By Contributing Journalist
The city grassed lot the tent campers are camping on is a hazardous waste site because of the 13 years of its use as an animal poop lot. The city has clearly posted this lot as an animal poop site. Dog poop and urine (current and dried) contain numerous disease parasites: worms, bacteria, protozoans, fungi, ringworm, and insect-related diseases transmissible to humans by simple contact. See the list at the bottom.
The City of Burien/ KCLS met, provided a plan to clear the dangerous public safety situation around the building, and legally announced and posted it. Sheltering was offered to every City Hall/Library tent or open-ground camper numerous times.
On March 20, 2023, the City of Burien announced that the tent campers surrounding the City Hall/Library condo building would be removed from around the building. The Burien City Manager designated Burien LEAD ( Aaron Burkhalter) to be the leader of the team removal process for the City Navigation Team. On March 22, 2023, a group of community churches met with Colleen Brandt (Burien Human Services) to tell her their plan to shelter and provide detox services to addicted tent campers who wanted to move on to other sheltering programs.
Ms. Brandt never mentioned to them that specific permits would be required for the churches to do this. It wasn’t until March 29, 2023, that she sent these churches a notice that they wouldn’t be able to follow through with their offer of shelter to the campers. Why didn’t Ms. Brandt provide that information to the churches on March 22, 2022? Ms. Brandt had facilitated and provided this overnight sheltering permit information to churches before, so why did she withhold the information from the Hope Church model until 36 hours before the scheduled clearing?
On March 30, 2023, Council member Cydney Moore met with the campers. She handed out her official Council member business card (as the representative of the city of Burien) about where the campers could move to. That was clearly a violation of the Burien City Council Rules of Order! Only one council member can speak officially for the city: the City Mayor, Sophia Aragon. Additionally, the Chair of the Planning Commission facilitated council-member Moore’s announcement by meeting and directing campers to a new site a little over a block west – a city-owned lot at 6th Ave SW and SW 152nd Street. Mr. Schaefer was ambiguous about who he was representing when talking to the media and public and greeting campers to the new camping space. Mr. Schaefer has also failed to follow the Appearance of Fairness Doctrine while voting on issues before the Planning Commission. He is an aggressively committed member of ACLU Burien People Power, focal point of Burien Community Visions, and manages an ACLU Twitter site called @BurienGovWatch; commenting on Council meetings, he viciously attacked Transform Burien in the media and attempted to sabotage their donations, but now wants the public to believe that he was representing nothing while cell phone recording and directing campers to a dangerous site?
Finally, as the twisted, contrived, and cruel sabotage plan to the Burien City Manager’s and the KCLS’s plan to remove the tent campers and restore public safety to the City Hall/Condo Complex area, Council member Moore and the Chair of the Planning Commission announced and facilitated the move of the tent campers to a hazardous waste site in the city-the 13- year dog poop lot! This was an uncompassionate and harmful manipulation of the campers for these politicians’ personal political agendas. Historically, active animal waste sites cannot be used as open-ground or tent camping sites for humans per public health and environmental standards. Why didn’t Ms. Brandt issue Cydney Moore, Schaefer, and the campers notice on March 31, 2023, about this site being unsafe for human habitation? Why didn’t Burien Human Services immediately object to the use of this hazardous habitation site?
The numerous diseases and parasite infestations from dog feces and urine have made this city space unfit for open camping, sleeping, and eating on the ground. While Burien LEAD (Aaron Burkhaleter) and REACH basically did nothing to move the campers from the City Hall area (facilitated by the nonprofits and volunteers), Burien LEAD and REACH went to the hazardous waste site and offered services at that site. Why didn’t someone from Burien LEAD or REACH warn these campers of the dangers of living on this lot?
The Burien City Council has an ethical, moral, and public safety responsibility to immediately act on what has transpired by the actions of a City Council member and the Chair of the Planning Commission in their efforts to thwart and sabotage the work of the Burien City Manager, the KCLS, the Burien City Council Rules of Order and public safety standards.
___________
Human diseases transmitted by dog poop:
https://www.cpha.ca/human-diseases-transmitted-dog-poop
How you get toxocariasis https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/toxocariasis/
Dog poop is a pollutant.
https://avmcww.com/2020/02/26/parasites-and-poop-the-importance-of-picking-up-after-your-dog/
CITY OF BURIEN City Council RULES OF ORDER
SECTION 8. PRESIDING OFFICER OF THE COUNCIL
As the presiding officer of the Council, the Mayor shall:
A. Preside at all meetings of the Council.
B. Preserve order and decorum in the Council Chambers and during meetings.
C. Be the official head of Burien for ceremonial purposes.
D. Consistent with RCW 35A.13.030, in times of public danger or emergency, and
if authorized by ordinance, take command of the police, maintain law, and
enforce the order.
E. Be Burien’s official spokesperson.
F. Sign documents on behalf of the City Council.
G. Observe and enforce the City Council Rules of Order
Below is a story by Jonathan Choe regarding the tent encampment in Burien:
SIGNS OF HOPE IN #BURIEN: At this point, the homeless know they cannot stay outside the Library & City Hall. Most of the men and women are preparing to leave by the end of the month. But where will they go? Even though Burien is in King County, neighbors say they have not seen a… pic.twitter.com/Ey17IP2UIY
— Jonathan Choe Journalist (Seattle) (@choeshow) March 29, 2023
