Stop Seattle From Turning Our Parks Into Homeless Encampments

Our parks are meant to be safe and health places for our children to play not camps like the jungle

I absolutely want to positively help/change the plight of our homeless and disenfranchised but we need more time to consider the impact on our children, environment and schools

Public parks is not the answer

I believe Seattle City Council should provide specific and spaces for the homeless to be able to sleep and protect them from bad weather. There must be some vacent spaces that could accomadate these homeless people. Remember, it could happen to you!!

allowing homeless to camp out at parks does not help them, and detriments the normal usage of our parks.

Give the mayor time to implement his "housing first" approach. Homeless Camping will harm our parks and endanger our communities.

Incarceration is pathway to services not found in tent cities. Get people into jail for trespassing, lascivious behavior, drug abuse. Stop the crime!!!

Please!

Please do not solicit me for other petitions

We need better solutions to homelessness. This just encourages it at the cost of safe Seattle parks.

This is NOT a viable solution for Seattle's homeless problem

This is such a bad idea on so many levels. With the exception of Tim Burgess, I wonder what on earth the city council is thinking! Mike O'Brien - you need to go! We need the parks to be safe for children and families. We also need for these poor souls that are living in homeless camps to be indoors and safe, especially the families with kids. Rethink this city council! There must be a better solution than this crazy one!

There must be better alternatives than in the parks where families spend lots of time.

I am an older woman who has regularly used Lower Woodland Park for the past 26 years. In an increasingly crowded and noisy Seattle, it is still a place where you can find some quiet, green space - and I have always been grateful for that. However, over the years the number of homeless camps has increased and each year I am a little more uncomfortable with the men using Lower Woodland for camping. Passing this ordinance will effectively take this park away from the community. I am all in favor of helping homeless people- I am more than willing to pay higher taxes to build homeless shelters, but please don't shuffle the homeless to the parks - that isn't a solution to homelessness it is just shuffling the problem around. That isn't helpful and it certainly isn't compassionate.

There needs to be a sustainable solution for homelessness that works for the whole community.

I am appalled that most of you are seriously considering this proposal. You are NOT representing the people of Seattle, including those who voted for you. Our parks are among Seattle's greatest treasures. And as the city grows, it becomes ever more urgent that we protect them. Urban parkland is NOT suitable for encampments. For instance, the camp in Magnuson Park was in place less than a month, and now the forest habitat is trashed. Ten years of ecological restoration by dedicated volunteers was ruined, thanks to this unwise ordinance. We also are concerned that encampments will increase crime in our parks - which should be a safe place for everyone to enjoy. Children - or anyone, for that matter - shouldn't be running into needles, trash and other detritus. This is not to say that all homeless people are drug users - but, still, it is a viable concern.

This is already happening all over our city. This ordinance will simply legalize it. A very bad idea. I am in hospitality and over the last few years more and more of my guests have commented on just how awful Seattle has become. Many have said that they won't be returning. I honestly can't blame them. Seattle at the moment is a disgrace.

The heart of this initiative is in the right place and I applaud the attempt. The tactical and practical aspects, however, are disastrous. Do any council members visit local parks? How about parks close to north Seattle that brush up against Aurora? Those are already a terrible experience for people with children. Parks should not be for sleeping, camping, or the likes. Day use for everyone, regardless of creed, color or address and lack thereof. Let's stick with this very important boundary before we open the gates and let the floodwaters drown our nature escapes in garbage, needles, passed-out campers, wacked out drug users on the latest cheap high and staggering drunks. Because that's the short list of what families already experience without the encampment allowance. Regards, Rebecca Collins Brown

So we want to let them take over the very spots that are designated for kids?

This is not a viable solution to the homeless problem.