Let’s remember when Seattle decided it did not have the legal authority to ban hippies, on this day in 1968 (January 31)
Mildred Johnson was a concerned citizen who, in 1968, had enough of the damn, dirty hippies in the U-District, so she asked the city what they can do to get rid of them. The answer: not much.
HistoryLink says:
The problem came to the attention of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee when Mildred Johnson of 1404 NE 42nd Street asked for support against the “long-haired, dirty necked men” who were loitering in front of her apartment building and disrupting residents. She complained: “our neighborhood is becoming just like skid road.”
Councilman Floyd Miller asked the Chief of Police, Frank Ramon, whether the Council could do anything to control the problem, such as passing an ordinance. Ramon explained to the Council, and to the public, the difficulty in patrolling the area at all times, as well as the fact that loitering hippies always become model citizens as soon as a police car is spotted. “Simply stated,” he said, “we can’t arrest a person just for standing on the sidewalk.”
Read the whole thing (it’s short):
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