NEWS GLEAMS | City Council Considers Legislation for Prostitution, Drug Zones; 'The Stranger' Acquired by Noisy Creek

A roundup of news and announcements we don't want to get lost in the fast-churning news cycle.

by Vee Hua 華婷婷

Seattle City Council Considers Legislation for 'Stay Out of Area' Prostitution and Drug Zones

Stay Out of Area Prostitution (SOAP) Zones

Seattle City Councilmember Cathy Moore (District 5, North Seattle) has proposed an ordinance that would reinstate a previous "prostitution loitering" law that was repealed in 2020 by the then-Council, with the support of then-Mayor Jenny Durkan. The proposed ordinance is heavily focused on sex trafficking and its interactions with prostitution loitering, and it claims that the 2020 repeal "limited the ability of Seattle Police Department officers to offer or provide non-carceral assistance to those they believed were sex trafficking victims." It also cites a number of reports and studies that highlight a number of alleged impacts on minority communities or minors who are impacted by sex trafficking in the area.

As reported by PublicCola, "Under the proposal, which largely mimics the overturned law, a person could be found guilty of prostitution loitering, a misdemeanor, 'if he or she remains in a public place and intentionally solicits, induces, entices, or procures another to commit prostitution.' The council also repealed a similar law banning 'drug loitering.'"

A significant portion of the ordinance is dedicated to "Stay Out of Area Prostitution Zones" (SOAP Zones), which are areas that can be "created, modified, or terminated by ordinance" and would hold geographic boundaries that are "narrowly tailored to encompass areas of significant prostitution activity and/or criminal activity with a nexus to prostitution." SOAP zones could include both sides of a single city street, inclusive of sidewalks.

Based on rulings of particular judges, anyone charged with or convicted of prostitution-related crimes may be banned from entering designated SOAP Zones — though traveling through the area and participating in legal, medical, or social services within the zone is allowed. Violation of the order could result in the arrest of that person "without a warrant or other process," under violation of a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to 364 days in jail or a $5,000 fine.

The first and thus far only suggested SOAP Zone within the proposed ordinance will be in North Seattle, encompassing Aurora Avenue North. Its boundaries would be bordered on the north by North 145th Street, on the south by North 85th Street, on the east by Stone Avenue North, and on the west by Fremont Avenue North.

Stay Out of Drug Area (SODA) Zones

The proposed ordinance in many ways mirrors the Stay Out of Drug Area (SODA) legislation, proposed last week by City Attorney Ann Davison, which would create two similar areas, focused on drug use, in the downtown core and the Chinatown-International District. It justifies the creation of SODA Zones by citing the City of Seattle's 763 drug overdose deaths in 2023, public safety concerns in general, and "open-air drug activity."

Similar to the SOAP Zones, the proposed legislation would empower judges to issue SODA orders "to anyone charged with, or convicted of, assault, harassment, theft, criminal trespass, property destruction, or unlawful use or possession of weapons occurring in a designated SODA zone in which the court finds a nexus between the offense and illegal drug activity."

Council President Sara Nelson was quick to point out her opinion that the creation of such zones was not analogous to the "War on Drugs," saying that the new proposed legislation would be citing gross misdemeanors, as opposed to felonies that put people in jail for years.

King County Public Defender Anita Khandelwal is skeptical of the exclusion zones, as they had been attempted 20 years ago by the Seattle Police Department and then discarded. Potential long-term racial justice concerns are also raised by the legislation. As reported by KUOW, "Laws prohibiting loitering related to drugs or prostitution were overturned by the Seattle City Council in 2020, based on recommendations from the Seattle Reentry Workgroup due to the 'disastrous racialized impacts of these policies on Black and Indigenous communities and the growth of mass incarceration.'"

