WHEEL has secured public land to deal with a public problem.

With that, Tent City becomes a Circus of Shame. Eastside commuters will get a daily dose of guilt; regular showings of What Could Be if they took a wrong turn into the abyss of disability, joblessness or mental illness.

City dwellers get this every day, on almost any street in Seattle. It makes sense that the rest of the county gets a view of the other side.

But I can hear the calls of fear now; people worried that their kids are in danger, their housing values at risk.

Leo Rhodes, a spokesman for SHARE/WHEEL, said the outrage in Bothell was typical.

"Every place, whenever a homeless person goes there, people freak out," Rhodes said with a sigh. "We have to prove ourselves every time."

Tent City may look like hobos setting up camp, but it has actually institutionalized homelessness. Only 100 people can live there at a time. A majority of them are employed. There are rules and curfews. Break them and you're out.
 
And problems are few, Rhodes said.

"Go to any other neighborhood that Tent City has been in," he said. "You can ask them."

I did; one man told me he didn't even know that the tent city at Lake City Christian Church was just blocks from his home. And note: churches that formerly housed the tent city have invited it back.

"This isn't permanent," Rhodes said. "We're only going to have these until there is enough affordable housing for everyone."

That's a good one. Good housing is getting out of reach for an increasing number of Americans.

President Bush is seeking to cap the federal contribution to the Section 8 housing program, which provides rent subsidies to 2 million needy American families.

Locally, two winter shelters have closed — a loss of some 300 beds.

David Bloom, chairman of the Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness, said some 3,000 people in the county have no form of shelter.

"What are the alternatives?" he asked.

I couldn't think of any. And until any of us can, best to think beyond your own back yard, and watch as the big top rises in an open field near you.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists.

Quit whining and start baking.