Waiting for Noah's Ark

These two goats, "Richard" and "Sally" - (named after two Seattle City Council members,) patiently wait for their "ride" from the recently closed homeless tent city named "Nickelsville" (named for former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels,) whose opposed the encampment.

The Nickelsville tent city occupied a vacant City of Seattle parcel of land from spring of 2011, to fall of 2013, when the city finally gave them a deadline of September 1, 2013 to vacate the land, or be evicted forcibly.

Compare Nickelsville to "Hooverville," from the Great Depression in the 1930s. Funny how history repeats itself.

Nickelsville agreed to move, and dispersed into three separate locations, two sponsored by local churches, and one hosted by a private property owner.

Richard and Sally have more than earned their keep by clearing the blackberry brambles at the former site, and will do an equally good job at their new site.

Nickelsville has had lots of controversy, however unlike the traditional shelter model, where Dad goes one place, Mom and the kids go somewhere else, and their pets get left on the street - Nickelsville accepts EVERYONE, including pets, and has rarely if ever had to turn away prospective new residents, unless an individual is a convicted sex offender.

After a friend lost his apartment and moved into Nickelsville back in 2011, the West Seattle community offered a lot of support to the encampment. I even volunteered to become their official / unofficial camp photographer.

Just like any community, Nickelsville has had it's share of "happy times" and "sad times." Everything from a "double wedding" to drug dealers moving into camp.

Feel free to check out my flickr site for additional images.

The story is far from over, more images to follow in future blips.