The City of Seattle and Seattle Public Libraries have reopened public restrooms at five library locations around the city, including Ballard.
Seattle libraries closed early on when COVID-19 began to spread, but the closures had an unintended consequence of limiting access to public and private restroom facilities around the city.
Ballard Library’s restroom reopened on April 23rd, a move which the City says will help provide “vital hygiene resources to people living unsheltered” during the pandemic. Other libraries that have reopened restrooms include the Beacon Hill, University, Capitol Hill, and Central branches.
“Equity is an important value to the Library and I believe we have an opportunity to support our most vulnerable neighbors by providing restroom access during the Covid-19 crisis,” Marcellus Turner, Executive Director and Chief Librarian, said in a statement about the restrooms reopening.
In addition to opening up the five library branches’ restrooms, the City has added 12 hygiene stations around Seattle, and has made available 50 parks facilities that are usually closed until summer months.
The five libraries will open their restrooms from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Sunday. No other services will be offered during those hours, and locations will be staffed with security personnel, custodial workers, and library staff. Additionally, all users will be asked to complete a brief COVID-19 health screening prior to entering the building, and occupancy will be limited.
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
Of course they have, because there isn’t enough trash near the library and park.
that entire block has been handed to the “campers” – what makes anyone think they’ll leave or be made to leave once things settle down? commons park is lost…
“Equity is an important value to the Library”
Maybe Marcellus will be cleaning up the equity mess in the restrooms personally?
So the Portland loo, the honey bucket, the scrub-a-bum facility down the street & St Lukes aren’t enough? They’re still missing the toilet and hitting the pavement?
Sounds like Ballard’s “vulnerables” need potty training lessons more than anything else.
Councilmember Dan Strauss said the camping there will be “managed”. Is this what he had in mind?
How are reopening the libraries going to help Joe and Joy Junkie, exactly? Let’s be honest, it even says in the press release this move was designed to help “our most vulnerable neighbors”, ie vagrants. Aren’t the churches, the Portland Loo, and the Urban Rest Stop all supposed to be providing these services? Giving the bums the option of ‘using’ the library only does one thing: ensures they’re wandering around downtown Ballard, either becoming infected with Covid-19, or infecting others.
Looks like Straussville at the Commons just got upgraded facilities.
Let me get this straight… the library is closed, so no one will be in the library, but they doors to the lobby will be unlocked and the bathrooms open? How long before the lobby gets trashed?
This is what our local government calls “equity”. Are there no dictionaries in the Library?
Seattle has a had Liberal Governing bodies for over 50 years. How are they doing?
Terrible. And it’s 40+ years of 1 party in Olympia now. Inclusion, diversity and tolerance? Wonderful words. To a liberal it’s just “the natural order of things”. While they never say sorry, or apologize for any of their votes and what they foisted upon us. Liberals aren’t perfect, just forgiven.
Are you frick’n kidding me!!?? Not only has the amount of Tents multiplied so has the drug use, violence,having sex in their tents in daylight, abrasive behavior and trash piles. So now let’s reopen the restrooms so they feel even more at home. They steal from my work all the time. Haven’t you noticed the lovely flowers and plants displayed outside their tents? Give me a break!! I feel a protest is needed because this catering crap is bs! Good thing all of them get those stimulus checks soon. More drugs !!! Yay!
In King County’s defense, they have legalized heroin/meth so this is the outcome. Granted, Dan Satterberg and Pete Holmes live elsewhere so the Commons won’t bother them.
This is correct. Seattle implemented the LEAD program – testing it first in Ballard/North precinct (https://www.leadbureau.org/about-lead) and from that point onward Ballard’s homeless drug addicted population increased steadily. LEAD has been touted as a great success but no metrics have been provided as to how the “success” of the program has been measured. Why don’t we fight back against this program? Why don’t we demand quantitative evidence that it is a success?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/opinion/sunday/opioid-crisis-drug-seattle.html
That article is full of nonsense. No facts and no data to support positive outcomes. Garbage.
