Seattle Becomes Crime Horror Show as Businesses Beg Socialist Mayor to Do Something

Seattle has long been a hotbed of crime, open-air drug use, and other antisocial behaviors thanks to the city’s left-wing governance. But things have gotten shockingly worse in recent months following the election of socialist Mayor Katie Wilson last year – so bad, in fact, that major businesses are now publicly pressuring the government to do something about the city’s descent into lawlessness and chaos.

On September 10, more than 30 major Seattle companies, including Microsoft, Costco, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Alaska Air Group, T-Mobile, Zillow, and the MLB’s Seattle Mariners, signed an open letter to Wilson demanding a “100-day public safety action plan.” The letter specifically called for an end to open-air drug markets, hiring more police officers, turning back on CCTV cameras that the city has turned off, and banning homeless encampments near public parks.

While the city cleaned up homeless camps to make a good impression this summer during the FIFA World Cup, residents say officials have looked the other way and let the homeless once again set up shop again near parks. Social media users have documented Seattle’s green spaces filled with trash, used needles, and human waste, making them totally unusable for families.

Just this week, a man was stabbed in a park near the Pioneer Square area of Seattle. While the area does have CCTV coverage, police were unable to find the suspect thanks to a measure from Wilson’s office that turned off the cameras because Wilson was afraid the Trump administration might use them to arrest illegal aliens.

The companies are also demanding a recommitment to seven-minute 911 response times. According to the letter, Nordstrom found that only 29 percent of 911 calls to its flagship location in downtown Seattle resulted in an officer even showing up at the store.

The businesses behind the letter commissioned an opinion poll on their recommendations and found broad bipartisan support (75 percent or higher for each), while also noting that only 34 percent of respondents said they were confident that City Hall has an effective plan to address crime. Mayor Wilson’s approval rating sits at a dismal 37 percent.

Businesses also want to see an end to the controversial “Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion” program, or LEAD, where individuals selling drugs or engaging in prostitution are diverted “away from jail and prosecution to case management and other supportive services.” In effect, this program allows “low-level” offenders to escape jail time for their crimes.

Eyewitness reports affirm the program is failing, since “residents keep on complaining about continuing prostitution, which creates the potential for continued gun violence,” according to The Center Square.

“The Aurora Avenue corridor has been a long-time center of Seattle prostitution trade, with many of the sex workers being minors, but neighbors say that gun violence has gone out of control in recent months,” the news outlet reported.

The city also faces a vicious cycle, according to the police union. Officers are ordered not to enforce so-called “low-level misdemeanors” which create a nuisance around business districts.

No one wants to shop in an area where the homeless are allowed to panhandle, use drugs, or commit other crimes. So, businesses close up shop, and once booming areas become deserted (the city’s core area currently has a 35 percent vacancy rate), more crime proliferates as criminals take over former business districts.

“We need to be business friendly,” police union leader Kent Loux said in April. “We need to be attracting businesses, and part of that is enforcing low-level misdemeanor crime so that businesses can flourish, pay their rent, pay their employees, and ultimately pay their taxes.”

But that won’t happen anytime soon under current leadership. Wilson issued a response to the business leaders’ requests which effectively amounted to, “don’t worry, we’re working on it,” but stopped short of any concrete commitment to the proposals outlined in the letter.

Wilson did then release a safety plan, but beyond vague pledges to hire more police officers, it largely focused on typical progressive  language about “gun violence” and “community violence intervention.” In typical liberal fashion, Wilson’s plan involves showering millions of dollars on nonprofits and mental health services for teens even though the real problem is adult drug users and violent criminals.

Moreover, it appears that even police brass is totally unserious about addressing the severity of the crime problem plaguing the city. Interim Police Chief Andre Sayles recently drew national criticism after referring to criminal shooters as “trigger pullers.”

Sayles is the replacement for the last chief, Shon Barnes, who astonishingly lived in Chicago with his family and commuted to Seattle. He lost his job in the fallout from a disastrous response to a deadly food festival shooting in July. While Barnes was at a law enforcement conference at the time, the delayed response drew attention to his odd arrangement of maintaining a home in Chicago while working across the country.

Even some of Wilson’s fellow Democrats are becoming fed up with her failures. Joy Hollingsworth, the city council president, mocked Wilson’s ideas for sounding great in theory but failing in practice. “There have been too many people in this city that have workshopped their public safety dissertations on communities, right now,” the black female leader said.

While Seattle voters have no one to blame but themselves for the plight they now find themselves in, Americans everywhere should see the Emerald City as a warning of the dystopian vision socialists have for the entire country. Just as Wilson remains unbowed in the face of urgent pleas from business owners and law-abiding residents, so too will the growing legion of “democratic socialist” leaders refuse to back down despite the pain and suffering their policies cause.