Maybe He's Not So Bad After All?

Wes sent me the link to the Seattle Channel video of testimony before Tim Burgess' City Council committee on public safety and human services. It made me realize a few things. I said in yesterday's post that our being there had approximately the impact of "an errant nerf ball." That gives both us and Tim Burgess too little credit. The seventeen minutes of RCOP testimony (Burgess made sure that everyone who came to speak was heard, and extended the testimony period by ten minutes) is incredibly moving, expressing heartfelt pain, bewilderment at the City's disconnect from the realities of the street, and utter outrage with the illegitimacy of the protocols. Our motley crew that afternoon did the homeless proud.

Coming as it does, sandwiched between the not-so-friendly face of fascism and the cold embrace of technocratic planning (favorite part: Council staff describing the Strategic Investment Plan as a "discussion of how we get from the principles to the goals to strategies to programs to outcomes and then eventually to contractors and contract dollars."), the testimony offers a moving center to a stark contrast in perspectives.

I met with Burgess around a month ago and spent more than an hour getting to know him and sharing key concerns with the protocols. I felt we really connected, and that his concern with public safety was balanced by compassion and fairness. In an email describing our meeting – which I refrained from blogging about – to key activists, I described Burgess as "definitely someone we can work with."

A few weeks later, the deeply flawed protocols were released and Burgess told the press he was "fine" with them, and dismissed the concerns of homeless people and advocates as "easy." In a meeting with Patricia McInturff before the protocols' release, he raised none of the points he'd said were of concern. A phone call a week later, while polite and gracious, gave no ground. He was content to let the Mayor's office define oversight rather than create a more aggressive Council role. I was disgusted.

But here, Burgess seems genuinely moved and disturbed by what he's hearing. Later, even though the subject is off topic, he brings up the Council oversight role with Acting Human Services Director Alan Painter, and seems keen on perhaps more definition here. Once bitten, twice shy, but perhaps there's room to hope.

And today, this will be a committee of one ..."

The Seattle Channel video of Wednesday's Parks, Education, Libraries and Labor Committee Hearing is on line, and it's amusing on numerous levels. Dave Della opens the hearing by noting that none of the other committee members are present. Then Irene Wall testifies on the irony of the city destroying housing to create more Green Space in Discovery Park while destroying green space in Phinny Ridge by ramming a big parking parking garage through at The Zoo over neighborhood objection, and then another speaker highlights the city's bogus manufacturing of consent for the project. Looks like natural allies to me.

Then, at 12:20 into the video, the hearing briefly turns to the matter of bringing on a new board member at Seattle Center, and Bill Block eloquently testifies to the suitability of said appointment before getting the hell out of there while Twin B and I play patty-cake just behind his head.

At 21:00, I lumber to the microphone while holding her hand, and deliver a speech that differs slightly from the one I posted from memory in the wee hours of Thursday morning. Mike Ruby then addresses the import of this "rather momentous moment," and is followed by Discovery Park Advisory Council's Heidi Carpi, who describes the years of fending off "good causes" who have vied for this space. Then Patricia Stambor addresses my comments, by saying that while she "appreciates most" of my work, the city should keep the complete unsuitability of this property for homeless habitation in mind "when dealing with his opinions."

This is a remarkable rhetorical feat, in that it is a deft dual deployment of the "Seattle Straw Man" tactic. By "most of my work," she's probably referring to the Kate Elston PI article of a few weeks previous, in which I'm portrayed as having a "support your local crack trade" position on panhandling that I don't actually hold. Then she goes on to offer a vision of homeless people being dropped into Discovery Park — shopping carts and all — to forage for berries along with the raccoons.

I never said this housing should be set aside for homeless people. I said affordable and workforce housing. I know that Magnolia doesn't want homeless people as neighbors, but do they freak out at the prospect of teachers, cops, and firefighters living among them as well, drinking their Francesca wine out of cartons and slaughtering the adverbial form every chance they get?

See? I can use that tactic too. It's easy and it's fun. Anyway, watch the video. The testimony and presentation that follows is a good quick tutorial on the issue.