West Seattle Bridge Update Yesterday we got great news: the construction contractor completed the final pour of structural concrete inside the West Seattle Bridge! SDOT’s announcement notes they: “…still expect to reopen the bridge in mid-2022 and can now work with our construction contractor to finalize the sequence of the remaining work…This week’s deliveries involved […]
Tag: Public Safety
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July 3, 2018January 6, 2023Councilmember O'Brien
Expanding LEAD to North Seattle
Less than seven years ago, the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, or LEAD, was little more than a local experiment aimed at breaking the cycle of arrest and incarceration. Initially launched with private foundation funds, the $950,000-a-year, four-year pilot program offered carefully chosen participants individualized alternatives to arrest. Today, LEAD is one of the City’s […]
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January 2, 2018January 6, 2023Councilmember Burgess
Trumps Dangerous Attacks on Rule of Law
Donald Trump continues to attack the rule of law through his continuing comments degrading the FBI, the Justice Department, and federal judges and by recklessly branding his political opponents as criminals. I wrote about this last August in the Seattle...
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February 28, 2017January 6, 2023Councilmember Burgess
Defending the Rule of Law
Over the past couple of weeks, it has been suggested that Seattle police officers should not be present at “anti-Trump protests” or instances of nonviolent civil disobedience. Further, the idea has been raised that police officers should be deployed to...
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January 17, 2017January 6, 2023Councilmember Burgess
Repeal the Death Penalty
Yesterday, Gov. Inslee, Attorney General Ferguson, former Attorney General McKenna, and several Democrat and Republican legislators announced they would introduce legislation repealing Washington's death penalty statute. I hope the legislature passes this measure; it's long overdue. I wrote about this...
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August 12, 2016January 6, 2023Councilmember O'Brien
Do No Harm and Do the Most Good
On July 27, in what felt like one of our warmest evenings of the summer, I joined almost 200 neighbors and community members in Ballard to have a conversation about the issues I’ve been hearing most about in recent months – homelessness, property crime, and drug addiction. The Safe and Healthy Communities Public Forum (video […]
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July 8, 2016January 6, 2023Councilmember Burgess
Mourning
This week has been difficult for me to process. On Tuesday and Wednesday, two more black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, were shot and killed by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota. As I struggle to balance my emotional...
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June 13, 2016January 6, 2023Councilmember Burgess
More Tragedy, More Inaction
Tragedy struck our country early yesterday morning in Orlando, Florida. Forty-nine people killed in an attack on that city’s LGBTQ community, dozens more injured. This was a hate crime and an act of domestic terrorism, just like the mass shooting...
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April 26, 2016January 6, 2023Councilmember O'Brien
Encouraging Safe Environments
As you may have heard, last Saturday afternoon a young man, believed to be using methamphetamine, smashed a window of La Isla Restaurant in Ballard and proceeded to use a shard of glass to attack and injure two people on the sidewalk outside. It is upsetting to see this happen in our community, and I […]
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April 8, 2016January 6, 2023Councilmember Burgess
The Long Road to Effective Management of Our Police Department
When Kathy O’Toole assumed command of the Seattle Police Department in June, 2014, she inherited a police department rife with staggering management challenges. For years, ineffective management had led to inconsistent practices, a lack of accountability, very poor tracking of...