Monday, March 30, 2009

New Information on the Mayor's Youth Violence Prevention Initiative


For anybody who might care to wade through 38 pages of the mesmerizing prose government bureaucracies churn out, here is the most fleshed out info I've seen yet about the goals, methodology, and implementation of the Mayor's Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. Nothing on specific partners the City will be working with though.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Crime & Crime Prevention in the East Precinct

The Central District News reports that, according to the SPD, crime was down last month in the East Precinct. This is great news, as long as it's true. Past "errors" concerning crime statistics for the South Precinct make it clear that great news about crime in high crime neighborhoods should be met with some skepticism.

In other ambiguously good news, though the City cut the East Precinct's Crime Prevention Coordinator position at exactly the worst time, given the gang wars in the Southeast and Central Districts, the Central District News reports that, between the Mayor's office and the SPD, there is some will to restore it.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

SEDC Approves Statement on Youth Violence

Last night at the Southeast District Council meeting, the group voted to approve the following statement on youth violence:

The youth violence problem in the Southeast Seattle is severe and getting worse. Our South Precinct is understaffed and should quickly be staffed up to the levels promised. The mayor and city council should give the youth violence issue the attention it deserves and sustain that attention until the issues are addressed. The member organizations of the Southeast District Council endorsing this statement pledge to involve themselves directly in whatever way they are able to support SE's youth, schools, and families, and recommend that the city takes neighborhood and business groups into account as the city formulates its youth violence initiative.

All attending groups voted yes except the Othello Neighborhood Association, which abstains on all votes, and the Rainier Othello Safety Association, which considered the statement too weakly worded.

I hope ROSA will make its alternative "statement with teeth" widely available, follow through on whatever action they propose, and lobby other groups in the Southeast and Central Districts to join them. I'm sure other SEDC members will be interested in taking as active a role in confronting our youth violence problem as ROSA clearly intends to.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Fantasy Basketball

Sometime soon, Mayor Nickels will appoint a new police chief. Whether it ends up being Diaz, Metz, or some dynamic outsider, it would be a mistake to pin too many hopes on his choice because no police chief will care enough about youth violence in the Southeast and Central Districts to solve the problem. It’s our kids that are getting killed and we’re the ones who suffer in this atmosphere of insecurity and violence. Looking to somebody from the outside to come in and solve our problems is a recipe for continued disappointment.


The following excerpt, from a story in the Seattle Times on gangs in local schools, illustrates the point:

Because of those hostilities, Garfield, in the heart of the Central District, and Rainier Beach, a south end school, didn’t schedule a basketball game this year.

“We decided it wouldn’t be appropriate at this time,” said Robert Gary, principal at Rainier Beach. He said the concern wasn’t students but “outside elements” who might make students afraid to go to a game at Garfield or Rainier Beach.

Reading this, it’s hard not to click your tongue and think “so it’s come to this?” With this one act, the City, schools, and police showed that the problem is beyond them. Pity a public school or neighborhood or society whose agenda is set by feuding boys.

Read the Full Article

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Elected Officials & SE Seattle Leaders Need to Get Serious About Youth Violence Epidemic

On the occasion of his annual State of the City address, Mayor Greg Nickels was in our neighborhood spreading election year cheer about crime. A mile from the spot where, a week and a half before, gunmen had shot 19 bullets into the living room of a woman who was home alone watching television, he called the crime rate in Seattle “a cause for optimism.” These past months, the Mayor has rarely missed an opportunity to tout with satisfaction the historic lows in crime he’s presided over.

As euphoric as our public officials are about the low crime rate, when it comes to the youth violence problem in the Central and Southeast Districts, they are unusually circumspect, describing it in terms of “perception”. The gang war in our neighborhoods has been lumped together with issues like public urination under the rubric “perceptions of social disorder.”

Read the Full Article