I met yesterday afternoon with Mt. Baker and Rainier Valley residents and business representatives, plus police and criminal justice officials, about street crime in their neighborhoods. We reviewed the Council-generated Safer Streets Initiative and had a good discussion about police staffing, alternatives to jail, drug treatment efforts (ala the lack of treatment-on-demand), and social services benefiting young people.
Yesterday's meeting was another in a series of neighborhood meetings council members have been having over the past few months as concerns about street crime have increased. Councilmembers Clark, Harrell, and McIver have been attending many of these meetings. Believe me, despite what some media reports indicate, council members are engaged on this topic; we're listening carefully to citizen concerns, we're talking with the police chief and precinct commanders almost daily, and we're working on long-term solutions.
We haven't been grandstanding or using these community meetings for political advantage; we're quietly doing our job. That means we're listening, planning for legislation, going out into the community, being present. We're also staying close to our police officers, riding along in their patrol cars, meeting with them on the street, learning from them. A week ago, Councilmembers Licata, Clark and I spent several nighttime hours with police in the West Precinct. Councilmembers Harrell, Rasmussen and I will do this again in the East Precinct tomorrow night. We've walked neighborhood streets, too, talking with residents who are deeply concerned about so-called "quality-of-life" or nuisance crimes that are tearing the fabric of their community. We've heard the cries of mothers and fathers concerned about violence, drugs, and gangs. I've listened to citizens plead for more police officers to be assigned to their neighborhoods.
It's ongoing work that in many ways--perhaps surprisingly--is so very satisfying. Being connected at the sidewalk level where we work, live, and play; indeed there's something fulfilling about that experience.