For Immediate Release: August 1, 2024
Contact: Brandi McNeil, [email protected]
PDA statement regarding proposal to re-introduce Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) zones
PDA has received multiple media inquiries about today’s announcement that some Seattle officials are proposing re-introduction of SODA zones. In response, we are releasing the following statement, which can be attributed to PDA Deputy Director Brandi McNeil.
There are very real public order issues and human distress playing out in the proposed Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) areas, and these dynamics cannot be ignored. We can appreciate the Seattle City Attorney’s interest in catalyzing action, and absolutely understand the temptation to try to order things to change. Yet, thousands of SODA orders, very similar to those proposed now, were handed out in the 1990s and early 2000s — they were significant drivers of racial disparity in the jail and court system, but had no apparent impact on “hot spots” such as The Blade (upper 3rd Avenue) and Little Saigon. In practice, this sort of approach has never been an effective response to these dynamics.
But the most troubling aspect of SODAs is that they prohibit future otherwise-lawful conduct–just being present in a place, and doing nothing wrong. If someone is committing a crime other than a SODA violation, they can already be arrested for that crime. SODA enforcement only adds something if there is no evidence that any actual crime is being committed. And that sends a really troubling message to individuals who receive these orders — that it doesn’t matter what they are doing, they themselves are the problem, even if they’re abiding by all laws.
Again, we agree that the situation in the two proposed zones is truly unacceptable. It needs urgent response. But that response needs to center on activation of the space, the presence of guardians (as described in the City Auditor report two weeks ago), optimal coordination of law enforcement with care providers, and addressing the actual situation of individuals encountered there. We actually have current examples of this being done, including in City Hall Park since last summer, where conditions had been the same as those that SODAs are meant to address, but those conditions have been alleviated without banning anyone from the space. We’d like to see those case studies examined for what they can teach, and those practices expanded, rather than returning to approaches that had no impact when they were last used.