The Seattle City Council passed buffer zones on Tuesday to crack down on illegal drugs and prostitution after hours of heated debate.
The controversial legislation — referred to as SOAP, or Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution, and SODA, or Stay Out of Drug Areas, zones — came after people on both sides of the matter flooded city hall to have their concerns heard.
The bills, both passed 8 to 1, reflect a more aggressive pivot toward law enforcement than in years past.
Seattle is a largely liberal city that has struggled in recent years to curb crime, prostitution, and open-air drug use.
Supporters of SOAP and SODA said the anti-crime zones would disrupt growing street crime and illegal markets that can lead to violence. Critics said the bills would do more harm than good by further stigmatizing sex workers and people living in lower-income neighborhoods without addressing the underlying problems. They also took umbrage with money being spent on law enforcement rather than programs to help victims of human trafficking, addiction, and poverty.
Lots of tension building into tonight’s hotly contested vote. People lined up hours ahead to speak during public comment. Police are here on standby.
Will #Seattle City Council vote yes and create prostitution and drug buffer zones? Stay tuned. @fox13seattle pic.twitter.com/3GwCR3XHAs
— Lauren Donovan (@LaurenDonovanTV) September 17, 2024
Councilwoman Tammy Morales, the lone lawmaker who cast the dissenting vote, said the bills were, at best, a temporary solution.
“Truly meaningful solutions to the problems we seek to address will not be found,” she said. “These performative regulations are Band-Aids.”
She added that the bills “may scratch an itch to make council members feel like they are doing something to address public safety, but to claim these laws will address any of these problems is dangerous, and it is the epitome of performative.”
Nearly 100 people signed up to speak at Tuesday’s meeting, including a lengthy list of the city’s sex workers.
“This policy will make many of us more dependent on pimps to find clients,” one woman said.
But Bob Kettle, the councilman who sponsored the SODA bill, said his motivation was about “creating safe neighborhoods.”
“Our neighborhoods have been hurting for too long,” he said. “We need to start with those in need, but this bill will help us build back community for neighbors, residents, small business owners, and employees who have been suffering from the crime that accompanies the illicit drug activity.”
Councilwoman Tanya Woo, who held a press conference with Kettle and other SODA advocates on Tuesday morning, called the intersection of Third Avenue and Pike Street in downtown Seattle “ground zero” for public disorder and said the city must “reclaim neighborhoods.”
SODA zones target drug use
The SODA bill states a person can be ordered to stay out of a “zone” after being arrested in that area for a drug crime or for a non-drug crime that led to illegal drug activity. A judge can issue an order for drug possession and public drug use, as well as for crimes such as assault, theft, harassment, and trespassing. A person with a SODA order can be charged with a gross misdemeanor if he or she is found in the area where the person is supposedly banned.
It gets a little more complicated if a person relies on public transit and if that transit takes the person through the exclusion zones. He or she is allowed to go through the zone on a bus or train but is not allowed to deboard. People with SODA orders can ask the judge for special permission to see relatives who live in exclusion zones or to attend appointments.
SOAP to clean up streets and target prostitution
The SOAP bill revises a prostitution loitering law that was largely used against women and underage girls selling sex versus going after the buyers. The reworked version brings back prostitution as a misdemeanor but encourages law enforcement to target people willing to buy rather than sell sex. It also creates a new misdemeanor charge called “promoting prostitution loitering” that goes after people caught driving someone repeatedly to a known prostitution area.
Supporters said it would help law enforcement go after pimps without relying on testimony from people working under them who are too afraid to speak out.
“This bill is the first time the city has been on record to go after the people who are perpetuating the trauma and harm in our communities: the buyers and the pimps,” said Councilwoman Cathy Moore, who sponsored the legislation.
Moore said Seattle needs stronger police enforcement and that it is “common knowledge who’s engaging in this activity, who the pimps are. They are driving women and others to Aurora. They are sitting in the car, surveilling, and monitoring this behavior.”
Several people pushed back on Moore’s comments, questioning whether police officers would be able to enforce the law properly and saying they didn’t trust the officers to make informed decisions. They added that leaving it up to law enforcement to define what they viewed as “suspicious behavior” would open the door to people of color and those living in marginalized communities to be unfairly and disproportionately profiled.
But to Councilman Rob Saka, getting drugs and prostitutes off the streets is a necessity.
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“Criminal behavior is no longer tolerable on our streets,” he said. “This legislation sends a strong message to the public that this council has heard their demands for stronger safety measures. It is illustrative of our council’s commitment to working closely with constituents and crafting public policy that is supported by data.”
The SODA and SOAP bills are now headed to Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell for his signature.