Residents of one Seattle neighborhood are furious vagrants living in an encampment have been spending summer days installing a blow-up pool to enjoy between hits of fentanyl.
Highland Park homeowners – many who are elderly – say the addition of a pool in the area feels like a slap in the face after months of voicing their concerns.
Video captured by KOMO in the Seattle neighborhood shows one woman sitting on a couch next to the pool and smoking fentanyl in broad daylight.
‘These people come in and totally trash the place. Someone told me they hooked up a hose and filled a swimming pool with it,’ said Herb Egge, who lives nearby.
Egge and other residents of a senior living facility across from the encampment say they fear they are going to get shot or robbed by one of the homeless individuals.
The encampment witnessed a recent murder, but officials in the crime-ridden city are dragging their heels with removing it, despite outrage from law-abiding taxpayers living nearby.
‘When I hear the shooting, I stay down and away from the windows,’ said Cheryl Galyeam. ‘There are times I’ve had to get on the floor in the middle of the night.
Residents of one Seattle neighborhood are furious vagrants living in an encampment have been spending summer days installing blow-up pools and smoking fentanyl
Video captured by KOMO in the Seattle neighborhood shows one woman sitting on a couch next to the pool and smoking fentanyl in broad daylight
‘I thought, “oh my God, what next?”‘ said Cheryl Galyeam (pictured) in reference to the pool
Residents say they are unsure where the pool came from or how it became filled with water.
The logistics don’t matter to the residents who are sharing their concerns – and anger – over the camp growing along SR 509 and Myers Way.
‘All of this is ludicrous,’ said Egge.
‘I thought, “oh my God, what next?”‘ said Galyeam in reference to the pool.
At first, they said it was just a few RVs. Now, the number is over a dozen.
‘And they ain’t paying nothing and stuff like that, but we’ve got to pay to live here,’ said another angry neighbor.
Since the camp started, Egge said his own vehicle has been broken into multiple times and that someone even drilled into his gas tank.
‘I never dreamed I would have to worry about things like this when I was 72, but times have changed,’ the man told KOMO News.
‘As elderly people, especially, we should not have to worry about our possessions or our lives,’ he continued.
Highland Park homeowners – many who are elderly – say the addition of a pool in the area feels like a slap in the face after months of voicing their concerns
‘These people come in and totally trash the place. Someone told me they hooked up a hose and filled a swimming pool with it,’ said Herb Egge (pictured)
At first, they said it was just a few RVs. Now, the number is over a dozen
The residents added that many of the elderly individuals regularly hear gunfire coming from the encampment and keep their curtains closed constantly.
‘It’s not safe,’ Galyeam said.
The fears have only grown since May when a man was killed at the encampment.
‘We thought, ‘Oh wow, there’s been a homicide there. They are going to give us some attention now.’ They didn’t,’ said Diane Radischat, who lives at Arrowhead Gardens.
‘We want the solutions, and we know what the problems are. When you’ve had the same problem repeatedly in different locations, you know what needs to be done.’
Talking with KING 5 in May, Radischat said that she and the others in the complex do care about the homeless crisis and that both concerns can exist at the same time.
‘We have as much concern for their safety and their welfare as we have for our own,’ she said.
‘We’re criticizing the situation. We’re not criticizing the humans. Those are two different things,’ the resident clarified.
The residents added that many of the elderly individuals regularly hear gunfire coming from the encampment and keep their curtains closed constantly
In a letter shared with KOMO by Radischat, the Seattle Mayor’s Office said they are working on plans to address the encampment.
The efforts require the cooperation of the Washington State Department of Transportation and the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
‘We recognize that this has been a long and often frustrating process for residents at Arrowhead Gardens, and we are pleased that we are moving closer to a site resolution,’ the letter read.
‘The Unified Care Team is also discussing with WSDOT possible short-term activation strategies following site resolution to help prevent repopulation,’ it continued.
The residents’ concerns come amid the area’s ongoing homeless and drug crises.
In June, a blaze tore through two tents in the encampment after a man using a fire pit left his tent unattended
Seattle: one man can be seen here openly using a hypodermic needle as he lays on the sidewalk
In early July, DailyMail.com reported that a July 4 parade had to be re-routed to avoid a fentanyl-riddled homeless encampment for ‘everyone’s safety’
In early July, DailyMail.com reported that a July 4 parade had to be re-routed to avoid a fentanyl-riddled homeless encampment for ‘everyone’s safety.’
The parade in Burien, just south of Seattle, was altered to avoid a homeless encampment of up to 20 tents, according to local media.
Like the residents of Highland Park, Burien cannot remove the encampment due to bureaucracy surrounding the process.
Some business owners in the city also told local outlets that they have lost customers because they did not feel ‘safe’ anymore.
Last month, the Seattle City Council voted not to pass legislation that would have allowed the City Attorney’s Office to prosecute public drug use cases.
The move would have brought Seattle into compliance with the state’s new drug possession law, which makes the crime a gross misdemeanor.
Afterward, photos emerged showing homeless people openly abusing drugs on the streets of the city within hours.
In one, a man can be seen using a hypodermic needle to inject drugs into his hand while propped outside a liquor store.
The council bill failed to pass in a 5-4 vote with councilmembers Alex Pedersen, Sara Nelson, Debora Juarez and Dan Strauss voting in favor of the bill.
