A new report from the Seattle University School of Law finds that 288 new ordinances that target homeless people have become law in Washington State since 2000. Under these “quality of life” laws, the daily activities we take for granted — sitting, sleeping, eating — can become grounds for citations, arrests, banishments from public space and civil infraction orders that add to the already substantial legal and financial burdens of the very poor.
Auburn tops the list with 14 draconian laws aimed largely at that city’s homeless population. Seattle weighs in with a more reasonable seven. Soon, that list could expand to eight.
On May 28, the Seattle Parks Commission will meet to decide if smoking will be banned in Seattle Parks. The meeting was moved back two weeks to give the volunteer board additional time to review all the materials received during the monthlong rules change comment period.
Many organizations and individuals have spoken up, including 1,560 signers of our Change.org petition opposing the ban.
The American Civil Liberties Union opposes the new rule and called the ban’s enforcement standards “problematic, in that they grant a significant expansion of discretionary authority to police, likely resulting in a harmful increase in the cycle of arrests and exclusion orders that already burden homeless people.”
Seattle’s Human Rights Commission similarly opposes the ban, citing concerns with disproportional enforcement. Enforcement of the ban will focus on downtown parks that are commonly used as a resting place by many homeless people in Seattle.
This year, the annual one-night count of unsheltered homeless people in Seattle rose by 22 percent. It is estimated that 73 percent of homeless people smoke. Smoking rates are similarly high among those experiencing mental illness.
The Human Rights Commission told the Parks Board that “at best, the proposal would effectively bar many homeless members of our City from downtown parks; at worst, it would, to a significant degree, criminalize homelessness in our downtown public spaces.”
A variety of organizations that directly serve homeless people, including the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness and the Committee to End Homelessness in King County have also registered their concern.
Low Income Housing Institute Director Sharon Lee noted that “people of color are significantly over-represented among the homeless population” and asked that the Parks policy be guided by the city’s Race and Social Justice Initiative.
“You should not adopt policies that further compound the problems faced by homeless men and women of color who are desperately trying to survive the streets of Seattle,” Lee said.
Even the Seattle Times has gotten into the act. A recent Editorial Board opinion piece on the Seattle University report said, “Cities and counties — and the taxpayers they serve — must ask themselves what they are trying to accomplish. These ordinances may simply seek a civil and hygienic public space. But an equitable society must also gauge the unintended consequences.”
The proposed Parks Department rules change does not make sense for Seattle.
An existing compromise that was reached in 2010 bans smoking within 25 feet of play areas and from other non-smokers. This is a common-sense position that already protects the public from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke.
The first rule of public health should be to “First, do no harm.” The Parks Smoking Ban violates that fundamental precept by inviting disproportional enforcement and introducing new legal sanctions and financial burdens to the lives of the very poor.
The Parks Smoking Ban does not reflect our values as a city committed to ending homelessness and fighting for racial equity and does not deserve community support.
Please join Real Change and our allies from Seattle’s civil rights, human services and communities of color in opposing the Parks Smoking Ban at 10 a.m. on May 27, in Victor Steinbrueck Park.