It’s not easy to be hopeful about a restoration of public safety given Seattle’s heartbreaking homicide surge this year. But there are signs that even the progressive pols who run this troubled city are not content to allow a continuing doom loop of human degradation. Sarah Grace Taylor reports for the Seattle Times: After a summer debating a contentious drug enforcement bill, the Seattle City Council reversed course Tuesday, voting 6-3 to allow the City Attorney’s Office to prosecute knowing possession and public use of illicit drugs. The council adopted a state bill into the city’s criminal code that allows the city to pursue new state charges for both offenses in an effort to combat public consumption of drugs. Over the last three years, the use of fentanyl and other drugs on public transit and in other public places has become more prevalent. The controversial bill — which permits City Attorney Ann Davison to pursue gross misdemeanor charges for public drug use and possession — cleared the council after months of discussion, following a 5-4 vote against an earlier version of the bill in June. Even in leftist enclaves there appears to be a rising appreciation that citizens have a right to expect minimum standards of civilized behavior in public spaces and that it is hardly an act of compassion to accommodate addicts destroying themselves downtown. The city will still make efforts to get people into treatment programs rather than jail. But enough may finally be enough in the Emerald City. How refreshing and rare it is to find progressive politicians who are willing to admit mistakes. Let’s hope that Seattle’s city council members make it a habit.

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