By Todd Matthews

It seemed like business as usual for Eric Wirkman and his fellow Food Not Bombs (FNB) volunteers. Two weeks ago Wirkman was preparing to pack up the progressive group's weekly feed in Occidental Park when a police car cruised past, stopping nearby. Wirkman and the group were told by police that they had been "warned." According to Wirkman, police indicated that further action would be taken if the group set up in Pioneer Square again.

"From what I have seen," says Wirkman, "this is just part of a whole lot of police presence in Pioneer Square. Homeless folks have been telling us that police have been doing emphasis patrols and making themselves a lot more known in the area."

But the FNB run-in with Seattle police has more to do with paperwork than a police crackdown, says Officer Pam McCammon, a media spokesperson at the Seattle Police Department. "Technically, it is illegal for Food Not Bombs to host a feed in Occidental Park," says Officer McCammon. "I know that they set up frequently, and they do so unpermitted. If there is no permit, then there is no quality assurance about the food that is being served."

FNB has a history of setting up in Occidental Park and serving food to homeless and low-income people. The group also has a history of conflict with the police. In January 1998 FNB hosted a rally at Westlake Center and marched to Occidental Park -- an event that called much media attention to an ongoing "threat" by police to shutdown its charitable operation.

"This has been a continuing issue for us," says FNB member Chris Flanagan, referring to the permitting concern. "Periodically, we go through the rounds of making phone calls and contacting various bureaucrats in the Parks & Public Health Departments. Although we are trying to meet all the requirements of the health permit, we have found that the stumbling block isn't so much sanitary as it is political. The Parks Department will not give us permission to serve in Occidental Park. Therefore, the public health department will not give us a permit."

George Long, Park Scheduler at the Seattle Parks Department, says the main reason that feeds are not permitted in Occidental Park is logistics. "There are no restroom facilities at the park," says Long. "If somebody is serving the food and needs to use the restroom or wash their hands, there is no place to do that there."

Chris Martin at CleanScapes, an organization permanently employing seven homeless people to keep the Pioneer Square neighborhood clean of litter, is aligned with police, and shares concerns about FNB operating without a permit in Occidental Park. "If you talk to service providers, shelters, or the Health Department," says Martin, "you will find that nobody is saying, 'Don't feed the homeless.' What they are saying is, 'Feed the homeless in an organized place where there are sanitary facilities and the food is safe.' Food Not Bombs isn't doing that."

Rebecca Roush, Executive Director of the Pioneer Square Business Improvement Association (BIA), shares similar thoughts with Martin. "Occidental Park is a public park, and people come down to the park with good intentions. But they often leave the park worse off than they found it." FNB is costing Pioneer Square business owners quite a bit of money, says Roush. Currently the city is unable to clean the parks to the degree that the Pioneer Square neighborhood wants. As a result, the BIA pays CleanScapes to clean the parks once a day, on top of what the city provides. "In essence," says Roush, "the businesses of Pioneer Square are paying to clean up the mess left by Food Not Bombs."

Many people in the neighborhood wish that FNB would work with existing homeless services in Pioneer Square, says Roush.

A site established by city officials at the Public Safety Building is available for feeds -- a site equipped with washrooms and kitchen facilities. "It's a place people can go every single day and get food," says Long at the Parks Department. "It's not a hit and miss situation like Occidental Park."

FNB is familiar with the opportunity at the Public Safety Building, and has taken advantage of the facilities in the past. The group served there in 1997. But Flanagan says FNB was "pushed" out of the building and threatened with legal action. "During our time there," says Flanagan, "we had little contact with city officials or workers. The improved facilities that had been promised us at the location -- such as a vermin-free space, access to hot running water, and public sanitary facilities -- never materialized."

FNB plans to continue its program in Occidental Park, despite the furtive "fish-eye" from local law enforcement. And while Pioneer Square business owners and city officials see the matter as a permitting issue, FNB sees the conflict as something larger and more political. "We're not just feeding people," says Wirkman. "We are feeding people in a public place to call attention to massive inequity of power and wealth."

It may be a noble cause. But in Seattle, it's a cause that requires a permit.

This article originally appeared (in slightly different form) in Real Change newspaper.