State gives Nickelsville 72 hours to get out, after Seattle threatens fines (updated)

People find a dry place to have breakfast at a state DOT lot where they've set up Nickelsville. (Photo: Elliot Stoller/indymedia)

The state's transportation department has given Nickelsville – the homeless encampment set up as a protest against its belief Seattle is not doing enough to house them – until 7 p.m. Thursday to move, after Seattle threatened them with fines.

According to a notice posted at the encampment on a vacant South Seattle lot owned by the state Department of Transportation, the homeless residents have 72 hours to clear out their personal belongings.

Earlier on Monday, the city's Department of Planning and Development posted its own notice threatening to fine the state $150 a day for 10 days and $500 a day thereafter for allowing an illegal encampment.

Bruce Deavers, one of Nickelsville’s residents, said Monday evening a representative from the state said the encampment's beef was with the city and said the 72-hour time limit allowed the homeless to open a dialogue with the city.

Alex Fryer, a spokesman for Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, said the state could petition the city for a permit, thus throwing the ball back into the state's court.

Deaver said he didn't know what the residents would do. Nickelsville has contacted property owners looking for a permanent place to go. "Maybe someone will come forward in the next 72 hours," he said Monday night as the rest of the encampment lined up for hotdogs in the dusty lot.

"We have nowhere else to go," he said. "Where do they want us? Back on the streets?"

The residents of Nickelsville had originally been given a July 6 deadline to move from the spot on vacant state Department of Transportation land near the Duwamish River.

However, Gov. Christine Gregoire granted the encampment an extension until Monday to find a different location.

Deavers, though, said the notice came from the city and said the residents had to have other plans ready. The encampment has been forced to switch sites seven other times since it began last September, he said. He and other residents are in no mood to leave.

In an article on Nickelsville last month in the PostGlobe, Ron Judd, an advisor to Gregoire, said the South Seattle lot was funded by the gas tax, and the state’s 18th amendment requires the money be used for highway purposes. “So the issue we face," he said, "is that we can’t just do anything (with the DOT property).”

But in the same article, Deavers said the homeless people at the encampment enforce a long list of rules and feel safer there than on the streets or in shelters. “You don’t have to worry about setting your bag down and getting in line to buy something and having somebody steal everything you own,” he said.