Seattle City Councilman Tim Burgess is championing a 12-point initiative to reduce street crime.
On his city Web page, he relays an anecdote about a recent experience in Belltown:
"I stopped at First Avenue and Battery Street (Belltown neighborhood) to drop off my laundry. It was just after 7 a.m. A group of eight people - six men and two women - were standing near the door of the laundry.
"One man had wads of cash in both hands. He was dickering with one of the women over price. She protested, "too much," and 'more than last time.' Here was an open-air drug market, unfortunately a less than desired yet frequent example of commerce in our city."
According to Burgess, the initiative would primarily:
- Pair police with mental health professionals to respond jointly to incidents
- Create alternatives to jail or hospitalization
- Continue the city's plan to increase the number of police in neighborhoods
- Increase financial penalties for patronizing a prostitute, then use the funds to restore peer-counseling and support groups for women involved in prostitution
- Create safe housing and transition services for children involved in prostitution
- Impose civil and criminal penalties on business owners and property owners who allow criminal behavior to occur and fail to take steps to stop it
- Call for more assertive policing targeted a gangs, illegal weapons, graffiti, and open-air drug markets
- Re-establish the city prosecutor's High Impact Offender Targeting Program
- Return school resource officers to some Seattle Public Schools
