Seattle council member: Spending $1 million on a fence is ‘absolutely insane’

The idea of building a barricade around the city’s notorious illegal encampment known as “The Jungle” isn’t sticking with Seattle City Council members.

Several council members expressed their concerns regarding a barbed-wire-topped fence that would circle the camp under I-5 that has been a problem for decades. The Seattle Times reported the state Legislature was considering such a fence that would cost up to $1 million.

“Spending a million dollars on a fence is absolutely insane,” city council member Debora Juarez said Monday.

Related: Irresponsible, inexcusable to keep Seattle’s ‘Jungle’ open

Why spend that money when people would just find a way over, or under it? council members asked.

“Quite frankly, I’m really offended,” Juarez added. She would prefer to see the money used to to put people into more permanent housing.

The greenbelt known as The Jungle runs along I-5, between the I-90 interchange south to Spokane Street. It is the site of a recent shooting that left two people dead.

Though representatives from the state said the fence isn’t a done deal and the money could be used for other improvements to the area, council member Lorena Gonzalez said she was worried that there wouldn’t be enough flexibility with the $1 million. Because the state’s department of transportation would pay for the fence, how the money could be used would be limited, she said; it could not be used, for example, for human services.

Council member Kshama Sawant, who recently suggested The Jungle receives amenities, instead of being blocked off, reminded the council that the Legislature proposing $1 million for the fence is the same Legislature that has “criminally underfunded education.”

Sawant pointed out that the $1 million could be used to “quadruple” safe locations for homeless people &#8211 doing so would go against other experience and opinions which conclude that homeless camps are not the answer to a city’s homeless problem.

Though it was unclear if council member Tim Burgess supported building a fence around the entire area, he said there are portions of the area that are too dangerous, even for police and firefighters. He told the council that it is “quite humane to prevent people from going there.” That “may or may not” include fencing, he added.

“I think it’s important to remember all of the facts and issues,” he said.

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