Seattle street encampment now has swimming pool, but Anchorage tent city brings in a boat, trailer

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The residents in a Seattle neighborhood are scandalized that a street encampment in the Highlands area now has a blow-up swimming pool that some of the tent dwellers brought in.

But Anchorage has seen the blow-up pool, and has raised it one.

At the 3rd Ave. and Ingra Street tent-and-tarp encampment in downtown Anchorage, at the site of the old Alaska Native Hospital, someone has hauled in a skiff, complete with its trailer.

“Someone installed a swimming pool at the encampment that has been growing for months between SR 509 and Myers Way in the Highland Park neighborhood,” KOMO reported, saying that neighbors consider it a safety hazard but also a slap in the face.

In Anchorage, the mayor has tried to clear the encampment but with little success.

A recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit says that municipalities have limitations as to how aggressively they can clear vagrant camps.

Photo credit: KOMO photo of Seattle encampment