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Seattle friends: If you're unable to attend this in person today, PLEASE contact all Seattle City Councilmembers & Mayor Murray now & urge them to support the proposal to protect our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness outside. Contact info & a sample letter below; link to full proposal in first comment.
COUNCILMEMBER & MAYOR CONTACT INFO
Tim Burgess; [email protected]; (206) 684-8806
Lorena González; [email protected]; (206) 684-8802
Lisa Herbold; [email protected]; (206) 684-8803
Bruce Harrell, Council President; [email protected]; (206) 684-8804
Kshama Sawant; [email protected]; (206) 684-8016
Rob Johnson; [email protected]; (206) 684-8808
Debora Juarez; [email protected]; (206) 684-8805
Mike O’Brien; [email protected]; (206) 684-8800
Sally Bagshaw; [email protected]; (206) 684-8801
Contact Seattle Mayor Ed Murray using this web form:
www.seattle.gov/mayor/get-involved/contact-the-mayor
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Councilmember __________:
The open letter directed to you from the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, Columbia Legal Services, the ACLU of Washington, the Public Defender Association, the Seattle Community Law Center, and Real Change echoes my heartfelt concern: the city's response to people who are homeless is not working for anyone. The City must not continue policies which chase people from one place to another. Seattle's policies should focus on helping people with the shelter, services, and housing they need, on harm reduction, on individual and community health and safety. It doesn't make sense to force people to move without addressing where they can be.
Everyone knows that our shelters and sanctioned tent camps are full. We need safe places indoors that give people stability, safety, and a chance to think about the future. Everyone needs a safe place to sleep. I am joining fellow advocates and calling on you to pick up garbage, offer real help consistently, stop taking people's personal property, and to create more safe shelters and double down on housing.
Please support the advocates' proposal and vote to introduce it at your full Council meeting on Tuesday, September 6. People experiencing homelessness are our neighbors and live in every district in Seattle. Give folks a reasonable amount of time to find another place, help them find another place if they have to, or be safer and healthier where they are if possible. Let people keep their belongings, and get them back easily if they have been taken. If there's nowhere else for people to be, provide ways to collect garbage, meet people's basic sanitation needs, and help more people get inside before the rain comes.
I am counting on you to take swift action in support of this proposed legislation.
Thank you,
_____(your name)_______Sweep Trash Not People
September 6, 2016, 1:30pm - September 6, 2016, 4:00pm
SWEEP TRASH, NOT PEOPLE, September 6th, Seattle City Council Meeting, 2:00-4:00pm: In the wake of ongoing "sweeps" of unhoused people living in public space, advocates are calling for City Council to take action on legislation that would improve community health and safety for all. The legislation sets up a more reasonable and fair process, clarifying when, where, and how the city can undertake a “sweep” and requires a 30-day process to notify and offer services to people living in an encampment prior to a "sweep." When it is not possible to avoid taking personal property, the proposal sets up a more thorough system for documenting and storing people's belongings. Join VOCAL-WA and others in telling the Seattle City Council to sweep trash not people and express your support for the legislation! (If you can’t be there in person, Write or Call City Hall! Contact information for all Seattle City Councilmembers and the Mayor are at www.homelessinfo.org) [Advocates will convene at 1:30 in City Hall Plaza prior to the 2:00pm meeting.] Seattle City Hall, 600 4th Ave, 2:00 - 4:00pm.
