Seattle City Councilmember At-Large Tim Burgess sent out an e-mail on September 8th requesting that citizens voice their views to our Mayor and Councilmembers on the issue of homeless camp sites, and the overall city approach to homelessness.
Councilmember Burgess authored an opinion piece that ran in The Seattle Times on August 5th, and he alone voted against Council Bill #118794 on September 6th, a proposed ordinance to increase the rights of people camping on public property in Seattle. According to Burgess, “The proposed ordinance is not the balanced approach the people of Seattle deserve, an approach that carefully weighs and balances compassion with our public health and safety obligations. This ordinance tips this balance decidedly away from our public health and safety responsibilities and will do nothing to move people from homelessness to safe and appropriate housing.”
Councilmember Burgess has further asked that Seattleites share their own input – with him and the other members of the City Council, and the Mayor. “My colleagues and I need to hear your opinion on these issues,” he wrote.
Council Bill #118794 was not voted into law on September 6th. The Council will study and evaluate the proposed ordinance, which currently would allow camping on public spaces, defined as ‘any area that is owned, leased, maintained, controlled, or managed by a government or public entity.’ This definition includes land owned by the City, the County, the State, the Port, and the Seattle School District – including B.F. Day Elementary School. This also includes pocket parks, biking/walking paths, public sidewalks, and other right-of-ways. As currently proposed, the ordinance requires city taxpayers to pay $250 per violation to individual campers if their new right to camp, in a tent or vehicle, is violated.
In his e-newsletter, available for reading on Councilmember Burgess’ blog, he instead recommends, “Consistent with what other cities have successfully done, we should switch to a very specific client-first focus instead of just funding organizations that do good work, giving highest priority to those who have been homeless the longest. We should be focused on data, measuring carefully which services are actually moving people from the street to homes. We should contract for performance, requiring organizations who receive taxpayer dollars to achieve measurable outcomes. We should wholeheartedly embrace the ‘housing first’ philosophy which moves people to housing quickly without barriers to entry… These are the steps that will actually end homelessness, not perpetuate it.”
Please read more about the proposed ordinance, and then share your opinion on these issues with your elected officials. Contact them by e-mail at:
- Mayor Edward Murray ed.murray@seattle.gov
- Councilmember Tim Burgess tim.burgess@seattle.gov
- Councilmember Rob Johnson rob.johnson@seattle.gov (Representing East Fremont, District #4)
- Councilmember Mike O’Brien mike.obrien@seattle.gov (Representing West Fremont, District #6)
- Councilmember Sally Bagshaw sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov
- Councilmember M. Lorena Gonzalez lorena.gonzalez@seattle.gov
- Councilmember Bruce Harrell bruce.harrell@seattle.gov
- Councilmember Lisa Herbold lisa.herbold@seattle.gov
- Councilmember Debora Juarez debora.juarez@seattle.gov
- Councilmember Kshama Sawant kshama.sawant@seattle.gov
In order to best represent the interests of all its citizens, the City Council must hear from all its citizens. Please take a few minutes and share your opinions on this important issue today!