Seattle CEOs demanded a public safety plan. City Council says Wilson’s response is “more of the same”

Thirty-eight of the Seattle region’s most prominent business and community leaders are asking City Hall for something fairly straightforward: a public safety plan, a timeline, and a way for residents to tell whether it is actually working.

In a Sept. 10 letter organized by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Challenge Seattle, and the Washington Roundtable, executives called on Mayor Katie Wilson and the Seattle City Council to develop a 100-day public safety action plan with measurable goals and monthly progress reports.

The list of signers is difficult to dismiss. It includes Microsoft President Brad Smith, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, Costco CEO Ron Vachris, Alaska Air Group CEO Ben Minicucci, Nordstrom co-CEO Erik Nordstrom, Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman, T-Mobile Vice Chairman Mike Sievert, Puget Sound Energy CEO Mary Kipp, Weyerhaeuser CEO Devin Stockfish, and former Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, now CEO of Challenge Seattle.

Their requests are specific.

They want regular foot and bicycle patrols in neighborhoods with persistent public safety problems. They want Seattle to recommit to its seven-minute standard for the most urgent 911 calls and publicly report when that standard is not met. They want a coordinated strategy for shutting down open-air drug markets. They support offering treatment and shelter to people using illegal drugs, followed by arrest and prosecution when people repeatedly refuse help and continue breaking the law. They want restrictions on camping close to parks, playgrounds, and schools. And they want surveillance cameras operating in Pioneer Square, the Stadium District, and other high-event areas.

None of those ideas is particularly novel in American urban policy, but the situation in Seattle is dire. According to information provided by Nordstrom, for example, its downtown flagship received an officer response to just 29 percent of its 911 calls. The company said its Bellevue and Southcenter stores received officer responses to every call.

San Francisco faced many of the same problems and has changed parts of its approach. Its municipal code requires the police department to maintain a strategy for targeted foot and bicycle patrols. The city also operates public safety cameras under rules governing where they can be installed, how footage can be used, and how the program is audited.

Perhaps most relevant to Seattle, San Francisco has paired outreach and treatment with a coordinated effort to disrupt open-air drug markets. Its Drug Market Agency Coordination Center brings multiple agencies together for targeted enforcement while street outreach teams continue connecting people to treatment, shelter, and care.

The coalition pointed to an August poll of 500 registered Seattle voters in which only 34 percent said they were confident the city had an effective public safety plan. Eighty-six percent supported requiring a 100-day plan with measurable goals and monthly reporting, according to the poll cited by the coalition.

Five days after the business letter, Wilson released her own gun violence reduction plan, much of which involves reorganizing, expanding, or continuing programs already underway. The proposal does nothing to address Seattle’s persistent police staffing shortage, even as Washington ranks last in the nation for officers per capita. 

Her proposal also immediately drew criticism at City Hall.

The City Council did not vote on Wilson’s proposal that day. Instead, hours after the mayor unveiled it, councilmembers voted 7-0, with two abstentions, for a separate resolution sponsored by Councilmember Maritza Rivera.

Councilmember Debora Juarez was particularly critical of the mayor’s proposal.

“This is not a plan. It’s a picture, a window, a rearview window. It’s not forward-looking … no vision, and we’re already doing these,” Juarez said. “We’re already doing this, and we did it in the administration before that and before that.”

Rivera separately said she was “underwhelmed” and described Wilson’s proposal as “more of the same.”

The Council’s alternative calls for Seattle to enter a two-year, roughly $418,000 partnership with the National Network for Safe Communities, based at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, to help the city implement a focused-deterrence strategy.

Unlike broad enforcement strategies, the model attempts to identify the comparatively small group of people and networks driving a disproportionate amount of serious violence. Law enforcement, community leaders, and social-service providers then work together to contact those individuals with a clear message: help and services are available for those willing to step away from violence, while continued violent behavior will bring targeted law-enforcement consequences.

NNSC would also analyze Seattle’s violence patterns, help coordinate agencies and community organizations, provide continuing strategic guidance, and evaluate the city’s results after two years. 

And unlike an entirely experimental approach, focused deterrence has produced measurable results elsewhere.

Philadelphia adopted its Group Violence Intervention program using the same basic model. An independent University of Pennsylvania evaluation found that groups receiving the intervention experienced an average 38.6 percent reduction in weekly shootings. Groups engaged at least twice experienced a 50.3 percent reduction.

Connecticut has also used the NNSC model through its statewide Project Longevity initiative, which operates in Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Waterbury. The strongest evaluated results came from New Haven, where researchers found the program was associated with a 37 percent reduction in total shootings and homicides and a 73 percent reduction in group-involved shootings and homicides. Project Longevity subsequently expanded across Connecticut, including to Hartford.

The Council resolution is nonbinding, meaning the 7-0 vote does not itself force Wilson to enter into the NNSC contract. The unresolved question is whether the mayor will agree to the Council’s request to bring in NNSC to help implement and independently evaluate the approach.

That debate matters as Seattle competes with neighboring cities and other states not only for visitors but for jobs, investment, and employers. That competition has become increasingly visible.

WaFd, one of Seattle’s longstanding financial institutions, announced this month that it will combine with EverBank in a $3.9 billion transaction. Company materials say that after the merger the combined holding company will be headquartered in Bellevue, while the bank itself will be headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. The companies’ investor presentation lists the new headquarters structure.

Seattle now has two approaches on the table. Wilson is proposing to better coordinate and expand programs the city is already using. A 7-0 Council vote, meanwhile, is asking the administration to add outside expertise with a proven track record and a structured focused-deterrence model with a two-year evaluation.

For residents and employers, the underlying question raised by last week’s CEO letter has not changed: What is the plan, what will it cost, and how will Seattle know whether it is actually working?

Image: Seattle Channel / City of Seattle