The Seattle library system has problems it needs to deal with.

There are too many instances where people stumble into a library drunk.

There are problems with drug dealing, assaults, lewd behavior and theft.

But the library isn't going to solve those issues by targeting the homeless and the poor.

Among the stricter rules that the city is putting into place: Keep your shoes on and your eyes open.

Yep, even the appearance of sleeping is now verboten.

And slipping off your shoes while absorbing the anthropological wonders of Egypt is equally a transgression.

I’m not buying for a minute that the female executive who slips out of her 3-inch heels will get rousted with the same alacrity as the scraggly homeless woman whose toes are wiggling next to her well-worn loafers.

And I’m betting that the guy in the Gucci suit will still be able to close his eyes while contemplating the works of Frost even as the poor schmuck in the Army fatigue jacket will be set upon for taking too long between blinks.

I get that Seattle library officials have a job that's tougher than it should be.

But that doesn't condone an ever more restrictive set of rules that are clearly meant to single out the poor and the homeless.

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