1. Late last Friday afternoon, City Councilmember Cathy Moore announced in her newsletter that in response to public feedback, she plans to amend her proposal to revive the Aurora Avenue “Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution” zone so that only sex buyers and pimps are subject to the orders.
Anyone arrested for patronizing a sex worker or promoting loitering for the purposes of prostitution could receive a SOAP order that requires them to stay out of an area extending several blocks east and west of Aurora between N 85th St. and N 145th St.; if police caught them inside the area, they could be charged with an additional gross misde,meanor for violating the SOAP order.
The change would remove a part of the proposed new law—which also reinstates a misdemeanor, prostitution loitering—that organizations that work with sex workers regard as highly problematic, from groups that argue for decriminalization to organizations that consider all sex work exploitative.
Audrey Baedke, the co-founder of Real Escape from the Sex Trade (REST), said her organization considers anyone who has traded sex for something of value, such as money or drugs, to be a survivor. But on this issue, REST—which Baedke said does not take official policy positions, such as endorsing legislation—agrees with groups that support decriminalizing and destigmatizing sex work: “SOAP does not have benefits to survivors.”
SOAP orders (and similar Stay Out of Drug Areas orders, for people accused of drug-related felonies) became common in Seattle in the 1990s, and at one point the two types of zones expanded to cover nearly half the city. Baedke, who started REST 15 years ago, said that in the past, women who got SOAP orders “would get a charge on their record … and in our experience, their trafficker would not support them to do diversion, so they would move to Pac Highway,” south of Seattle, or stay in the area and get arrested over and over.
“Will this move people out of the area? Yes. Will it help victims? Not as it’s written,” Baedke said. “Sure, you can move this off Aurora, but it doesn’t get rid of the problem. If you’re not okay with it happening on you street, I hope you’re not okay with it happening online or somewhere else.”
The proposal apparently still includes the prostitution loitering law, which lowers the burden of proof for police to stop women and others they suspect of being sex workers. During public comment last week, sex workers and people who live near Aurora described being stopped by police when simply going about their business because they “looked like” sex workers. According to the 2018 Reentry Work Group report that led to the decision to repeal the loitering law, such laws disproportionately impact “cisgender and transgender women of color.”
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2. The council is currently on recess, and the loitering, SOAP, and Stay Out of Drug Area laws remain among the items they left unaddressed before leaving; another is Initiative 137, the social housing measure. The council decided not to put the measure, which would raise payroll taxes on employers on salaries above $1 million, on the November ballot, instead bumping it to next February; the council plans to put a competing measure that would take funds from the existing housing levy on that ballot, but did not complete that work either before going on recess.
The council said one reason they had to delay I-137 until a less favorable date for the initiative was that initiative supporters took too long to turn in signatures and get their measure qualified for the ballot, which they did on July 23.
A look at recent history is instructive: In 2021, when supporters of Compassion Seattle—a measure that would have required the city to spend 12 percent of its budget on human services while strengthening the city’s authority to sweep encampments—qualified for the ballot on July 28, the council placed it on the November ballot the following Monday, August 1. (Weeks later, a superior court judge struck the measure from the ballot.)
When the council returns from recess, the 2025 budget (and the projected $260 million budget deficit) will consume most of their time; as part of that budget, Moore has said she’ll propose unspecified funding for a “receiving center” for sex workers trying to leave the industry.
3. Nearly three months after Mayor Bruce Harrell removed him as chief, former Seattle Police Department chief Adrian Diaz is still classified as Police Chief and being paid more than $28,000 a month despite the fact that he was officially replaced by Interim Police Chief Sue Rahr in May. According to internal SPD records, Diaz’ “job code” is “Seattle Police Chief.”
UPDATE: According to SPD, Diaz’ time cards show that he has been working full-time, but he is still technically on leave; SPD Chief Operating Officer Brian Maxey said Diaz “has recorded time other than medical leave for hours spent cooperating in litigation or other investigative matters, at the request of the City, all of which is consistent with his current leave.”
By the end of August, Diaz will have made $84,000 during the three months since he was removed as police chief. Rahr makes slightly more than Diaz, so the annual compensation for both of the SPD officials being paid as “chief” is nearly $700,000. Under ordinary procedure, a chief who is removed from that position would have to return to their previous rank, which for Diaz is that of lieutenant. Following this rule would reduce Diaz’ salary significantly, but his base salary (not counting any overtime) would still be more than $200,000.
We live by Cathy and have had protestors on the street regarding this proposed legislation. Last night they were screaming at my six year old that he is a racist and not to be like his parents, while wearing goggles, full face masks, etc. I asked several people what the goal of the protest was, the message they wanted to communicate and what policies or proposals they were supporting. I didn’t receive consistent responses, but was told to watch the August 6th hearing. I’m now seeing that the concerns raised by groups who support human trafficking survivors who spoke at the hearing led to a revision of the bill. However, I’ve been told by protestors that they plan to return every week. Is there an alternative proposal regarding services, legislation, community support, anything? Do we know what the protests are FOR? I was told by one person it was to make everyone who lives here uncomfortable, by another that it was to intimidate Cathy into not running again. The folks who engaged with us told me they’re concerned about violence towards sex workers, affordable housing, mental health treatment, drug treatment. We share those concerns, but I couldn’t get anyone to give me real information on groups or policies or interventions they would like us to also support. Has anyone seen alternative proposals or resources?
And for God’s sake, fire and get rid of that jerk Diaz! Why is no one accountable for this? Where is the Mayor, the Council, anyone who will take action to get rid of this guy and claw back the overpayments of our money! Enough!
Too bad we can’t have people hanging out in their cars for the blocks most affected and those close by just taking photos of the losers who are buying sex. Then publish them widely. Shame the creeps.
As for the women, well, I don’t think they have any more right to be diminishing the enjoyment and value of our neighborhoods just so they can make a living in their chosen way or they way they’re being forced to do. Don’t know how one proves that one way or the other, but I am sick and tired of looking at the pathetic and disgusting displays and want them to go away in whatever way necessary. If these women are scared, sick, addicted, whatever, let them ask for the help we keep hearing is available. Arrest and jail the pimps and trespass them out of town. Just give the vast majority of us our clean neighborhoods back. And yes, I know they’ve never been perfectly clean, but this is beyond tolerance.
So, the SOAP order is really about one-stop shopping, i.e. business consolidation.
SOAP enforcement will not work. First, how do you identify a pimp or sex worker? Money (prostitution) will continue to encroach upon the designated area. Not only this, but prostitution will increase outside the so-called SOAP zone. How blatantly stupid! What’s next, banning people from breathing in air from a SOAP zone?
Of course it won’t work. That’s why those laws were removed in the first place. You’d think these people would actually be interested in such things, but that really has nothing to do with why they want them. Harsh, punitive laws don’t curb crime and never have. But that’s not the point, just read the comments of this and the following article that support them: it’s all about the punishment, the putativeness. That’s all they want. Hurt those who disobey. It seeps from their pores, and is revealed in much of what they say, “elections should have consequences,” for instance.
If I can identity all of the pumps in the Lowe’s parking lot during a short trip into and out of the store, I’m pretty sure even the SPD can as well. Get after them, already.