SEATTLE — April 26,2018 update: The abandoned RV in the parking lot of the Northgate QFC is now gone.
KIRO 7's Gary Horcher was there when the RV was removed on Friday night.
He reports that Seattle Councilmember Juarez and her assistant brokered a deal between QFC and Lincoln Towing to move it.
Our previous coverage below:
Since about 8 a.m. Friday morning, the battered, ragged, trash-filled travel trailer, which was mysteriously dumped in the parking lot of the Northgate QFC, has left irritated neighbors and shoppers with sharp questions: "Why is that still there?" asked Nirvana Van Horn-Ream. "It's a public safety issue."
Since then, the open trailer has been looted and stripped, photographed by the curious and the irked, and tow companies apparently will not touch it.
QFC workers saw a man driving a black truck -- some say a tow truck -- dump the trailer and drive away. QFC's managers called Seattle police, and after an officer ran the California plates, which have since been stolen, the registration reportedly came back "clean."
QFC workers were told since the trailer has not been reported stolen, it's up to the private property owner to have it towed. Towing companies told QFC they will not move the trailer because someone stole the wheels, and towing it in a traditional way could put the whole jagged, unstable mess in danger of falling to pieces.
"A towing company's not going to pick this up, because they can't make money on this," said QFC customer Jeff Sams. "For them, this is a losing proposition. Getting rid of (abandoned camping vehicles) is hard.''
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A neighbor who knows QFC workers said Seattle police have been called to the trailer every day since it appeared in the parking lot, because workers see people regularly rummaging and ripping out the interior.
KIRO 7 reached out to QFC, Seattle police, and the City of Seattle, including Councilmember Debora Juarez, who represents the area. A Seattle police spokesman told KIRO 7, "This is a private property matter, but we will look into this further." QFC’s media relations did not return calls and emails for comment.
"QFC is great," said Sams. They should not have to put up with this. "It's taking up parking spots, this is a busy QFC and they need these parking spots. They don't need to have that."
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