New public housing law permits drugfree zones
By Jason Oppie, Herald Olympia Bureau

OLYMPIA People convicted of selling and using
drugs in public housing areas will soon see double at
their sentencing hearings.
Gov. Gary Locke signed a bill Tuesday proposed by
Sen. Gary Strannigan, REverett, at the request of
residents of Everett's 148unit Grandview Homes. The
new law will let local governments designate public
housing complexes as drugfree zones. It passed the
House 980 last week after clearing the Senate 460 in
March.
Jail sentences and fines are often doubled for those
convicted of drugrelated crimes in drugfree zones.
Peter Low, a Grandview resident and head of the
community's security patrol, said he was proud of the
bill's success. "It's something we initiated."
Low, who testified in Senate and House hearings on the
bill, said SB5672 would make it safer for Grandview
tenants to go out at night by discouraging people outside
of the complex from preying on their children. Almost all
drugrelated problems at Grandview Homes, he added,
are created by people from outside the complex.
The drugfree designation and the signs that go with it
would "help break the stereotype that these are
complexes where that kind of activity is going on and is
tolerated," said Bob Davis, executive director of the
Snohomish County Housing Authority, when the bill
cleared the house.