Tom Rusmussen began as a question mark and ended as an exclamation point when he voted against Council Bill Number: 116807 sponsored by Tim Burgess, the so-called anti-harassment of panhandlers bill. during an emotionally charged Seattle City Council meeting this afternoon. The bill passed 5-4, but Mayor McGinn promised he would veto it. So for now it will not pass.

Voting for it, in addition to Tim Burgess, were Sally Clark, Richard Conlin, Jean Godden, and Sally Bagshaw. Voting agains it, in addition to Tom Rasmussen, Mike O'Brien, Bruce Harrell, and its main opponent Nick Licata.

Half the audience of about 70 each gave a one-minute speech for or against the bill, which is intended to give citizens more leeway to have law enforcement arrest aggressive beggars. Homeless advocates, representatives from the NAACP, ACLU, Real Change newspaper, and others spoke vociferously against passing the ordinance, saying it would single out the poor in a difficult economy, and felt that the law would be too vague in its description of what harassment is. They said the ordinance, which would fine offenders $50, would generally not be able to be paid by those begging for a dollar, and that they would then become felons (with the unpaid fine) and therefore unable to qualify for public housing and other assistance.

Audience members representing the Downtown Seattle Association, some residents of Belltown and Pioneer Square, and other business owners spoke in support of the bill.

Rasmussen held up some paperwork, an ordinance already on the books, that makes it a crime to harass citizens, and felt this bill was just a feel-good ordinance to make people feel safer, but that safety measures currently exist, and was troubled that this bill may overreach regarding the civil rights of individuals.

"Even though I live in Alki I spend about two-thirds of my day in the downtown area and I'm as frustrated as anyone else when I see drug deals, drug and alcohol abuse on the streets and I want to make it clear that I don't tolerate harassment or intimidation by anyone to anyone.

"Since my first day on the Council, I advocated for more police officers. The Council members have been leaders on this (...) Clearly there's more that we have to do. My conclusion is that the overwhelming majority do not support this ordinance.

"I want to thank the Downtown Seattle Association. You've work very hard to make our downtown one of the best in the United States and have taken a lot of controversial stands supporting human service programs and facilities that others did not and those have been very effective.

"I initially supported this ordinance but as I delved into it, talked to people and reviewed the ordinance, and reviewed the recommendations from the Human Rights Commission, I decided I can't support this ordinance. It won't be effective. We have laws on the books that now prevent people from interfering with pedestrians. The people who are perpetrating those kinds of actions should be prosecuted for at least a misdemeanor if not a gross misdemeanor, not given a ticket. We don't need to be passing laws that are signals of our intent. This law won't make any difference to those with aggressive behavior or those with mental illness."

Also a surprise, Councilmember Mike O'Brien said he had planned to vote for the bill, but that he struggled with wanting to do the right thing which was to vote no.

"The mayor is going to veto it," said Tim Harris, Real Change founder and editor who attended and was vehemently against the ordinance. "There is no way it's going to pass now unless Burgess can flip one of the 'no's' on this and that seems incredibly unlikely considering the thought they gave to their positions. Mike and Tom and Bruce switched their positions (to 'no') in the last several days and put a lot of thought in it. They're not going to reverse it now. This thing's dead."

For more background on this issue, go to: http://www.westseattleherald.com/2010/04/16/news/aggressive-panhandling…