Citizen's petition urges council to delay vote on homeless camp ordinance

SEATTLE — A Ballard woman who says she’d never gotten involved with local politics before, hopes to harness a wave of public concern over a proposed city ordinance, which would open city parks and some sidewalks to tent camping for homeless people.

Elisabeth James' online petition entitled "Stop Seattle From Turning Our Parks Into Homeless Encampments," gathered well over eleven thousand signatures a day after it was launched. It urges Seattle's city council to wait at least six months before voting on the proposed ordinance so environmental studies can be done and alternative ideas from citizens can be considered.

James spent her life around the beach at Seattle's Golden Gardens Park. "This ordinance, the way it was written, I just couldn’t believe anyone would think that could be a solution to anything," James said. "I could see this place (Golden Gardens) being sort of taken over, with tents."

In the last few months, James said she noticed the homeless issue growing rapidly, everywhere she went.

"One morning I went out to catch the bus," she said. "There was a mattress laying all the way across the sidewalk with a guy, probably nineteen or twenty years old, passed out with a big bottle of Jack Daniels."

Elisabeth said she felt powerless and voiceless, even at neighborhood meetings with city councilmembers, so she took action herself.

She documented how parks are a magnet for campers with photos, and she wrote the petition. It was immediately signed by hundreds of people "I think the first half hour we got nine-hundred, James said."

In two days, there were eleven thousand signatures.  Concerned neighbors like Shelby Lemmel agree with James about the proposed ordinance.

"I don't think it's appropriate for a person in that tent," Lemmel said. "I think that person needs housing, and I think we can work to get that person housing. But I think we're wasting time and resources on an ordinance that doesn't do that."

James hopes the petition sends a message of sheer volume, from one person. "Your voice counts," she added.

Cox Media Group