Proposed Statement on Neighborhood Youth Violence for Consideration by the SEDC

Here is what I will ask the Southeast District Council tonight:

Last week at a rally held in response to Tyrone Love's murder Mayor Nickels said that "we need to commit that it is the last time we see that happen in this neighborhood, in this community." But we know it probably will happen again in the Central District and in the Southeast District too, because nothing fundamental has changed.

We have to do more. It's going to take the best efforts of government, community groups, parents, and citizens together, offering mutual support and holding each other accountable to solve our youth violence problem

In order to start to come together as leaders around a problem we recognize as severe and escalating, to be watchful over the resources committed to our community, and to hold government accountable for the role it needs to play, I would like the SEDC to consider endorsing the following points:

• The youth violence problem in the South Precinct is severe and is getting worse
• The South Precinct is understaffed and should be staffed up to the level promised
• Mayor Nickels and the City Council should give the youth violence the attention it deserves

While these points, which the South Seattle Crime Prevention Council endorses, are not particularly specific or ambitious, they can serve as the basis for some consensus among community groups in the Southeast District.

The cycle of violence and retaliation is picking up pace, sucking more people into its logic, and inevitably touching citizens who have nothing to do with gangs. Something has to give.

At this moment, confronting gang violence and saving our children from harm should be the priority of southeast Seattle's community leadership, including the Southeast District Council.

I'm asking the SEDC to endorse these points as an organization, and for membership organizations to write letters to the Mayor and the City Council expressing their concern about youth violence in our community.