Nearly 200 people pack public forum on improving public safety

A crisis center for people suffering from mental illness is in the works, and a new initiative to crack down on aggressive panhandlers is gaining political steam. More ideas for improving safety — and the perception of safety — in downtown Seattle were floated at a public forum Thursday attended by nightclub owners, social-service providers and others who live and work in the neighborhood.

Nearly 200 people packed the Market Theater in Post Alley to hear from city leaders on ways to address the kinds of chronic problems that, according to a recent community-policing assessment, prompt one-quarter of Seattle residents to avoid going downtown and make 40 percent of downtown's 56,000 residents afraid to go out at night.

"Downtown is just not feeling as safe as it used to be," said panel moderator Kate Joncas, president of the Downtown Seattle Association, which organized the public forum.

Making up the discussion panel were the city's top lawyers — King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg and Peter Holmes, Seattle's newly elected city attorney — along with City Councilmember Tim Burgess and Bill Block, the program director for the Committee to End Homelessness.

Burgess said felony crimes increased 22 percent in 2009 over the previous year from the South Lake Union neighborhood to Pioneer Square, according to Seattle Police Department crime data. Much of that increase is the result of robberies and thefts "in our downtown core," he said.

Burgess, who is championing a new initiative to crack down on aggressive panhandlers, said he wants the Police Department to bring back "fixed beat, foot patrols" from Belltown to the Chinatown International District. The anti-panhandling initiative isn't "an attempt to criminalize homelessness," but is meant to target "the street thugs" who aggressively demand handouts, he said.

Burgess also wants to ensure city budget cuts won't jeopardize plans to hire 21 new police officers this year and another 21 officers next year in an effort to boost the number of patrol officers citywide. "Cops are a deterrent, especially to the kind of street crime we're talking about," Burgess said.

Joncas noted that the open-air drug market that operates downtown "is seemingly impervious to our best efforts over the last decade."

Satterberg said dealing with the drug problem is imperative, given "the enormous financial constraints" the case volume places on the entire criminal-justice system.

Satterberg also pointed out that the world's great cities — for instance, London, New York and Rome — encourage visitors to explore on foot. But in those cities, "showcase areas" aren't also home to a variety of social services, as is the case in downtown Seattle.

"You've got to fight for downtown," Satterberg said. "Downtown is a safe place, but it's also a fragile place."

The Jan. 28 beating of a teenage girl in the downtown transit tunnel damaged Seattle's reputation — and the city needs to repair that damage, he said. But Satterberg pointed to the incident as an example "of what happens when you try and do public safety on the cheap."

"Those were $8-an-hour security guards," he said, referring to security workers who watched but didn't physically intervene in the assault, captured by video surveillance cameras. "There's no substitute for professional law enforcement."

Satterberg also said $6 million a year has been earmarked for a 16-bed Crisis Diversion Center where officers can take people "clearly exhibiting mental-health issues," instead of booking them into the King County Jail.

Finding a site for the program is proving problematic because "no one wants it in their neighborhood," but Satterberg said the hope is to have the program up and running this year — an announcement that was greeted with applause.

As for dealing with noise, fights and other disturbances that routinely occur after bars close at 2 a.m., the panel members said posting officers outside nightclubs and even staggering times when bars let out are among ideas city officials are considering.

But perhaps most telling was when Joncas raised the issue of youth violence and how to engage young people in constructive activities.

"Ideas?" she asked. The panel fell silent. Nervous laughter filled the auditorium. Finally, Burgess attempted an answer, pointing out that kids hanging out on the streets aren't typically involved in sports and don't frequent community centers.

"It's very complicated and we don't have a good answer," he said.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com