A whole new ballgame

The Seattle City Council passed ordinance 116807 establishing agressive solicitation as a civil infraction by a 5-4 vote today. But unless Mayor Mike McGinn has an unforesse change-of-heart, the bill is dead.
McGinn has said that he would veto the bill regardless of how today's vote turned out. But with only a 5-4 margin of victory, the Council doesn't have enough votes to override the veto.
“People who have concerns have been very clear about what their concerns are,” McGinn told Dominic Holden of The Stranger. “I don’t think it’s an appropriate piece of legislation.''
The legislation stated that anyone seen ``aggressively panhandling'' by a Seattle policeman could receive a $50 fine even though someone panhandling most likely doesn't have $50. Opponents of the bill noted there were already laws on the book that dealt with harassing people for money.
Less than a week ago, council member Tim Burgess, the driving force behind the bill, figured he would have an 8-1 majority. Even Tim Harris in his Real Change column said that the bill would probably pass.
But late last week the tide started to turn. First, McGinn said that he would veto the bill if it were a 5-4 vote. Then he said he'd veto regardless of the vote totals, highlighting the split feelings on the bill. Council member Nick Licata was the first dissenter of the bill and he was joined late last week by Tom Rasmussen. Bruce Harrell was undecided about the bill.
Then The Stranger's blog called out Mike O'Brien. In a Michael Moore moment, the first-term council member said that he would support the bill even though he hadn't actually read it. That led to a flurry of phone calls and e-mails to O'Brien's office Friday afternoon.
This afternoon, O'Brien went from hero to goat, receiving the biggest hand of the day from the homeless advocates who crowded into the City Hall chambers. ``This is the type of legislation I got on the council to oppose,'' O'Brien said. ``I had said I was going to support it but I changed my mind over the weekend.'' With O'Brien, Licata, Rasmussen and Harrell's nay votes, homeless advocates scored a decision if not a knockout.
Previously, the Seattle Human Rights Commission , which advises the council on civil rights' matters had voted 9-0 against the bill. The Commission said there was no connection between violent crime and panhandling. Most homeless advocacy groups had come out against the bill, the 34th, 36th, 37th and 43rd District Democrats had voted against it, and groups like the ACLU and NAACP were considering lawsuits.
A couple of hundred people filled the council meeting room for the vote. A total of 28 people were allowed to speak before the meeting began; 17 opposed the ordinance and 11 spoke in favor. The latter mostly represented downtown business interests who feel panhandlers are keeping people from going downtown.
However, at the end of the day it appeared that the ordinance wasn't a good piece of legislation. As Licata noted at a recent Public Safety Commission meeting, ``you can't legislate against fear. And that's what this bill is trying to do.''