The refusal of the Seattle City Council to make a plan to address public safety is an endorsement of the status quo. If only they weren’t trying to make it worse.

Councilmember Lisa Herbold’s Misdemeanor Loophole

Since October, we’ve kept the pressure on the Herbold Loophole, which would’ve legalized most misdemeanors in Seattle.

Last fall we shined a light on Councilmember Herbold’s end around the proper policy process to enact the largest change in Seattle’s criminal code in the city’s history. This winter we engaged our followers to ask the Seattle City Council to table the loophole indefinitely. To date, citizens have sent more than 18,000 comments to Seattle City Councilmembers on this issue, and we’ve helped to keep this dangerous proposal at bay.

Seattle City Council – Don’t Defund SPD Without a Plan

A recent article described downtown as a ‘Dystopian nightmare’ that has driven down property values. Unfortunately, this isn’t limited to downtown.

Little Leaguers in Ballard have been threatened for using ballfields and the parks department can’t do anything about it.

So of course the Seattle City Council was pushing to cut an additional $5.4m from the SPD budget. It’s not the first time we’ve seen the Seattle City Council’s efforts to cut public safety dollars with no plan, after all, even Council President Lorena Gonzalez pledged to cut SPD by 50%.

We saw their misguided proposal to cut an additional $5.4M without a plan and the data presented by SPD that response times are already at risk. We acted, generating more than 3,000 public comments to the Council.

The Seattle Times Editorial Board agrees, “Defunding police recklessly makes Seattle unsafe.”

So far the council is listening, they tabled their proposal for deep, unnecessary cuts, but we will continue to be vigilant.