Complaint Review: Erica Barnett - Seattle Internet

SHARE Participants Respond to Ms. Barnetts Publicola Article SHARE Clients Say They Were Forced to Participate in Protests It is disappointing to be the victim of attack journalism without getting a chance to respond. Not only did Ms. Barnet not wait and talk to the overwhelming majority of SHARE Participants who did support our protest, but she broke her promise to meet with SHARE Participants the next day. What Publicola Readers are stuck with are the viewpoints of a handful of confused homeless people and some hacked off City Council people. There is nothing about what really happened, or why. Ms. Barnetts primary source, Desiree Kramer, is not being straight about why she left Tent City4. It wasnt because of her objection to protesting; it was for blowing up and cursing in front of a group of schoolchildren visiting the camp. This fact wasnt even mentioned in the article. Ms Barnett set an appointment with us for around 1:30Pm last Friday and even confirmed it. Even though we felt that she should have contacted us prior to writing her piece, we decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and to talk to her. Six SHARE participants volunteered to come to the office and meet with her. Three of them made the trip all the way from Tent City 4 in Kirkland. Ms Barnett NEVER showed up or called to cancel our interview!!! This is to be expected from a person who refers to SHARE participants as clients and write condescendingly about homeless people. By her actions (or rather lack of) Ms Barnett showed that she believes that poor peoples time is not as valuable as her own and that homeless people are not worth the common courtesy of a phone call. Considering that SHARE is struggling with its bus ticket situation, we do feel that Ms Barnett owes us an apology for standing us up as well as 6 bus tickets. Had she bothered to meet with us, she might have learned a thing of two and might have wanted to revise her article accordingly: 1) SHARE does not have clients. Were participants. Our organization is a participatory democracy. In order to stay in our shelters, one must participate and contribute. This is one aspect of self management which not only is very empowering but also helps us keep our cost per bednight the lowest in King County. 2) The SHARE Power Lunch/Board of Directors decided that SHAREs neighborhood shelters would have to close if they could not be reached by METRO Bus in December of last year. That has been no secret at all. We have said repeatedly that when we ran out bus tickets we would take direct action to stay together and safe. In June we specifically agreed to a plan of action that was followed for 15 straight nights, beginning September 28th. No one was required to take Direct Action, and everyone was welcome to return after Direct Action. In fact, this is exactly what has happened since we reopened the shelters on Tuesday October 13th. 3) SHARE Folks saying they were forced to take Direct Action were, like you, under the illusion that the shelters were just sitting there, with mints on the mats, and smiling staff eager to check them in. On the contrary, they were closed and they are never staffed. Every night from September 28th to October 5th it was only by taking Direct Action that indoor shelter participants stayed together and safe. Remarkably, the great majority of bus drivers let groups of shelter participants ride to their shelters for free. Just as remarkably, the great majority of shelter participants stuck together in taking this Direct Action. No one did this because SHARE forced them to do so. We did it because the option was scattering and losing our community. This is not your abstract wine and cheese book club community. We are a community of people who need someone literally watching our back while we sleep. Anyone with any connection to us over the last year, or even someone who had bothered to read the press releases sent them, would know we have struggled hard and with competence to keep the shelters open. Direct Action was what we had to do when the shelters had to close. 4) Besides maligning us by calling us clients, you malign and falsely label Michele Marchand when you call her our spokeswoman. She never told you that and she is not. You malign and falsely label Scott Morrow when you call him our staffer. He hasnt been on our staff for over a year, and specifically told you that he is merely a consultant. 5) The article has numerous other significant and insignificant errors: It wasnt just private individuals who donated money to buy bus tickets to end the sleep out, but also churches, foundations and school groups. SHARE Shelters did not empty out although some did close out of confusion more than anything else. Councilman Tim Burgess was not the first target Mayor Nickels was. No memo was written to SHARE Shelter residents that makes it clear that SHARE residents are required to participate in the campouts by SHARE Staff. SHARE staffers did not confirm that they did require residents of both Tent City and SHARE shelters to participate in the protests. There are not usually approximately 50 applicants for 10 to 15 openings in SHARE Shelters at daily screenings. These numbers were not reversed during the SHARE Central Committees mandated protests. SHARE shelter expenses in November and December are not around $80,000 a month. Our conclusion is that Ms. Barnet got so much wrong first, because she is looking down at us, and secondly, because she blew off meeting with us and learning the facts. 6) Ms. Barnett is being played for a sucker by politicians in power who, as usual, would rather have the focus be on those strange poor people rather than their own indefensible actions. For a year, when over 500 homeless men and women asked for help with a transportation and financial crisis, neither the press nor the politicians paid them any mind. Yet when a couple of misguided and disgruntled individuals contact them it suddenly becomes a big deal. This is the height of hypocrisy.