We are kinda disappointed in you, Mr. Mayor.

You’ve been in office for 27 months, and you have yet to tell Seattle residents what your plan is to combat the city’s serious crime and drug problems. (We, and many others have been asking you for your strategy since you were elected on a tough-on-crime platform in 2021.)

We showed up to your first Public Safety Forum (held last Thursday evening at the 350-seat Downtown Seattle Library Auditorium), and it feels to us as if you are just now beginning to think about the issue.

Couldn’t this forum and the five upcoming (yet still unscheduled) regional “police precinct” based forums been held during your first two years in office? If this is the kicking-off event for obtaining public input on developing a public safety plan, why did it take so long to occur?

Once at your forum, we were not pleased with the limited voice given to the public. Yes, there were a few broad questions posed to the audience, yet only about half of the attendees responded. Remember, even you said this polling of the audience was “unscientific” and “meaningless” for the audience did not represent a true cross section of the city.

We were also disappointed by what you said.

When asked to describe the public safety successes during your time in office, you did not speak of any accomplishments, but instead you talked of “slowing the trends” and that the city is not deteriorating as fast as it was when you took office on January 1, 2022.

You did speak of “Acoustic Gunfire Location System” technology so police can be more prepared to respond to locations with high gun use. Yet this crime tool is almost irrelevant if police staffing levels, pursuit policies, and prosecution policies remain the same.

When describing necessary policy changes that need to be made, you copycatted other evasive progressive politicians and pontificated on the meaningless Democrat trigger issue of gun control. But you did not mention there were the same number of guns available to criminals before the recent crime wave started in 2020, that the many gun control measures recently enacted at the city, county, state, and federal levels appear to have had no impact on crime rates, and that the criminals in other communities have access to the same weapons, yet crime is not exploding like it is in Seattle.

You responded to concerns about Seattle Police Departments critically low staffing levels (the SPD is currently operating at 66% of staffing requirements). Unfortunately, you informed us that the city must lower its entrance standards to increase its recruiting pool.

Many of us at your forum were disappointed that much of the limited time allocated for the event (less than 90 minutes) was wasted on useless polling of the audience and by you repeating many stories of playing University of Washington football, growing up in Seattle, and your granddaughters.

Mayor Harrell, we expected more from you and this Public Safety Forum you hosted. You brought Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz, Fire Department Chief Harold Scoggins, Acting CARE Chief Amy Smith, and Seattle Human Resources Director Tanya Kim.

Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison and King County Prosecutor Leesa Minion were in the audience (but were never asked to speak).

Four of Seattle’s new city councilmembers (Joy Hollingsworth, Cathy Moore, Maritza Rivera, and Tanya Woo) also showed up for your event.

To have all of these government leaders in attendance and only speak of a slight slowing in negative crime trends, lowering standards for new officers, and more failed big government social programs, seemed to many of us to be a large waste of time.

As we departed the downtown library, Seattle’s stark reality hit us once more.

We again sidestepped the passed-out drug addicts and homeless encampments on the sidewalks.

We again drove past the numerous downtown street corners where illegal drugs and stolen items are being sold openly.

We again saw the numerous boarded up storefronts where small business owners closed their shops frustrated by the city’s failed efforts to stop retail crime.

Mayor Harrell, we want to stand behind you and other city leaders as you fight for meaningful changes in how Seattle combats crime, drugs, and homelessness. But you must give us something to support which will take criminals off the street, reduce the tragic number of drug overdose deaths, and provide opportunities to homeless individuals to obtain shelter.

As we have previously described, Seattle’s last five mayors disappointed the public and did not leave the office on their terms. We hope you can avoid the negative fate of your predecessors and serve those who elected you in 2021 by working with the new more moderate city council to pass meaningful public safety reform. It is what the citizens expect and deserve. . 

Mayor Harrell, we need your plan, and we need it now.