Bear, Tent City3 resident, was recently in the 3rd and Pine McDonalds when a woman in line needed to pee. Right then. Mickey D's cashier said she had to buy something first. The woman resolved the problem by dropping her pants and doing her business right there in line. She left without ordering or paying for anything.

This happens all the time--people having to pee and shit without paying, that is. The woman in line was a lawyer (Bear of Tent City3 knew because he'd seen her in court.) Maybe she doesn't have to go so badly, quickly and publicly very often. But when you're living on the street, it's not so unusual. Think of all those folks sleeping outside--thousands--who have no place to go but straight into the earth or nearest bush.

We live in Tent City3 & 4 (aka TC3 & 4.) When we're out and about, traveling on a bus, we know where to find bladder relief. It's not the nearest transit center, like you'd expect in a rich, health-conscious, and civilized county like King. Transit centers and bus tunnels here don't have bathrooms. It's our Tent City porta potty. Evidently we're more concerned about public health than the transit agencies.

Recently other people have also been noticing all those folks living in the bushes, greenbelts, and vehicles in King County. Isaac Palmer was paid attention to last June--after his skull was shattered under I-5 by a Washington Department of Transportation-hired clean up crew. Women in Black stood for Ibrahima Bangoura--after he died of acute intoxication in the greenbelt near I-5 & Beacon Hill, aka The Jungle.

This summer Aloha Inn transitional housing staff noticed that near their building camper's tents were being slashed by city sponsored crews. Real Change, Seattle's street newspaper [and an outstanding read-eds.], thinks the mayor has a new secret plan to regularly trash 10 encampments around Seattle.

Consequently, people who are already concerned about homelessness are now suggesting a moratorium on tearing down encampments. Our community--called SHARE--has been saying this for over a decade, and restated it last June.

But say the mayor orders a halt to encampment destruction. What then? There are few things more irritating than being told to not pee when you have to. One thing more irritating is being told to leave your encampment and go sleep someplace else when there is no place safer to sleep. We know because we've been there.

Our humble suggestion is to make a deal: If folks in greenbelt encampments respect the neighbors, give them a porta potty and a dumpster. It's not asking for much. And please spare us more referrals from social service workers to non-existent services and housing. Build the housing and we'll find it on our own.

Even as we write, well-meaning folks are asking other well-meaning folks to sign a petition first, asking to halt the demolition of encampments (good) and then asking for funding for social service workers (not a priority). This is Real Change's approach to encampments. Thank them and ask them to lose the social service workers funding and stick in porta potties and dumpsters (their petition doesn't mention them now).

Bear of TC3 tells us that the Third and Pine McDonalds has become better about letting desperate people use their restrooms. Who thinks Mayor Nickels will get some porta potties to homeless encampments before we need a City Hall Shit-In?

--Robert James, Gregory Heath, Annette Anderson, Aaron Trujillo, Nick Cooper, Caleb Poirier, Aaron Bailey, Leo Rhodes, Guy Baldwin, and Robert Brenot. SHARE (Seattle Housing and Resource Effort) is an organization of homeless and formerly homeless men and women who operate 14 indoor shelters, two tent cities, and storage lockers, all democratically organized and self-managed. SHARE is the largest shelter bed provider in King County and has been around since 1990. For more information on SHARE organizing call 206-448-7889.