Washington State law already allows cities to designate certain neighborhoods as "Stay Out of Drug Areas," but such laws may be difficult to enforce. As The Seattle Times reports, "Seattle's legal system is already buckling under the weight of case backlogs, staff shortages and booking restrictions in county jails. In roughly half of all pretrial hearings in Seattle Municipal Court, the defendant does not show, according to court data, leading to additional warrants and charges with only limited recourse for judges, attorneys and police to track them down. Police, meanwhile, have triaged their responses to focus on more serious crime due to staffing shortages."

The two proposed SODA Zones include SODA Zone 1, which is downtown. The zone is bordered on the north by Stewart Street, on the south by University Street, on the east by 6th Avenue, and on the west by 1st Avenue. SODA Zone 2, in the Chinatown-International District, is bordered on the north by South Main Street, on the south by South Dearborn Street, on the east by Boren Avenue continuing to Rainier Avenue South, and on the west by the westernmost edge of Interstate 5, including all off-ramps and areas underneath Interstate 5 and sidewalks immediately adjacent to Interstate 5.

'The Stranger' Has Been Acquired by New Seattle-Based Media Group Noisy Creek

The new Seattle-based media group Noisy Creek announced on July 29 that it had acquired ownership of the local alternative media outlet The Stranger, along with its Portland, Oregon, counterpart Portland Mercury. The company was purchased from Index Newspapers, The Stranger's previous owner, and includes not only both publications themselves, but also the company's event ticketing business, Bold Type Tickets, and its EverOut events calendar.

Noisy Creek is run by former state lawmaker Brady Walkinshaw, who represented Seattle's 43rd Legislative District from 2013 to 2017, then worked as CEO of the Capitol Hill-based environmental media organization and publication Grist from 2017 to 2022. Walkinshaw told KUOW that — as the company's largest shareholder, chairman, and publisher — he vowed editorial independence and did not wish to be part of endorsements related to The Stranger's Election Control Board, which makes candidate endorsements in local, state, and federal elections.

The Stranger was not the first publication to announce the sale. It published its own on-brand, cheeky message following initial reporting from KUOW and The Seattle Times.

"Now, we're journalists. We're skeptical by nature. We've been raised to distrust power and money," reads a blog post by The Stranger's Rich Smith and Megan Seling, published late the night of the initial announcement. "And as the Index Media Union writes, 'Our workers still have many questions, as the vast majority of Index Newspapers employees have not yet had a chance to hear Walkinshaw's plans in his own words. Regardless of what we learn at tomorrow's all-staff meeting, we remain committed to the editorial independence of our publications—both in day-to-day reporting and in the candidates we endorse.'"

According to Walkinshaw, the company's estimated budget range in the first year will range from $5 million to $10 million. With the sale, Noisy Creek installed a new editor, Hannah Murphy Winter, who has experience working at Rolling Stone and ProPublica. The Stranger's remaining staff, including longtime editor Rich Smith and columnist Charles Mudede, have been offered jobs with the new company, and Noisy Creek has expressed its hope that the staff continues to work with it. The Seattle Times noted that former columnist Marcus Harrison Green, who is also the founder and publisher of the South Seattle Emerald, is among the new hires.

The Stranger is now operating in its 33rd year. Despite the sale, continuity in The Stranger and Portland Mercury will also be found in Dan Savage's longtime "Savage Love" column, though it will remain owned by Savage and managed by Index Newspapers. Index Newspapers, founder of The Stranger; Tim Keck; and founder of The Chicago Reader Bob Roth will also reportedly hold on to a 20% stake in Noisy Creek's venture. The Stranger will move out of its previous Capitol Hill offices to a new headquarters on Maynard Avenue South.

"As we wait for more explicit plans from the new top brass, we're optimistic, and we look forward to working with these new people to make the biggest, best, brattiest possible Stranger we can make," The Stranger's Smith and Seling concluded in their letter to the public. "And we hope you all will continue along with us on this journey, or at least continue yelling at us in the comments."

📸 Featured Image: Seattle Police investigate a fatal assault in the 12000 block of Aurora Avenue North in 2023. (Photo via Seattle Police Blotter)

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