Responding to a barrage of criticism, city officials gave a reprieve today to a homeless meal program that feeds hundreds of people a week under the downtown freeway.
Officials will no longer force Operation Sack Lunch (OSL) to move to an indoor location by February 29—a move the project’s leaders had insisted would shut them down—and have instead given the program six-months to find a new location with indoor and outdoor components. “We had gotten feedback from the community and we wanted to take that feedback into consideration, so we thought it was necessary to do the six months,” says Danette Smith, director of the Seattle Human Services Department.
The decision—both to boot OSL from the freeway and the extend the timeline—came from Smith, who had reportedly described the current conditions under the freeway as “undignified, inhumane, and disrespectful,” according to Operation Sack Lunch’s website.
“I used those terms to describe how I felt at times in my own personal journey and the way other people may feel,” Smith explained today. “I just ask that we be mindful of the impact it has on the people receiving the services.”
Funded by the city since 2007, Operation Sack Lunch has operated under I-5 at Cherry Street since 2007. It serves roughly 3,000 meals per week at an annual cost to the city of of $132,000. Beverly Graham, the director of OSL, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment this afternoon.
Instead of keeping OSL at its current location, Smith, who took her post in Seattle 18 months ago after moving from Atlanta, believes an indoor location would better connect meal recipients with social services. However, Seattle City Council member Nick Licata’s office described a compromise in an email to constituents this afternoon. It would allow a task force identify a location with “a centralized kitchen concept that would have an indoor and outdoor component.” This would allow those who don’t want to go indoors for meals—and don’t necessarily want to face social service workers—to grab their food outside.
“It was never our intent to shut that program down,” said Smith said at the end of our conversation. “Since the beginning, the goal was to keep them in the fold with us.” (Read more from Smith in a post on Mayor Mike McGinn’s blog.)
Smith’s “personal journey” should not enter into how she carries out her professional duties, especially when the people who benefit from this service weren’t asked, and the people who deliver the service weren’t listened to, although they had been talking to the City for 6 months.s Community members had to scream at the City over the last several days to get Smith to back down. That’s disappointing, to say the least.
Thanks for following up on this story. I would particularly like to know if Ms. Smith has ever spoken to any of Operation Sack Lunch’s actual clientele- because as sarah70 points out, her personal journey shouldn’t be the deciding factor in her policy decisions. Maybe a refresher class on ethics and professional responsibilities might be in order for Ms. Smith?
Why does Danette Smith still have a job?
Wow, seems like this group (OSL) does a lot with their budget. Just what exactly do the citizens of Seattle get for the other $29, 868,000 spent on feeding and housing the homeless. I suggest that OSL does more with its share of the budget than MS Smith and her salary are worth… Just how many homeless and hungry are in the “fold” of Smiths poor sheep..?? Let OSL handle the housing as well and the budget will be better served…
The new location needs to have an indoor and outdoor component? How about the Rainier Club? They have a terrace, and it’s just a few blocks from where OSL currently operates.
@5, how close is the Washington Athletic Club? I’m sure that would be another swell location. (I’m trying to use old words in my posts to bring them back, Why? It’s just bully!!)
The WAC is close by also, Cato dear, but it doesn’t have an outdoor component. Plus, it’s membership is definitely second class. All you need is a little money and a doctor or minister’s recommendation. The Rainier Club requires serious money.
I recommend the Columbia Tower at 701 Fifth Avenue. There’s a bank there that not only funded City Councilmembers’ re-election campaigns in 2011 through the Civic Alliance of Seattle PAC, but specializes in homelessness (Bank of America).
Newspapers are reporting the city just cleared out a truckload of stuff the Occupiers left behind when they got permanently kicked out of City Hall Plaza today – how about that space?
In addition to using phrases like “personal journey”, Smith is prone to calling herself a “change agent”.
I have no idea about the journey thing, but I do know that anyone who refers to themselves as a change agent is not an agent I want in charge of change. This was bungled badly and I expect more to come.
I dream of the day I get to vote against McGinn. His dismal hires for important city positions are just another example of his basic unfitness as Mayor.