Seattle will no longer prioritize minority applicants to a community gardening program after a conservative group threatened to sue the city for race discrimination.
The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods told the Pacific Legal Foundation this week that it had "reevaluated certain elements" of the P-Patch program, which placed black, Native American, and "Latinx" applicants at the top of its wait list. Citing an "internal review," the city said in a letter that it would "no longer assign priority status to program applicants based on race or ethnicity." It also confirmed that applicants would no longer need to sign an "antiracism" statement acknowledging that "historical and systemic barriers … have disproportionately excluded underrepresented communities from gardening."
The Pacific Legal Foundation had argued that both provisions violate the U.S. Constitution. Andrew Quinio, an attorney for the group, said the city's reversal was a win for equality and individual freedom.
"I am encouraged by Seattle's removal of race-based garden assignments from its P-Patch program," Quinio told the Washington Free Beacon. "The entirety of the city should be governed by a commitment to treat all individuals equally. We will continue to look after the individual rights of Seattle's residents."
This is the second time in a week that a blue city has removed racial preferences from a government program under legal pressure. Citing an investigation by the Justice Department, officials in Multnomah County, Ore., said on September 1 that they would no longer consider race or sexual orientation when allocating homeless services. The county, which includes most of Portland, used a points-based scoring system for allocating homeless services that awarded additional points to those who spoke English as a second language and requested "culturally specific services" and "LGBTQ services," the Free Beacon first reported.
