Stop Seattle From Turning Our Parks Into Homeless Encampments

it would appear that the city is working hard to deplete all lo income housing in favor of high rises that they can make money on, thus putting more and more people on the streets- we forget that many of the people living in their cars, or tents, and for sure tent cities, are employed people who are being denied housing because of the high, and ever increasing rents. we should be ashamed of our council members that cannot come up with a more equitable plan, for those who are trying, in most cases, to better themselves, and contribute to our society. how may council members, and city officials, would elect to live this way- there by the grace of god, could many of us be put in the same situation,

This is not what $139k to the director of homelessness should gets us. You should be ashamed of creating ordinances using words verbatim from special interest groups. A lot of apartment and condo dwellers do not have backyards and use these public spaces for family activities. Letting this pass will damage the parks. If you don't believe so, just look down Dearborn near the Goodwill and other supposedly safe places to walk. You, the ones who bought a failing bike share program... guess what?, people who bike own their own bikes. You'd make more money for the city by allowing those spaces for parking of families who are trying to visit the area, as they travel in their cars. If this is not about making money to improve the city, then maybe you shouldn't be on the council.

City council needs to listen to their taxpaying constituents. I use the public parks frequently and need to feel safe walking alone during the day. As Seattle grows our green spaces become more important to our city'so livability. We need to propose a long term solution for the homeless. I will be voting Sally Bagshaw out next election season.

Please note that several preschools and schools use Woodland Park.

Why would you do that? That's one step that would make Seattle a not so livable city. Ruin the parks.

Public safety is paramount. The homeless problem is real and needs addressing. However, compromising the safe environments of our parks and sidewalk for a stop-gap that doesn't solve the problem is foolish. It will just create another problem to deal with.

As Westneat pointed out in Sunday's Times, this does not work and to commit to a bad idea for 2 years is unacceptable.

The parks are a big part of the attraction to Seattle. I especially detest the thought of Discovery Park being ruined for the residents that paid top dollar for their property in Magnolia.

Not only will this attract more homeless people to our area - this idea already failed miserably in Portland!

Focus on Housing First strategies that move homeless people into housing. This proposal will take budget money away from housing people.

This proposal defies common sense.

This bill is a terrible idea. It is a terribly reactive solution that degrades one of our city's best assets. I'd encourage the council members to kill this bill in favor of solving the homelessness and drug problems in a proactive way.

Please slow down on this and try to get it right. I was just in Portland and it does not work there.

Please do not follow in the foot steps of Portland's disastrous trial allowing free camping in city parks. Tax paying residents - not transients - have worked hard over many years to ensure proper funding for our parks, so that we would have places to recreate and commune with nature. Do not break faith with us. Keep the promise implied and expressed with every park levy passed. Preserve our parks. Find solutions to homelessness w/o destroying what we love about Seattle. Kathleen Conroy

Initiative 42 requires that parks must be used for park purposes within the community in which they are located. Turning parks into campgrounds to the exclusion of recreational use goes against the intent of Initiative 42. There are other non-park spaces where tent cities can be located. Regular citizens are owed safe access and use of parks, for which millions of dollars have been spent to provide greenspace and recreation for the City. Park space was promised to many communities during the neighborhood planning process and those promises have not yet been fulfilled. Now City Council is taking away park space, not finding more. And how exactly does City Council think they are going to pay for the increased cost of maintaining this increased use - not with the new funds from the Park Levy that was supposed to bring back maintenance just to levels before the recession. If these funds were going to be used to pick up after homeless encampments, I would not have voted for it. And good luck getting "campers" to move aside for permitted (paid for) use of the parks...we don't have enough police officers right now without adding this task. Tim Burgess is correct - this is a mess.

This isbadfor the homeless, making them enemies,and worse for Seattle.

This Bill is a terrible idea. We already have issues with needles on our playgrounds being found by children and parents. The city should open designated tent cities with out houses, running water, waste disposal, safe needle exchange/disposal, that is regulated by law enforcement and community service outreach progeams. This will allow for a designated place to sleep and outreach in a safe environment being patroled by LE.

This is not solving homelessness. This is a lame attempt to do "something" but not do the hard thing and solve the root cause. This policy has proved disastrous in other cities. Do NOT replicate their mistakes. I do not wish to criminalize all homeless people but the statistics on mental illness and drug use within this population can't be ignored. It is unsafe to move them into public use areas that are frequented by children and unaccompanied vulnerable individuals.

I object to turning our parks into homeless encampments. I understand they need to go somewhere but this will affect how the rest of us use the parks. I agree with the petition that more thought needs to be put into the bill. Please take time to really know the affects of doing this before you pass this bill

This is NOT the solution to the homeless population. It also makes my neighborhood less safe!