Seattle: The homeless brag about slapdash 'mansion' near Space Needle

Seattle, one of the most beautiful cities in the United States, has now become home to a horde of homeless people. They are bragging about the mega tent slapdash "mansion" they've thrown together near the famous Space Needle and they don't appear to have any plans of leaving anytime soon and are taunting local politicians.

"If you can live on the street and not pay rent, then why would you pay rent?"

The camp is located on a small patch of grass on Third Avenue and Broad Street. It's only about a half-block from the Space Needle and surrounded by multi-million dollar high-rise condos.

Those homeless sure know how to live and taunt.

"It is a form of protest," said Melissa Burns, a "mansion" dweller, to Q13 News. "We're staking a claim. We're refusing to cower in our tents."

Prior to this, Ms. Burns was living in a nearby public park where she was one with the squirrels and pigeons (aka sky rats).

"We've got the doors, the couch, the table," she said. "We've got the living room here, which is a mess right now because we're still constructing, but we're putting up the vinyl to cover it up, make it more attractive."

Yes, vinyl is a great way to make furniture look more attractive. Burns must have been an interior decorator before moving out into the world.

She went on to explain that the sprawling homeless-stead is made of wood pallets, chairs, tents, umbrellas, tarps and whatever other garbage people pick up that feed their visual hallucinations. She admitted it isn't a "discreet" construction.

"Some people are cheering us on, and some people are really angry about it," she said, referring to people who aren't homeless. Those who cheer live nowhere near the "mansion." Those who are angry are likely those living in the condos nearby. 

Mental health teams are working with Seattle officials to come up with a way of convincing the homeless squatters to disperse and go away. Perhaps if they offered them jobs, they would run like gazelles being chased by lions.

At this time, spokesman Will Lemke said the city has no plans to remove the camp, but that may change in the future if [when] there's a problem with the law, public health and the safety of those in the "mansion."


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