22 arrested in police sweep of Nickelsville homeless camp

Seattle police today arrested 22 people for trespassing during an hourlong, peaceful sweep of Nickelsville, the illegal homeless camp that was set up on city property before dawn Monday.

The two dozen officers didn't handcuff those arrested, but simply led them away. Some of the cops were from the bike patrol, and came in their cycling shorts.

Before the sweep, the homeless moved about 40 of their fuchsia-colored tents to a state-owned parking lot adjoining the city-owned property at West Marginal Way Southwest and Highland Park Way Southwest.

Ron Judd, senior adviser to Gov. Christine Gregoire, had driven from Olympia to Nickelsville. He said he and the Church Council of Greater Seattle reached an agreement with the city for the homeless to stay in the parking lot until Wednesday.

Judd said he hoped the extra time would allow for some kind of resolution.

He said that after Wednesday, "the city has the right to come in."

Police spokesman Mark Jamieson said those arrested would be interviewed at the Southwest Precinct and released unless they had outstanding warrants.

The first person arrested, around 1:20 p.m., was Nickelsville spokeswoman Anitra Freeman.

Before the arrest, she showed a $1 bill she was carrying.

"That's in case I have to catch a bus," she said.

City outreach workers walked through the encampment offering the inhabitants shelter elsewhere, and 14 took them up on the offer.

On Thursday evening, about 200 of the homeless and volunteers milled around. Some, like volunteer Joe Taylor, 23, who's just starting work on his master's degree in engineering at the University of Washington, became de-facto foremen. Taylor led a group of men putting together a small camp administrative office using two-by-fours and wood from pallets.

He said he knew the structure might only last a day.

"I kind of designed it to be taken down," said Taylor.

Some of the volunteers, such as Lindsay Andersen, 25, a program assistant at the Alzheimer's Association in Seattle, had to learn on the job how to use a hammer or a pry bar to pull apart a pallet.

Andersen is 5-foot-2 and weighs 120 pounds. "My arms aren't very strong," she said.

If the cops arrived, she said, "I'm bailing" — jail time doesn't look good on a résumé.

This morning, Deatri Williamson, one of the homeless who was camping there with her husband, George Kimball Williamson, stood alongside the arterial street near the camp with a homemade sign that said, "Honk if you're with us."

Maybe one in 10 of the cars and heavy trucks driving by in this industrial area responded.

Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com