CID Safety Not Sweeps

Suggested Subject: Take Action! Safety Not Sweeps in Chinatown-International District (CID) and Little Saigon

 

Hi - in light of worsening conditions for people in Little Saigon and the Chinatown-International District - Massage Parlor Outreach Project, ChuMinh Tofu Eggrolls Mutual Aid, and other community groups are requesting Seattle officials to stop targeting our neighborhood through the criminalization of poverty and encampment sweeps under the guise of public safety. These groups will send their demands to Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Councilmembers Andrew Lewis, Lisa Herbold, and Tammy Morales.

 

The requests include placing a moratorium on sweeps and redirecting funding into these areas:

• Maintaining sanitation and safety at current encampment sites

• Funding and resourcing community-based responses to public safety

• Long term housing options to mitigate the housing crisis

 

We also request committed and active participation in this project from the Mayor’s Office and City leadership, and a long overdue public hearing in Seattle City Council on the impacts of encampment sweeps.

 

The letter with full details of the requests can be found here. 

tinyurl.com/Little-Saigon-CID-Statement

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The City spends well over $10 million on sweeps a year, totaling over $50 million on sweeps in the last 7 years. As displacements continue to come faster than ever before, we see it for ourselves that “sweeping” people does not reduce homelessness; it only pushes people out, simply to return to the same conditions. Our neighborhood is at the frontline in experiencing the repercussions of this policy failure. We need real solutions, not ineffective and wasteful policies that exacerbate our problems.  

 

We ask you to sign in support of these efforts to support our people in Little Saigon and the Chinatown-International District. The City no longer delay on its responsibilities after decades of deliberate disinvestment, racist public policies such as redlining, exclusionary zoning, and funding cuts to necessary social services. In the past year, we have observed a disparity in notice and outreach from the City in services to our area, as well as a lack of response to community requests for attendance at our community meetings. We have also observed a pattern of the Mayor’s Office, King County, Regional Homelessness Authority and other officials passing blame and responsibility with little action. 

 

This maintains the history of neglect and under-resourcing for our neighborhood, perpetuates a cycle of poverty and homelessness, and absolutely decreases public safety for all. 

 

The City of Seattle must take immediate actions to respect the lives of all people living in Little Saigon and Chinatown-International District. We need real solutions that address root causes, that do not simply push people around. We need solutions that recognize the humanity in underserved and unhoused people. We need solutions that make our quality of life better, and not worse with punishing sweeps. Sweeps punish our community by worsening our living conditions. They are a costly, rotating door that wastes our taxpayer dollars. 

 

These elected officials have an opportunity right now to redefine public safety and prevent our residents from experiencing further abuse and neglect. Let's hold them accountable to act now.

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Here’s how you can take action:

 

1. In a few clicks, sign a petition to the Mayor and Councilmembers and tell them why you support this legislation.

 

1. Get your community organizations, religious institutions, unions and local businesses to endorse our open letter calling on Seattle City Council to End the Deadly Exchange.
    

2. Follow and share our posts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

ACRS (Asian Counseling and Referral Services)

DUST 

CID Coalition 

Massage Parlor Outreach Project

Eggrolls (ChuMinh Tofu) 

Defend the Defund

Solidarity Budget

Bayan Seattle