{"id":537919,"date":"2010-04-21T17:32:31","date_gmt":"2010-04-21T21:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011667335_mcginnsvetocouldfizzleaggressivepanhandlingbill.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-04-21T17:32:31","modified_gmt":"2010-04-21T21:32:31","slug":"mcginns-veto-could-fizzle-aggressive-panhandling-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/537919","title":{"rendered":"McGinn&#8217;s veto could fizzle aggressive panhandling bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Attack on mayor unwarranted<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is a response to \u201cMayor\u2019s veto may scuttle measure\u201d [page one, April 20].<\/p>\n<p>When I read about City Councilmember Tim Burgess\u2019 aggressive-panhandling measure, I immediately sent messages protesting the measure to him and City Council President Richard Conlin.<\/p>\n<p>I pointed out that I am a frequent downtown visitor. I shop, visit the art museum, library and Benaroya Hall; eat, attend meetings, visit friends day and night and have not been aggressively panhandled by anyone. I am a5-foot-2 senior citizen with no training in the martial arts.<\/p>\n<p>The attack on Mayor Mike McGinn [\u201cMissteps are mounting for Mayor Mike McGinn,\u201d editorial, Opinion, April 21] was unwarranted, as were comments about City Councilmember Bruce Harrell.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Jan O\u2019Connor, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>End, not criminalize homelessness<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mayor Mike McGinn is not listening? When Tim Burgess\u2019 aggressive-panhandling bill came up for a vote last week, public comment at the City Council meeting was 2-to-1 against it, according to every account I have heard.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, a laundry list of human-rights and civil-liberties organizations had come out against the bill, which likely is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.<\/p>\n<p>Aggressive panhandling is already a criminal offense in Seattle. This bill would only add a civil penalty on top of that, which means cops have to meet a far lower burden of proof and suspects do not have the right to an attorney.<\/p>\n<p>Where does that leave that aggressive panhandler? I think it is safe to assume most do not have an extra $50 lying around to cover the fine. If anything, this encourages even more aggressive panhandling.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s try to solve homelessness instead of criminalizing it.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Garrett McCulloch, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Attack on mayor unwarranted This is a response to \u201cMayor\u2019s veto may scuttle measure\u201d [page one, April 20]. When I read about City Councilmember Tim Burgess\u2019 aggressive-panhandling measure, I immediately sent messages protesting the measure to him and City Council President Richard Conlin. I pointed out that I am a frequent downtown visitor. I shop, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-537919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}