Here’s a response to my rhetorical question from yesterday, about whether Dan Saltzman’s watermelon seed-spitting in Pioneer Square violated parks regulations, provided by Saltzman’s parks policy staffer, Matt Grumm:

Here is the code section:

20.12.030 Unlawful Urination or Defecation.

No person shall urinate or defecate in any park except in a convenience station designed for that purpose; or blow, spread, or place any nasal or other bodily discharge; or spit, urinate, or defecate on the floors, walls, partitions, furniture, fittings, or on any portion of any public convenience station or in any place in such station, excepting directly into the particular fixture provided for that purpose; or place any bottle, can, cloth, rag, or metal, wood, or stone substance in any of the plumbing fixtures in any such station…

It is obvious from this code language that City Council does not want folks spitting (and other unsavory bodily discharges) unless that discharge makes “into the particular fixture provided for that purpose”. I will argue that the annual Hermiston Watermelon Celebration, sanctioned and officially permitted by Pioneer Courthouse Square Inc., creates a “fixture” of brick area explicitly “provided for that purpose”. The purpose being, in this unique instance, to measure the distance the spit watermelon seed travels.

Hence this activity complies with our City Code.