Correct, it’s an ‘opinion’ piece, and therefore, doesn’t need to state any facts or even have a semblance of truth to it. But it makes those people who believe the system works feel good about where their money is being spent.
So now the Ballard Commons heroin camp has Honey Buckets, Portland Loo and library bathroom, one of the highest toilet to person ratio in Seattle. Problem solved!
Hahahaha, riiiiiight.
“Give a man poo and he will smell. Teach a man to poo, and he will poo for life!” – Paintking
Hey tool, nice staying on topic. Are you that dumb you don’t understand the old saying about teaching a man to fish? Please use your head for something else besides a hat rack sport. We are all witnessing the results of YOUR voting record you tool.
Where are all the usual idiotic apologists here applying their MSNBC wisdom? This is absolutely nuts. Yet Ballard residents will hold their noses and all vote the very same ilk of people again, and again. WTF do you expect. Fiddle away and let them eat cake. So we have many wealthy people living all around this area, in very expensive condos, surrounded by a 3rd world country, where they WILL steal your stuff and WILL do drugs in your faces, and will shit on the sidewalk. This is what unbridled liberalism is. How does it make you feel?
Makes me feel proud I’m an conservative and to know I’ve never enabled this behavior by how I’ve voted.
Riddle me this liberal Ballard… by being a conservative I’m also a minority in this city, where are my extra rights because I’m underrepresented?
Good to see the monthly “Safe” Seattle/Nextdoor ‘whine about the homeless problem, while blaming everyone else but themselves circle jerk-pity party’ is in full force this morning on MyBallard!
Keep it up gentlemen, you’re doing God’s work. The homeless problem will be solved in no time with all you’re doing!
Lock them up… pretty simple. At a minimum, possession of stolen property is a crime… I doubt they paid for that shopping cart that says Safeway on it.
Lock up the homeless, what a fantastic idea! That’ll for sure solve the problem!
While you don’t believe in social distancing from people, it’s clear you’ve socially distanced yourself from your brain.
I believe if you commit a crime you should be punished. What do you think we should do with people that commit crimes? Not punish them?
If you’re in possession of stolen property, homeless or not, you should be in jail… simple. Being homeless doesn’t give you a pass on the law.
No by all means, tell us how locking up those who have hit rock bottom, whose crime is having nowhere to sleep, is going to help them out of the cycle of homelessness. Also, making the claim that all homeless are thieves and therefore should be locked up pretty much negates your argument from the start, so I encourage you to give a explanation rooted in reality
I bet it’ll be as good as your explanation of why you, and you alone, are not beholden to the social distancing orders.
Simple, society will not tolerate this behavior. Change your behavior or else be locked up, there are consequences to your actions: commit a crime, go to jail. The crime is not having no where to sleep, the crime is possession of stolen property, possession of illegal drugs, etc. I think this Truth character is a closet anarchist. It’s like a kid having a temper tantrum, either the parents are in control, or the child is in charge.
“whose crime is having nowhere to sleep, is going to help them out of the cycle of homelessness.”
Trust me, the criminal records came BEFORE the having no where to sleep. I’ll bet a testicle on that.
I’ll see your one and raise you three.
Simple, society will not tolerate this behavior.
Last I checked, society has been tolerating this behavior for decades, otherwise there wouldn’t be a homeless problem.
The crime is not having no where to sleep, the crime is possession of stolen property, possession of illegal drugs, etc.
Do you have proof that any of the homeless are in possession of stolen property or are you advocating arresting them all because you have a biased suspicion that one or more of them are in possession?
No please, present your evidence.
I think this Truth character is a closet anarchist. It’s like a kid having a temper tantrum, either the parents are in control, or the child is in charge.
Can’t argue with a stable genius like yourself!
Possession of a stolen shopping cart is a gross misdemeanor. State law says 1 year in jail. Simple.
“The Food Marketing Institute reports that nearly 2 million shopping carts are stolen each year, translating into a per-store loss of $8,000 to $10,000 annually — and that’s only in the food industry.” Customer pays for this. Victimless crime?????? I don’t think so.
i should blame myself that a horde of bums has taken over Commons Park and surrounding area?
