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Capitol Hill businesses join letter supporting mayor’s ‘public safety’ spending proposals

A roster of more than 100 Seattle businesses including several with Capitol Hill-area locations has come out in support of Mayor Jenny Durkan’s proposals for public safety spending in the 2020 City of Seattle budget including hiring more police and maintaining the city’s homeless encampment clean-up team.

“The dysfunction of our criminal justice system has a significant impact on small businesses, residents, workers and visitors across our city,” the letter calling on the Seattle City Council to support the mayor’s spending proposals reads.

“Many of us are ourselves victims of repeat criminal activity enabled by this broken system.”

Included among representatives from several real estate developers and business owners from across the city, many of the signers have Capitol Hill business connections including Angela Dunleavy Stowell, the current CEO of
Farestart who helped grow the family of restaurants including Tavolata and Rione XIIILinda Di Lello Morton and Tamara Murphy of Terra Plata, First Hill’s Hotel Sorrento managing director Shannon SheronJasmine Donovan, president
Dick’s Drive-In RestaurantsTravis Rosenthal, of the
Pike Street Hospitality Group and creator of the departed Tango and Pike rum bar Rumba, Aaron Barthel, owner of Intrigue Chocolate which operates a cafe and shop at 15th and Madison, and Jeffery Pelletier of 15th Ave E architecture firm Board & Vellum.

The letter — posted here by Crosscut reporter David Kroman who also reports on the council’s hopes for expanding arrest-diversion program LEAD, here — was sent out as hundreds spoke about the 2020 budget proposals during a five hour public hearing Tuesday night at City Hall. Mayor Durkan, meanwhile, also got an earful about public safety and the budget Tuesday as she spent the evening in Ballard for “a neighborhood tour and walk on public safety with City officials and business owners” and a meeting with community members “to discuss public safety and other community priorities.”

The council must finalize its roster of proposed additions, cuts, and updates to Durkan’s $6.5 billion budget proposal Wednesday. A final vote on the budget will come in November.

 

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Neighbor
Neighbor
4 years ago

Who pulled the strings to get “hiring more police” lumped together with “maintaining the city’s homeless encampment clean-up team”?

Ignoring such a stark division of intent is clearly designed to steer support towards camp removals (you can’t call a total dismantling and removal a “clean-up”). And people are falling for it.

RWK
RWK
4 years ago

It would be a major mistake if there is any reduction of funds for the Navigation Team. This group does important, effective work….and is one of the few positive contributors towards dealing with the homeless situation in our city.