When a long row of bike racks popped up under the Viaduct at Western and Bell, people immediately questioned whether the racks were there to create parking spaces for people to lock bikes or to displace people experiencing homelessness who had been camping in the rare dry Belltown spot.

What is the destination in mind for all that rack capacity? Looks suspiciously like they're anti homeless barricades

— Chris Mobley (@chrislmobley) October 23, 2017

Jeff Few, a neighbor, filed a request with the city for records about the bike racks and found that displacing campers was, indeed, the reason the city installed the racks, according to the Stranger:

The city installed the racks in September after officials conducted a homeless encampment sweep in the area. SDOT considered the racks “part of the Homelessness Emergency Response effort” and they were meant to discourage camping, emails show. Few obtained the emails through a public records request.

In a statement to The Stranger, SDOT spokesperson Karen Westing confirmed that the bike racks were part of a “strategy for lessening the hazards of unsheltered living by creating space for a different active public use.” She said SDOT has not made any other similar installments to deter camping.

The racks and installation cost about $6,700, according to Westing. The 18 racks and six mounting rails cost $3,998 and the labor of three crew members for five hours cost $2,718. SDOT used bike racks purchased through the voter-approved Move Seattle levy. However, the department reimbursed the total cost of the project through an SDOT fund specifically for homelessness, according to Westing.

(more…)