As mayor and council spar, Seattle is less safe

IF it seems like Seattle City Hall is in an uproar, it is. Rancor about the anti-aggressive-panhandling law morphs into a new battle about appropriate police staffing.

Though the City Council and previous mayor agreed on the need to hire 20 net new police officers a year for five years (this is year three), Mayor Mike McGinn's office now says "everything is on the table" in this daunting budget year. Acting city budget director Beth Goldberg says the police department is hiring now to fill vacancies, but currently not toward the 20 new officers.

Budget worries are legitimate; any one-sided halt to hiring is not.

McGinn proceeded with a planned veto of the panhandling legislation, which was to be part of a larger effort to make Seattle safer. A cornerstone of the broader plan is the effort to add more police officers.

A wiser council — this one mustered only five votes to pass the law — would find a sixth vote to override the veto.

Yet all nine council members sent a sharply worded letter to the mayor to begin hiring the new officers. Other departments will have to be cut to make up the difference, but public safety is a priority, especially considering the failed effort to adopt the panhandling law.

The council and the mayor missed a chance to protect a wide variety of people who feel vulnerable downtown and in certain neighborhoods, especially women who often plan trips with safety in mind.

All four council no votes on the panhandling law are men; all three female council members voted for the legislation. This may be a matter of male politicians who cannot fathom women walking in high heels or shuffling a baby on a hip or simple matters of stature and strength.

If the council members do not override the veto, and they should, they may rejigger the law so it reflects some concerns of the no votes. For example, a new ordinance could limit the ability of the courts to criminalize aggressive panhandling if an individual fails to pay the civil fine. That way the law would ensure that a civil infraction remains the penalty.

Seattle has a public-safety problem, made worse by the mayor and council's inaction on the panhandling law and now a reduced commitment to police staffing. What a sad day for our city.