Court ruling in Steven Long case may affect those living in their vehicles

Real Change
A place for the people

by Ashley Archibald | December 4th, 2019

Tacoma grapples with displacing camper in People's Park

It was cold the afternoon of Nov. 23 in Tacoma. People huddled in tents filling the strip of grass between the sidewalk at People’s Park and South L Street. They were not in the park, but not outside it, either. And yet, after a shooting in the park, Tacoma...
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Real Change
Battle lines drawn

by Ashley Archibald | December 4th, 2019

Northlake Tiny House Village, LIHI and the city set to spar over move

Across from Ivar’s Salmon House, tucked back away from the road, is the quiet Northlake Tiny House Village. Past its security gate — open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. — are rows of small, brightly colored units with accents of home: outdoor plants, small fences...
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Real Change
Injunction junction

by Ashley Archibald | December 4th, 2019

A Washington Superior Court put a pause on a voter-approved initiative that could gut transportation funding as the case against the measure continues. The Nov. 5 state election passed Initiative 976, a measure that cuts car tab fees to $30 and outlaws...
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Real Change
Po, po, po! Happy holidays

by Ashley Archibald | November 27th, 2019

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best announced that the Seattle Police Department (SPD) will field additional officers in nine different neighborhoods for the holiday season. The “emphasis patrols” will run from Nov. 30 through the end of...
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Real Change
Council balances mayoral and constituent homeless concerns with everything else

by Ashley Archibald | November 27th, 2019

The Seattle City Council passed a $6.5 billion budget Monday that expands harm reduction programs meant to improve the lives of homeless people and aims to get more people in shelter. The budget passed on an 8-to-1 vote, with Councilmember Kshama Sawant...
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Real Change
New kind of justice

by Adam Sennott | November 27th, 2019

Ayanna Pressley’s ‘People’s Justice Guarantee’ seeks to transform a criminal justice system that is xenophobic and racist and propagates homelessness

Ayanna Pressley remembers running for reelection to the Boston City Council in 2011, when a constituent asked her what she was going to do about the homeless people who were sleeping on park benches. “They used some other term that was very derogatory,”...
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Real Change
Reporter’s Notebook: Court rules for tenants, Muslim women win city council elections

by Ashley Archibald | November 20th, 2019

Court rules for tenants Life may be getting a little easier for Seattle’s beleaguered tenants. The Washington State Supreme Court upheld a city ordinance that has been caught up in this court case since its 2016 inception and requires landlords to provide...
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Real Change
Homelessness in East Germany

by Lukas Gilbert | November 20th, 2019

There were hardly any homeless people in the GDR — the former East Germany — mostly because state officials put them in jail or in shabby accommodation. At the turn of the century, many East Germans ended up on the street in West Germany.

“Homelessness? That did not exist in the GDR!” That’s a common assumption. That there were significantly fewer homeless people than in West Germany is undisputed however. In the GDR — the former East Germany — the state provided for cheap rent, work and...
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Real Change
City and county vow to fight new Tim Eyman initiative

by Ashley Archibald | November 20th, 2019

Seattle and other regional communities reel over massive budget shortfalls due to Initiative 976's impact on transit funding

As the Seattle City Council wrestles with the annual task of creating a new budget, Washington communities have to deal with the specter of a voter-approved initiative that may cut the city’s transit budget by $32 million per year. The Nov. 5 election...
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Real Change
Court ruling in Steven Long case may affect those living in their vehicles

by Ashley Archibald | November 20th, 2019

In 2016, Steven Long parked his broken-down truck on a gravel lot near Rainier Avenue and Dearborn Street, not far from the stadiums where he was working, cleaning up after Seattle Sounders games. When he got back from work, his truck, his tools and all his...
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