Weed and Seed was a 1992 Bush administration initiative to provide federal grants to city governments to help “weed” drug-dealing and crime from troubled neighborhoods, and “seed” those areas with social programs. Mayor Norm Rice procured a $1.1 million grant for a Weed and Seed program for Seattle’s Central Area, but approval was delayed for several months over widespread opposition to the program. Several community groups, as well as local and national organizations (like the ACLU), opposed the program on the grounds that it favored intensified law enforcement over new social and health programs, and would increase tensions between the police and minority residents. There was also a fear that accepting the grant would lead to more federal control of city programs. Proponents countered that the grant would bolster the effectiveness of community-police teams to improve neighborhoods, help support a health clinic, create programs for youths, and help pay for anti-drug programs. Many residents of the affected area, fed up with drug-related crime in their neighborhoods, also supported the program. Weed and Seed was eventually approved by the Seattle City Council in December 1992, after assurances that the city, not the federal government, would have the "ultimate authority" over the program, and adjustments to the program split the funds 50/50 between law enforcement and social programs, versus the 80/20 split cited initially.

About 200 people, representing both viewpoints, came to a December 3, 1992 hearing on the proposed Weed and Seed program, in advance of a Seattle City Council vote later that month. This photo shows attendees at the hearing carrying signs opposing the Weed and Seed proposal.

Caption information source: "Critics Battle City's 'Weed and Seed' by Mike Merritt, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 15, 1992, p.B3
Caption information source: "Weed and Seed Factions Dig In" by Ed Penhale, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 4, 1992, p. D2