 |
| Timothy Harris, Executive Director |
The Mayor’s new policy on homeless clearances has been released, and there’s only one way to say this. It’s an atrocity, pure and simple.
From the moment the Mayor’s office was called on their secret campsite clearance policy last October, their response has been characterized by contempt for process, continued secrecy, and commitment to aggressive clearances. Meanwhile, they fed a mostly willing media scare stories about homeless criminality to stigmatize and smear this city’s most vulnerable.
Existing laws are sufficient to identify and prosecute criminal behavior that truly poses a public threat. This policy isn’t about that. This is about eliminating visible poverty through a systematic campaign of harassment and criminalization.
The Mayor’s policy extends the parks exclusion ordinance — which was designed as a tool to ensure that public parks remain family-friendly — to all public property throughout the city, no matter how urban or remote. Groundwork is laid to deputize any city department or their delegated authority with the power to issue progressively onerous citations based on no more than suspicion of illegal activity, which is defined to include sleeping.
Homeless advocates were promised inclusion in the drafting of a “consistent and compassionate” city policy toward homeless campers. Instead, we were stonewalled and offered two weeks’ “comment period” on a draft document that is anything but compassionate.
There was no legislative process or any other chance for the public deliberation that a policy this sweeping properly deserves.
A public hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 28, 6-7:30 p.m., at the Seattle Center’s Rainier Room. While it is critical to pack this hearing, nobody should be under the illusion that this alone is going to stop this mayor. We need to aggressively and creatively fight back. Call 441-3247 ext. 202 or email: organizer@realchangenews.org for more information. |
