Tim Burgess' City View

Building Community

I had an interesting experience last week when I brought together two very distinct, focused and important groups in our community: downtown business leaders and representatives of the music and nightlife industry that is thriving in Seattle.  It was a long overdue and hopefully continuing conversation. 

Read all about it here at Publicola. 

More Help for Neighborhoods

The City Council unanimously adopted a new city ordinance this afternoon that will allow for abandoned and problematic single family homes to be demolished faster than current city law allows.  Some of these abandoned homes become magnets for crime and neighborhood disorder. Coupled with a new Chronic Nuisance Property ordinance adopted by the Council last week, this new ordinance is another helpful tool to improve public safety in our neighborhoods. 

Help On The Way! Council Passes New Chronic Nuisance Law

The City Council voted 8-0 (Conlin excused) this afternoon to adopt a new Chronic Nuisance Property ordinance that is designed to stop frequent criminal activity at commercial and residential properties across the city.  We have worked on this legislation for just over a year and it was personally gratifying that all of my colleagues supported this work.

The new law will help people protect their neighborhoods, including some who have lived with drug trafficking, prostitution, and other street-level crime for years.  Unfortunately, there are some property owners who don't care about their neighbors and they allow all sorts of criminal behavior to flourish.  These owners destroy neighborhoods and the Council said today with its vote that we've had enough.

The legislation gives the city an additional tool against property owners who knowingly and repeatedly allow criminal activity on their property and fail to take steps to stop it.  Under the ordinance, following police investigation, the city can seek a court determination that a specific property is a chronic nuisance.  Court-ordered penalties could include fines up to $500 per day that the nuisance continues, a $25,000 fine if a property owner fails to respond to city attempts to resolve the nuisance, and other nuisance abatement steps the court may impose. 

Citywide Crime Stats Thru September

	2007 to Sept	2008 to Sept	2009 to Sept	% Change 2009 Compared to 2008
Homicide	22	21	15	-29%
Rape	73	95	83	-13%
Robbery	1125	1120	1332	19%
Agg Assault	1507	1272	1536	21%
Total Violent Crime	2727	2508	2966	18%
Burglary	4493	4798	4938	3%
Larceny	17129	16543	18480	12%
Veh Theft	4686	2666	2258	-15%
Total Property Crime	26308	24007	25676	7%
Total Major Crimes	29035	26515	28642	8%

Tough Budget Decisions: Let's Not Overlook Young Girls Coerced into Prostitution

Seattle and King County governments face bleak budget forecasts that will force some very tough budget decisions.  Very good programs that serve people throughout our region face cutbacks in their government funding.  My colleagues and I on the City Council will begin making these touch choices this week; our colleagues on the King County Council face similar decisions.  In many ways, there are no winners and we will agonize over our votes.

But there is a group of young people we should not overlook: children and young women forced into prostitution through coercion, intimidation, and overt violence.  A special report commissioned by the City of Seattle in 2008 documented up to 500 juveniles (children 17 years of age and under) involved in street and Internet prostitution, some of it orchestrated by gangs and other organized criminal groups. 

Sunday's Seattle Times cast this crisis correctly and urged funding for a unique safe house option for prostituted children.  Read the editorial here.  Here's an earlier story documenting this issue. 

Help the Officer!

I thought I made it through the weekend fairly well, until I read this post at Seattlecrime.com.  The post includes a transcript of a portion of the radio communications between Officer Britt Sweeney and the police dispatcher last Saturday night.  As I read the transcript tears welled into my eyes.  I felt like I was living through the incident, like I was present as it unfolded. 

Read it and you will capture a glimpse of what our officers experienced over the weekend.  Here's the link in full:  http://www.seattlecrime.com/2009/11/02/the-call.

Officers Killed While Serving in Seattle

Last Thursday afternoon, a few dozen police officers and citizens gathered in the lobby of police headquarters to honor the sacrifice made 62 years earlier that same day when Officer William T. Rumble was killed while patrolling in downtown Seattle.  Officer Rumble's three adult children were there as Interim Police Chief John Diaz presented them with the department's Medal of Honor. 

It was a privilege to stand in the audience and reflect on what policing was like following World War II in Seattle, and then to speak briefly with the officer's children who grew up without their dad. 

Two days later on Halloween night I would be summoned to Harborview following the death of another Seattle officer. Another life lost to senseless urban violence, this time in a hail of gunfire at pointblank range. 

Seattle Officer Slain

A Seattle police officer was shot and killed while sitting in his parked patrol car on 29th Avenue just north of East Yesler Way late Saturday night.  The officer's partner escaped serious injury.  The officers were not on a specific assignment at the time of the shooting.  The slain officer was a Field Training Officer.

I learned of the incident by phone while attending a Halloween Party on Queen Anne Hill.  I immediately went to Harborview Hospital, then to the scene of the incident.  Mayor Nickels was also at Harborview.  This is the type of event I've dreaded, but knew was possible.  I'm sure we'll learn more in the coming days. 

Just Friday evening, Joleen and I attended the annual banquet of the Seattle Police Foundation, an event that honors employees of the police department for their service.  How tragic that 24 hours later our city would be mourning the senseless murder of one of our officers. Click here to review the list of line of duty deaths involving Seattle police officers. 

My prayers are with the officer's family and friends and all of our police officers who serve us with distinction and grace. 

Public Safety Risk

Budget cutbacks at the state level will create some serious challenges on the sidewalks of our cities, including here in Seattle.  This article posted today at SeattlePI.com frames the issue well.  Back in August, Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and I organized regional leaders to speak with a unified voice to urge restoration of the Neighborhood Corrections Initiative officer cutbacks.  Read a copy of our letter to the Governor and Secretary Vail at the Department of Corrections:  Download Gregoire-Vail_2009-08-24.

Tunnel, Fire Station, Museum

Three important votes at City Council this afternoon. All votes were 9-0.

1. Council voted (yet again) that city policy supports the State's decision to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a deep-bore tunnel under downtown.
2. We voted to support relocation of the Museum of History and Industry to Lake Union Park.
3. We ended a four-year ordeal and voted to site Fire Station 20 at 15th Ave and West Armour St.