Not even a full month in workplace, Mayor Katie Wilson pledged a brand new strategy to tackling homelessness. In a metropolis determined for tangible progress, she kindled hope.
Residents should observe rigorously how coverage could change in relation to tents and tarps in metropolis parks.
Seattle Municipal Code is evident: “It’s illegal to camp in any park besides at locations put aside and posted for such functions by the Superintendent.”
The council handed the ordinance back in 1977. The vote was 8-0.
In the course of the pandemic, on the recommendation of federal well being specialists who warned in regards to the unfold of illness, Seattle stopped imposing the tenting ban.
All of us keep in mind the outcomes. Public areas from Ballard Commons Park to Woodland Park to Metropolis Corridor Park have been rendered unusable, and fires and violent assaults promulgated.
In the course of the marketing campaign, Wilson was requested throughout a debate whether or not homeless individuals ought to be allowed to remain in tents in parks. She replied: “That is exhausting for a sure or no query. I’m going to cross on this one. I can’t actually reply sure or no.”
In an announcement that she was pausing the scheduled removing of an encampment in Ballard earlier this month, Wilson said: “We additionally want to supply clear and accessible sidewalks, parks, trails, and different public areas for everybody to take pleasure in. Typically that can require clearing encampments, and the Metropolis will pursue that course when it’s the most suitable choice.”
The phrase jumps out: “typically.”
Which raises observe up questions: When? Underneath what circumstances? Who decides?
The editorial board reached out to the Mayor’s Workplace. The takeaway from the response is that The Occasions was making an excessive amount of of the assertion.
Honest sufficient.
But when metropolis coverage concerning tenting in parks is to vary, it should undergo the Seattle Metropolis Council and be topic to public hearings and rigorous debate.
The very last thing Seattle wants is the chief department to select and select which legal guidelines to observe and the way. We expertise sufficient of that on the nationwide scene already.
