Real Stories: Meet James
Published June 21, 2009 @ 01:13PM PT
Seattle's homeless encampment (dubbed "Nickelsville" after Seattle's mayor) is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Sure, it's a tent city. But it is also a community in every sense of the word. But, unlike most communities, Nickelsville is at the mercy of the city of Seattle. Already this year, Nickelsville has been bulldozed seven times and forced to relocate. When I was there, they had been in the same location for ten days straight (a record). At their last location, they were only there four days before being forced to move.
If you think it's hard to remain cheerful when you're constantly being uprooted, you're right. Which is why I found James so interesting. When I met him, he was building a kitchen table out of shipping pallets. Although he moved here from Jackson, Mississippi looking for work, James was still unemployed when we spoke. If not for Nickelsville, he believes he'd be up living under a bridge.
I am so happy to tell you that James did find work the day after this video was filmed. He found a job working as a forklift operator (and he didn't even have to move to Alaska... you'll have to watch video to smooth that one out!).
This is just the first in a series of interview with residents of Nickelsville. If you'd like to learn more about the this tent city community, take a look at this whrrl story.
James from InvisiblePeople.tv on Vimeo.
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Comments (1)
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Author
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Sixteen years ago, Mark Horvath was homeless on the streets of Hollywood. Today, he works in marketing/communications and is an activist for the homeless. He vlogs at invisiblepeople.tv and blogs at hardlynormal.com.
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Congrats James, on finding work! I know that's a hard thing when down and out, particularly to the point of homelessness.
Has this blog ever made mention of why Nicklesville is called Nicklesville? It's a backhanded tribute to the city's lack of services to the truly poor who really NEED housing assistance (like how the recent housing levy passed by unanimous vote, to raise $104 million - at least 60% of which must be spent on units for those making at or below 30% of our area's media income but the remaining 40% can be used to help families making more, including 10% to help families that in theory should be able to rent median price apartments without help as based on how their income matches median rents) and those who already ARE homeless and who can't find shelters because this city doesn't have nearly enough shelter space (plus many of the shelters are cruel and inhumane as far as the "services" they provide). The Mayor, and many on the City Council, continue to insist that services are adequate, that funding isn't a problem, they under count how many need services, etc. and have gone as far as insisting that this is a "political" thing to call it Nickelesville with some people even saying that the advocates who are helping Nicklesville operate are "using" the homeless as "tools" or "weapons".
But where ARE the people supposed to live? They can't live anywhere else in Seattle - Nickles and the City Government have actively seen to that - if you don't get shelter space, your stuff has a tendency to disappear without notice or for you to be arrested. I'd have to say this was a rather fair response.
Posted by Danetta Amschler on 06/23/2009 @ 09:30AM PT
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