KPLU Local News
(2010-02-26)
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Photo courtesy flickr user Chris Blakeley
Every two years, the Seattle Police Department does a community assessment. City council member - and former Seattle police officer - Tim Burgess says 23 percent of the people asked said they avoided downtown because they felt unsafe there.
At a public safety forum near the Pike Place Market, Burgess told the crowd he wants more police foot patrols. He says that'll discourage the muggings and fights that have made many people wary of going to Pioneer Square, the Pike-Pine corridor and other parts of downtown.
Burgess is also proposing a new ordinance that would make it a ticketable offense to panhandle in an intimidating way.
That makes Timothy Harris nervous. Harris is the executive director of Real Change, the street newspaper sold by homeless people. He says he's concerned the ordinance relies on people's subjective perceptions of what "aggressive solicitation" is.
Harris says he'd welcome more police because homeless people are often the victims of crime. But he worries the proposed panhandling law could be used in ways that make street people's lives even harder Burgess says that won't happen because the ordinance is narrowly written to prohibit specific behaviors, such as verbally abusing or touching passers by.
The city council will consider the panhandling ordinance early next month. The other parts of Burgess's plan -- getting more police and increasing help for the homeless - are longer-term goals that'll depend largely on the availability of funding.
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