City Hall
Thursday Jolt: Compromise on Outdoor Meals
Today's winner: Outdoor meal programs for Seattle's homeless.
Today, Dannette Smith, director of the city's Human Services Department, wrote a letter to city council member Nick Licata saying she would work over the next six months to implement a proposal, proposed by outdoor meal provider Operation Sack Lunch, to create a centralized city kitchen that would provide both indoor and outdoor meals to the homeless.
As PubliCola first reported last week, HSD proposed shutting down the outdoor meal site, which serves more than 150,000 meals a year, on the grounds that indoor meals are "more dignified," in Mayor Mike McGinn's words, than outdoor meals. The city proposal would require indoor meal providers to increase the number of meals they provide (without providing them with additional money to do so).
Under the compromise proposal, the city would only move the outdoor meal program once they are satisfied "that an alternative is in place to serve the same number of people who currently are served by the outdoor program” including one that “allows meals to be served outside to those who feel uncomfortable coming inside.”
Supporters of outdoor meal programs argue that they allow providers to serve more meals, at lower cost, than indoor meal providers.
Today, Dannette Smith, director of the city's Human Services Department, wrote a letter to city council member Nick Licata saying she would work over the next six months to implement a proposal, proposed by outdoor meal provider Operation Sack Lunch, to create a centralized city kitchen that would provide both indoor and outdoor meals to the homeless.
As PubliCola first reported last week, HSD proposed shutting down the outdoor meal site, which serves more than 150,000 meals a year, on the grounds that indoor meals are "more dignified," in Mayor Mike McGinn's words, than outdoor meals. The city proposal would require indoor meal providers to increase the number of meals they provide (without providing them with additional money to do so).
Under the compromise proposal, the city would only move the outdoor meal program once they are satisfied "that an alternative is in place to serve the same number of people who currently are served by the outdoor program” including one that “allows meals to be served outside to those who feel uncomfortable coming inside.”
Supporters of outdoor meal programs argue that they allow providers to serve more meals, at lower cost, than indoor meal providers.
