A conflict between the West Seattle Health Club and the city of Seattle continues as homeless RVers throw trash on the club’s property, the city will do nothing about it, and it now wants the club to clean it up or be fined, reports KIRO7.
Most of the trash is in the bushes and brambles behind the health club and the club says it can’t believe the city is putting that responsibility at their doorstep.
“You can see all the garbage that’s all in there,” said Jason Davis, the club’s facilities manager.
“There’s a whole barbecue, TV stand, a nightstand down there, clothes, a bike,” Davis pointed out. There’s also plastic bottles, entire bags of trash, shoes – you name it.
“All of this comes from the homeless and all the RVs we have around here,” Davis said.
“It’s very frustrating. Especially when I walk around my building and have to clean up human feces and everything else,” he said. Davis said he and his staff also find needles every day.
On Wednesday, a city inspector came by the property after someone complained the blackberry bushes were encroaching on the sidewalk. KIRO7 found the complaint online. The complaint doesn’t mention the trash.
But the inspector, with the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection, who came by to examine the bushes, noticed the garbage, and said the club needs to clean it up.
If the club doesn’t, it will likely face a fine.
The club’s vice president of operations, Dan Lehr, said its trash bill has increased by $500 per month and now the club has installed a 7-foot fence to prevent access to the dumpsters, though the RV residents are now throwing trash around the fence and into the bushes behind the club.
