Seattle is a city with a rich tradition of strong neighborhoods. Residents take pride in their community and work toward preserving its character and livability.
On Capitol Hill, my home since 1987, I've enjoyed the opportunity to live in a walker's paradise, a neighborhood of single-family homes, apartments, condos and townhouses, where one can stand on 15th Avenue and catch glimpses of the sun setting behind the Olympics.
While I love my neighborhood, the profusion of transient homeless people, many of whom are often inebriate and aggressive panhandlers, weighs on my mind and conscience. I've noticed a worsening of the homeless problem, coinciding with the economic downturn Seattle experienced over the past four years. Many say the toughening of liquor laws in Pioneer Square also pushed the problem onto Capitol Hill.
Several times I've discovered someone asleep in the bushes near my 16th Avenue apartment complex. One late summer evening while walking my dog I encountered someone wrapped in a blanket on the lawn. I get angry thinking this isn't right in a wealthy country like the United States. People should not have to turn to a lawn or hidden garden patch.
Still, I get angry when I'm strolling down my street only to discover malt liquor cans and bottles tossed on the tops of bushes, littering the ground, and often broken into shards of glass that sideline the daily path my dog and I take. At those times, my compassion goes out the window, and I begin viewing the same people as invaders, ruining the pleasant atmosphere that drew me to 16th Avenue, a quiet, tree-lined street with a co-op market and a small park behind the Group Health Hospital.
I make a habit to pick up the trash, but when I encounter drunk and aggressive people sitting on sidewalks and asking for money outside the grocery I question why I'd want to help them when they don't respect the neighborhood.
Last summer, the mayor and the City Council, responding to community concerns, extended Alcohol Impact Areas (AIA) into the Central Area, Capitol Hill, University District and the Downtown core.
In October, the city mailed a Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA) to neighborhood business owners detailing public discussions held with store owners, distributors, residents and others regarding the sale of certain beer and malt products associated with public inebriation.
The agreement called for a six-month voluntary period where liquor licensees attempt to remove or stop selling items on a banned product list. At the conclusion of this period, the City Council would conduct hearings on whether the voluntary measures successfully curbed the problem, or whether the Liquor Control Board needs to take legal action, enacting mandatory restrictions on off premises alcohol sales like it did in Pioneer Square in 2002.
Capitol Hill resident and volunteer Bob Knudson visited various off-premise liquor licensees who received the GNA mailing to enlist their support. While one-quarter of the store managers in the AIA boundary signed the agreement, he observed many ofthese same owners continued to carry the malt and liquor products listed as harmful to street alcoholics.
"The GNA is very flawed and won't succeed," said Knudson. "There's little chance a voluntary AIA can ever work if even one establishment opts out of the GNA."
In recent years, Capitol Hill made several attempts to achieve AIA status. In a 1998 recommendation, the state Board of Public Health declared chronic public inebriety a public health hazard of the highest order. When talk of a possible citywide AIA surfaced, the state Liquor Control Board ruled it illegal and insisted the city proceed on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.
Capitol Hill is recognized as an open-minded and tolerant place, the home to a significant gay and lesbian population, artists and students. It's unique in the variety of people who co-exist with one another.
There's room for differences. Problems with homeless youth and street inebriates have made Broadway, once the premier destination on the Hill, unwelcoming. If our community doesn't act to stem the tide, the same problems threaten to overwhelm the newly renovated Cal Anderson Park.
In addition to stricter enforcement of laws prohibiting panhandling, sitting on sidewalks, and drinking in public, we must ensure we work with our elected officials to provide shelter and treatment options for alcohol and drug addicted individuals. We should consider alternatives where an inebriate's sobriety isn't a prerequisite for housing them. Many heroin-addicted youth seeking treatment discover the waiting list is several years long.
What can you do? This spring the City Council will debate a mandatory AIA for Capitol Hill and surrounding neighborhoods, and decide whether to recommend legalization by the Liquor Control Board. Without public participation and input, an AIA boundary for Capitol Hill may fail again. Imagine a walk down Broadway free of constant interruptions for "got any change?" Imagine the spring opening of Cal Anderson Park, a public space with walking paths and fountains, absent of litter and anti-social behavior.
Capitol Hill embraces diversity and supports human services for people in need. But residents must reclaim our public and private spaces to ensure that our tolerance is not taken for granted.
Contact Jordan Royer at jordan.royer@seattle.gov or 233-0069 if you'd like to testify about creating an AIA.
Freelance writer Jack Hilovsky lives on Capitol Hill and is a graduate of the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. He can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com.
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