The city orders more jail beds, the council cracks down on drug users and sex workers, and Seattle Nice discusses the upcoming council election and jail as a “solution” to disorder downtown.
By Erica C. Barnett
Tuesday, July 30
Seattle Nice: Will Locking Up More People Fix What Ails Downtown Seattle?
On the first of two Seattle Nice podcast, we brought in a guest expert—Purpose Dignity Action Co-Director Lisa Daugaard, whose organization established the LEAD diversion program in Belltown—to discuss the latest efforts to address misdemeanor criminal activity in downtown Seattle, which (as of last week, when we recorded) involved efforts to open up more jail beds for people accused of committing misdemeanors, including at the downtown King County jail and the SCORE jail 15 miles south of Seattle.
City’s Plan to Jail Misdemeanor Offenders at SCORE in Des Moines Moves Forward Despite Concerns
The city’s proposed contract with SCORE—where six inmates have died over the last 18 months—moved forward this week despite significant concerns about its feasibility, including the cost to the city (millions of dollars a year, including police overtime to drive people to and from the downtown Seattle courthouse) and the logistical challenges of cramming more people into the city’s already overburdened court system.
Wednesday, July 31
PubliCola broke the news that North Seattle City Councilmember Cathy Moore planned to roll out legislation barring sex workers from Aurora Ave. N and reinstating a crime called “prostitution loitering” for sex workers who work in the open. Also, graffiti targeting Councilmember Tanya Woo inside the apartment building she owns call an earlier narrative into question.
In the first part of a one-two punch against people whose visibility causes discomfort to businesses, tourists, and some comfortably housed Seattleites, City Attorney Ann Davison proposed reinstating 1990s-era Stay Out of Drug Areas, from which people who commit drug-related misdemeanors will be banished. Violating Seattle’s new law against public drug use or possession is a misdemeanor, but once a person is under a SODA order, merely stepping foot inside one of the no-go zones will be a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Council Legislation Would Ban Sex Workers from Aurora Ave. North
In the 1990s and 2000s, Stay Out of Area of Prostitution (SOAP) orders were the other side of the SODA coin: Anyone convicted of a prostitution-related offense, including the “prostitution loitering” offense Moore’s proposal would reinstate, could be banned from certain areas. This proposal would target sex workers who are caught on or near Aurora from 85th Avenue N all the way to Seattle’s border with Shoreline, who could also be charged with a gross misdemeanor if they’re under a SOAP order and step foot in the no-go zone.
As anticipated, the SCORE contract passed out of the council’s public safety committee, with Joy Hollingsworth abstaining. Also this week, PubliCola obtained new details about one of the six recent deaths at SCORE—a man who died in his jail cell of an overdose in June.
Friday, August 2
Seattle Nice: Is Seattle Still in its Backlash Era?
The answer to the headline: Duh, yes. But is the city ready to elect a City Council candidate whose views are to the left of the current council majority? We discussed the upcoming primary election between appointed incumbent Tanya Woo and challenger Alexis Mercedes Rinck.