Yes, you specifically as a matter of fact.
yeah, i don’t think so. i wish no harm on them but will certainly not pretend its healthy, normal, or acceptable that a public park/city is beholden to vagrants.
i will sleep well and with a clear conscience as well. sorry/not sorry.
i will sleep well and with a clear conscience as well. sorry/not sorry.
Then why are you a regular member of the reoccurring circle jerk of homeless fetishists on this blog?
Why should they blame themselves that there are tents around the Commons? I agree with you that posting here won’t solve homelessness – what will? Honest questions.
Because this same “Safe” Seattle and Nextdoor crowd that take over the comment section once a month are the same crowd that show up to every open house on homelessness, take over the narrative (even though they are an extreme minority in their opinions) and shout down every single proven solution.
They have no ideas, no solutions, and definitely no intelligent discourse, but they make sure that everyone knows that there’s a homeless problem and they don’t want anything done about it, other than complain endlessly and blame literally everyone and everything but themselves.
It’s like they realize that if the homeless problem goes away, they won’t have anything to complain about and no one will pay attention to them. So yeah, I think some of the blame rests on them.
Seriously, go read some of the comments above and tell me these are rational human beings posting this drivel. These are the same people driving the homeless narrative and we need to shut that down if we are to start making any progress.
As far as solving the problem? We could look to every other first world country, who don’t seem to have the problems we have. It’s not a liberal vs. conservative problem that the morons above like to convey, but rather the will as a city, state and nation to tackle the problem, which we don’t seem to have. One can also point to deep cuts to services in the 80s to pay for tax cuts on the wealthy that have exacerbated the issue.
But in a nutshell, we need to cure the addicts, treat the mentally ill and house the homeless, of which there are many proven solutions both nationally and internationally. We’ve tried a few proven options and proposed a few other proven options and the “Safe” Seattle crow had an absolute fit, resulting in the curbing of a lot of options. And here we are!
I agree with some of this and disagree with some of it. My major agreement is that some of the comments about “locking up the homeless” are draconian, indeed (unless they are committing crimes – that needs dealing with). Your comment about service and tax cuts are also inarguable.
My disagreements are with your comment that they don’t have solutions (A lot of center-left/center-right folks do express them, but you probably don’t agree with them) and the biggest one is with your claim that they are “driving the homelessness discussion.” Ever been to a city hall meeting when someone without a Left POV speaks? Ever seen who gets elected in Seattle and who does not?
It’s funny, the same arguments you have against the conservative voices are the same ones they have against the Left. Like their old chestnut that a “Homeless Industrial Complex” doesn’t want to solve the issue because it would put themselves out of work. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t.
All of this leaves pragmatic, centrist me hated by both camps! LOL My bottom line is that local elections tell us repeatedly, loud and clear, that going all in on Left ideas — housing for all, building it all over the city, raising taxes to fund mental health and drug rehabs, etc — would not result in election defeat. And yet they refuse to do it! So I can only come to the conclusion that mayors and council members these past 14 years are all talk, no action. Or maybe just inept. A pox on all of them.
I think you missed my comment that:
…because you fell very quickly into blaming those darn Liberals. These are not typical conservatives commenting above, they are irrational people bordering on insanity that tend to post moronic drivel and claim conservative leanings. They are not ridiculed because of their conservative leanings, but rather their insane drivel they constantly post, day in and day out.
I have many conservative friends and not one of them thinks or says any of the garbage these people post. Almost all of them agree with implementing the proven solutions that the “Safe” Seattle people shout down.
All of this leaves pragmatic, centrist me hated by both camps!
That people hate you for being a centrist is a false narrative pushed to try to drive our country apart based on political views. Your response shows that you fall into the “hate” trap that you claim others do..
I encourage you (and anyone else) to write your Councilmember and tell them to stop analyzing or discussing already proven solutions and implement them. Also tell them that “Safe” Seattle doesn’t speak for the 99.99% rest of Seattle and they should no longer be allowed to drive the discussion.
