11:57 AM: Before the City Council‘s override vote this morning on a mayorally vetoed RV-related bill, Council President Joy Hollingsworth said she had seen a panhandling mom on a city street and wondered, why don’t the hundreds of millions of dollars the city devotes to homelessness seem to be getting to people like her?
Nobody offered any answers to that question many have asked. But – with District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka changing his vote on the bill in question – originally yes, today no – the mayor’s veto was upheld. Six votes to reaffirm approval of the bill were needed; five were received.
Here’s what was at the heart of this: The council had passed six bills by north-end Councilmember Dan Strauss dealing mostly with vehicle residency among homeless people. One of them would have set up a permit program for RV residents, among other things. That’s the bill the mayor vetoed, issuing this executive order instead, which among other things sets up a task force. Saka decided not to vote against the veto, explaining in a newsletter – and in council chambers today – that he didn’t see supporting the bill and supporting the veto as contradictory. Six “yes” votes were needed to override the veto; the bill got five. (“No” votes besides Saka were citywide Councilmembers Dionne Foster and Alexis Mercedes Rinck, along with Councilmember Eddie Lin.)
So the other bills will go into effect, but this part won’t. All involved, meantime, agreed that RV safe lots – of which Seattle currently has zero – are needed; we’re waiting for word on when the first one, Glassyard Commons in southeast West Seattle, will open.
12:53 PM: The mayor’s statement on the vote:
Thank you to the City Council for making the right decision for the people of Seattle. It’s not often that a mayor exercises her veto power, and rarer still for that veto to be sustained by the council. The council made a wise choice. CB 121283 would have created a complex and costly permitting program, would have exposed Seattle to legal risk, and would not have successfully addressed the neighborhood impacts of RVs.
By opening additional safe lots, engaging in By-Name individualized outreach, and cracking down on criminal activity, we have a clear path forward to place more vulnerable people into shelter while dealing with disruptive RVs. I am pleased to have signed the other four bills in the package of RV-related legislation sent to me by the council. As always, I greatly appreciate the care and consideration given by all of our council members to the issues facing our city, regardless of how they vote. Let us move forward together.