Gabriella Duncan reads a letter to the Burien City Council outlining the problems that many groups see with ordinance 606 and its treatment of the homeless.
Nearly a hundred protesters marched from the Burien transit center to the Burien City Hall and Library at 7 p.m. on Feb. 23 to speak out against city ordinance 606. Homeless citizens marched with members from S.A.F.E., the A.C.L.U., and numerous other organizations to speak at the study session for the Burien City Council.
“Burien City Council you can’t hide, we can see your greed inside,” shouted S.A.F.E.’s Josh Farris from a bullhorn as the line of protesters wound their way into city hall.
Filling the council chambers to capacity the activists chanted as they waited and sounded off in an attempt to get the attention of the council members.
The councilmembers heard comments and presentations from protesters, homeless citizens, and supporters of the ordinance. Each speaker was given one minute of speaking time.
More details to come.
What is Ordinance 606?
Last August the Burien City Council passed city ordinance 606, also known as the “trespass ordinance”. According to 606 the police would be given authority to issue trespassing notices, or tickets, to persons deemed a public nuisance. These notices would prohibit the offender from returning to and using public spaces such as parks or libraries for several days.
According to the ordinance, which was updated in January, ticket worthy offenses would include threatening or dangerous behavior, sexual misconduct, drug or alcohol offenses and “bodily hygiene or scent that is unreasonably offensive to others”.
Essentially tickets would be given for smelling bad.
An officer with Burien PD was on hand to pass out copies of the ordinance to all protesters and to answer questions. According to this officer and the copies of the ordinance being disseminated a recent update has removed any mention of citations being given for offensive odors.
The ordinance immediately grabbed attention from activist groups for its verbiage that appears to target and alienate the homeless. Despite the uproar from groups such as the ACLU, SAFE, and Occupy the Burien City Council, all except councilmember Lauren Berkowitz, have stood behind the measure.
To read the measure in full click on the link here: http://www.burienwa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5145 .
