The Burien Overnight Solidarity Project
Announcing an action to call attention to, and demand the repeal of, an unspeakably cruel and legally incoherent new law.
What: An overnight action to spend the night outside in Burien in solidarity with our unhoused neighbors who’ve been targeted by an unfathomably cruel new law.
When: The night of November 11 to the morning of November 12.
Where: Town Square Park, Burien, 400 SW 152nd Street, 98166
Details: To keep up to date on this solidarity action, subscribe to this newsletter and/or follow us on Instagram.
Contact: davidstoesz@yahoo.com
The city of Burien, Washington has enacted Ordinance No. 818, copy-pasting from a nearly identical law in Bellevue. As the weather turns wet and cold, this law literally makes it a crime to try to survive outside, specifically targeting tents, sleeping bags, and other items required for human survival.
We, the members of the Burien Overnight Solidarity Project, declare our intention to spend the night with our unhoused neighbors to provide support and services, draw attention to the shameful actions of the members of the Burien City Council who voted yes on this ordinance—Stephanie Mora, Kevin Schilling, Jimmy Matta, and Sofia Aragon—and demand its immediate repeal.
The cruelty of this ordinance is unspeakable. It threatens the survival of the most vulnerable members of our community. It represents an almost unimaginable new low in the campaign to dehumanize our unhoused neighbors. We will not tolerate this in silence.
We call on the Burien City Council to immediately:
Recognize that being poor is not a crime and to repeal Ordinance No. 818, titled “Unlawful Public Camping.”
Accept King County’s offer of $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, and use it to provide a safe and clean camping space for its unhoused residents—and specifically not a space under the Sea-tac flight path.
Provide basic garbage removal, toilets, hygiene facilities, and food assistance to all who need it.
Depoliticize Discover Burien and cut ties with the More We Love, the latter a group with a history of lying to and harming unhoused people.
Stop all “sweeps” of homeless encampments.
Get serious and start working on a longer-term solution that gets everyone inside safely.
We pledge to put our bodies on the line the night of November 11, and spend the night in solidarity with the people targeted by this law. Stephanie Mora, Kevin Schilling, Jimmy Matta, and Sofia Aragon think that these people's lives don't matter, that they can treat human beings like garbage and hide their actions behind bland bureaucratic language. We will not allow that. We are determined to bring the world’s attention to this shameful law, and invite all like-minded people to join us.