Ok Truth, then why is it specific to Seattle and San Francisco that parks are taken over by vagrants? Why does this not happen in Texas, Nebraska, Massachusetts, Tennessee, etc?
Hmmm, why could it be here. What is it about Seattle that makes it soo comfortable for heroin addicts to inject themselves with heroin in public parks…
It’s a drug problem with a thin homeless “crisis” veneer. Enabler.
Clearly you’ve never been to Omaha or Tennessee. Plenty of homeless there.
Boston doesn’t have a problem because they provide services. Things like drug treatment, mental health, usable shelters, street outreach, etc.
You know, all the solutions you show up to open houses and shout down.
LIberals are and have been running Seattle for over 50 years. It IS a Liberal problem. I get your ashamed to admit it.
Give us examples of your “proven” solutions, please.
The only proven solution to problematic homeless people is to give them a bus tocket to somewhere else, from what I’ve seen. And many nearby communities make no bones about the fact that Seattle is a top choice.
You spout uber liberal talking points that have no basis in fact.
I do security in the area and I can tell you that theft is a HUGE problem.
I deal with the problematic homeless everytime I’m at work.
Many of them simply don’t give a crap about consequences, there are none. Our cities policies enable and embolden them.
I’ve had homeless people, breaking the law, threaten to call the cops on me for stopping their illegal behavior.
They know people like you will cry foul if they get anything more thsn booked and released for an infraction.
YOU are part of the problem!
Rational solution, you commit a crime, you go to jail.
So when you openly defied the shelter in place order to go to Golden Gardens with other people multiple times, should you go to jail for that?
Why… that’s not a crime?
Sh*t show. Literally.
Walking home from Ballard Market at night there’s dozens of rats scurrying down 57th street . One smacked my shoe. Rats are not a good sign in case you’re a democrat or tech employee and aren’t smart enough to know that. This isn’t just third world – its medieval – the Democrat’s dream materialized. Ballard Commons – someone with videography skills needs to film that, every street of it and send it to FOX to show the truth about how Seattle (Durkan + council) and Inslee actually handle public health, unemployment and crime. Also hard to trust the police here anymore. They have a hiring shortage bc nobody wants to work law enforcement in Seattle. So-called Police chief (laugh) Carmen Best sent out a PSA telling people to call 911 if you over hear name calling in public. I thought we had a life threatening pandemic?! not to mention what 911 is really for. Warning – If you report crimes around the library you might get cited for defamation while being defecated on.
I saw a bunch of dudes in fatigues picking up garbage around the commons yesterday. I’m guessing they were the National Guard. Unreal how bad it’s gotten down there and something has to be done now.
Lots of squawking going on here but no action. I always enjoy the left vs right banter, but it always ends with the same result. Nothing being done and both sides blaming each other.
Best thing you can do is call Dan Strauss office (206-684-8806) and let him know how ya feel.
The only good aspect of the out of control camping is that it gives an excellent picture of what happens when we ”stop the sweeps”. “Stop the sweeps” is a policy endorsed by most of the city council, including Ballard’s own Dan “stop the sweeps” Strauss. This current crisis shows us how profoundly misguided such a policy is.
Call Dan “stop the sweeps” Strauss every day and demand some action on this. Maybe this slap of side the head with reality will help him see things more realistically.
Dan doesn’t look at the Commons and see squalor and lack of dignity. He sees an enlightened and compassionate hand leaving these vulnerable people to live as they see fit. Until you understand that, any expectation that he’ll have some sort of revelation about the situation is misguided.
when the libraries do open ask those that work there why they allow this garbage to take place on library property. I did that, they are embarrassed as they should be. If i have a business and allow shit to happen on my property it’s on me. “maybe” their shame will lead to “them” asking their supervisors why. I you just turn your head, you deserve it.
Has anyone ever had to sanitize a restroom these people use ! Needles all over and the rest of the restroom get trashed too sorry to say ! And there are lice in the restrooms to after a while !
Navigation Team Removing Ballard Commons campers
https://www.reddit.com/r/SeattleWA/comments/gd1r1j/the_citys_navigation_team_will_remove_an/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x
Great!