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Monday, August 16, 2004
Energize good will
After a week of hasty policy changes, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels now has time to develop better plans for feeding the hungry downtown.
For such an adept politician, Nickels badly misplayed public imagery with his decision to abruptly stop volunteers from providing evening meals to homeless people in City Hall Park. He had a legitimate concern about safety since the meals moved to the park from the nearby plaza of the Public Safety Building.
But booting the volunteers, many from churches, was a political fiasco. After officials threatened to cite good Samaritans in the park, Nickels' good friend on the City Council, Jean Godden, exercised her admirable conscience and served meals there. The world needs more 70-something leaders like Godden.
The onus is now on the city, the volunteers and downtown interests to make long-term arrangements to provide safety. Nickels and his aides were right to worry about that; they need help with the solutions.
It's a good time to address the larger issues for downtown's vulnerable populations. Maybe the mayor can use the attention on the feeding issue to energize volunteer efforts in more neglected areas: mental health counseling, drug abuse therapy and housing.
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