The city of Seattle continues to put pressure on the homeless campers of Nickelsville to move again, but organizers say they're not budging from their parking lot at University Christian Church -- at least, not now.
On Oct. 17, the city's Department of Planning and Development issued two letters of notice regarding Nickelsville. In one, to shelter operator SHARE, the city cited the terms of a 2003 settlement that states only one SHARE tent city is allowed in Seattle at a time, and SHARE's Tent City 3 currently occupies land owned by Haller Lake Methodist Church. Though Nickelsville was organized by Veterans for Peace, not SHARE, the letter gave the nonprofit two days to close one of the sites or face eviction.
The other letter of notice -- to University Christian Church -- gives the church until Oct. 31 to make Nickelsville and its pink tents move or face city fines. Nickelsville residents plan to take advantage of the longer deadline to combine the two camps by moving Tent City 3 to Nickelsville's University District site.
Since its creation in the wee hours of Sept. 22, when Nickelodeons pitched tents at a city-owned field in south Seattle, the camp has moved three times -- to a nearby parking lot, to Discovery Park, and to the church parking lot.