The Friends of Denny Blaine community group is calling on the city to adopt its proposed “abatement plan” for meeting a court ordered-deadline to address complaints of nudity and sexual activity at the popular LGBTQ nude beach.
The proposal includes a plan that would add Seattle Park Rangers to Denny Blaine as well as new signage and a ban on “repeat offenders” who have violated public sex laws.
“The appearance of neglect, or the perception that Denny Blaine is a secret place far from the public eye, contributes to a handful of bad actors who behave as though the park exists in the City’s blind spot,” the group’s proposed plan reads. “Stating clearly that the City is aware of nudity and has expectations for how it can occur in the Park rejects those ideas, and deters the behavior that stems from them.”
CHS reported previously on the July 14th court ruling that granted a partial temporary injunction in a case brought by an organization representing unnamed neighbors calling for Denny Blaine to be closed to the public until the city addresses complaints of drug use, masturbation, and sex at the popular nude beach on the shores of Lake Washington east of Capitol Hill.
Superior Court Judge Samuel Chung has given the city two weeks to submit a so-called “plan of abatement.
The Friends of Denny Blaine group has been organizing a community response to complaints around the park including work parties and clean-up events. Its proposed abatement plan includes a call for the city to station a park ranger at the park “to prevent illegal activity and clearly distinguish between legal nude usage and nuisance” as well as add new signage that would help set expectations for visiting the park while also emphasizing existing laws:
A third component would prioritize policing of “repeat offenders” —
Public records, 911 logs, and surveys indicate that the overwhelming majority of nuisance incidents come from a small minority of users. We believe that enforcing pre-existing law and policy on public sex acts would hugely reduce nuisances at the park, especially if focused on the core group of offenders. A park ranger stationed at the park would be able to take swift action to ban offenders and enforce those bans.
The group’s leads say they would also like the Seattle Police Department to develop a “Micro-Community Policing Plan used to create a coherent, cohesive plan for how nuisances at Denny Blaine are handled while protecting First Amendment expressive nudity.”
The group is calling on city officials to adopt the proposal as the Seattle City Attorney prepares to respond the temporary injunction ruling.
The city will have its work cut out. While judge’s hearing seemed to leave room for the city to preserve nude use of the park and address illegal activity at Denny Blaine, the language of the written order presents a much more stearn position.
“The Court finds evidence submitted by Plaintiff and largely unrebutted by the City shows that the City has refrained from taking any action to address nudity and sexual acts in the Park,” the judge wrote. “While the City has indeed taken action to alleviate parking problems, it has elected not to reduce or eliminate nudity and sexual problems at the Park.”
How the city will respond remains to be seen. There are no hearings scheduled in the case next week when the judge’s deadline arrives. A hearing to consider a motion to dismiss the case is slated for late August.
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