SEATTLE — The King County Council approved a deal Tuesday that would transfer downtown Seattle's City Hall Park to the county.
The council voted 7-2 on the deal that would also transfer several county-owned properties within city limits to Seattle.
The deal still needs to be approved by the Seattle City Council.
Tuesday's vote comes after years of complaints about public safety.
The park is right next to the King County Courthouse, where county employees have been using security escorts to get to bus stops.
Some incidents in the area connected to the park include an attempted sexual assault in the courthouse bathroom and a man who was stabbed to death in the park.
City Hall Park used to be full of unsheltered people.
Once the park was cleared, Seattle city leaders saw it as a step in the right direction of public safety.
Some say that because of how close the park is to the courthouse, the county can provide better security with the King County Sheriff's Office, which is better staffed than the Seattle Police Department.
"Seattle Police Department, who have now lost 325 police officers in the city of Seattle, with a huge increase in crime as a result of that, just aren't in a position, unwilling or unable, whatever it is, to do the enforcement necessary to keep it safe," said King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn.
Both the county and Seattle City Council have already agreed to transfer ownership of the park, but the official vote will happen Tuesday afternoon during a Metropolitan King County Council meeting.
In return for the park, the city will get 13 county-owned properties.
Among these properties, Seattle will receive a 0.4-acre lot next to the South Park Bridge and Cesar Chavez Park, which the city plans to use to further its Duwamish Valley action plan and add to the future of the South Park Plaza to create additional community access and green space.