Mindy Chambers

Before dawn this morning, City of Olympia Public Works employees and their vehicles, including two bulldozers, and multiple Olympia Police Department officers rolled onto Ensign Road south of St. Peter Hospital, lights flashing, and barricaded it from Martin Way to the hospital entrance. City employees then went door-to-door to tell the residents of vehicles parked along the roadway that while they didn’t have to move today, if they didn’t, they would be ticketed. “This is just pure intimidation,” said Tyler Gundel, of Just Housing, which advocates alongside the residents of vehicles parked along Ensign Road. “They are very clearly trying…

Ty Gundel and Micky Nelson, a resident, discuss the pending move. The move is off.After receiving a letter from the state Attorney General’s Office Monday saying the city’s plan to evict residents living in vehicles along Ensign Road is a likely violation of the state’s eviction moratorium, the city changed its mind.Residents will not have to relocate or have their vehicles towed.“We will continue to work towards a voluntary cleanup along Ensign, but will not be compelling any of the campers to move tomorrow,” Assistant City Manager Keith Stahley said in an email to council members obtained by The Tribune…

Note: This story is developing and will be updated as events warrant. Ty Gundel and Micky Nelson, a resident, discuss the pending move. With less than a day to go before their city of Olympia-imposed deadline to move, residents of vehicles parked along Ensign Road and those who advocate with them still don't know where they will go. "We are still in limbo," said Deborah, a resident of the area for the past few months. "It is so stressful," she said as she welled up in tears on Saturday.Neither the residents nor those who advocate with them know what to…

"If you're going to make us move, could you give us just a few more days?" That's what residents of recreational vehicles parked along Ensign Road near St. Peter Hospital hoped the City of Olympia would do. Many receive federal disability benefits, which come on the first of the month. The question is why the City can't wait to make them move until November 1 or a few days later. This would allow them to purchase gasoline and other things they need to leave the space they have called home for several months. Ty Gundel and Micky Nelson, a resident,…

UPDATE: 10.16.20 6:23PM The city of Olympia is telling residents of vehicles parked along Ensign Road near St. Peter Hospital that they must move those vehicles by October 27.The city plans to begin its official notification of the residents on October 20, Kellie Braseth, the city’s strategic communications director, said Friday.Information obtained by The Tribune states the city is moving the residents because “the daily activities of the roughly 60 people parked on Ensign Road has been impeding and slowing emergency vehicles bound for St. Peter Hospital Emergency Room” and that the Olympia Fire Department has “issued guidance to first…