SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell signed an executive order Friday establishing a downtown activation team pilot aimed at reducing crime and emergency calls.
The pilot comes after the city began operations in the downtown core in early September. Officials said the results were positive, prompting them to expand operations to the Little Saigon neighborhood earlier this month.
In the Pike/Pine area near Third Avenue, violent crime decreased 27%, and emergency service calls decreased 14% since efforts began, according to data from the mayor’s office.
"Our pilot is conducted to focus cleanings and connecting people to services working in partnership with community," Harrell said in a Friday morning news conference outside of Pike Place Market.
The team brings together service providers from across the city and coordinates safety operations downtown and in the Chinatown-International District and Little Saigon neighborhoods. It conducts targeted enforcement of “dangerous and disruptive behavior” and cleans and restores areas of concern.
Public safety is top of mind especially after a man was arrested for allegedly stabbing 10 people over two days in the past week in the Little Saigon area.
"We know what happened last week with all the stabbings," Jaclyne Manalastas said. Manalastas is the Chinatown International District's Public Safety Council Member and resident of Little Saigon. "It's scary but that's something we see that we are working on. I've seen in the couple of weeks, the city being clean and I thank everyone here for doing that."
Since September, the activation team completed nearly 200 restoration actions and over 100 graffiti abatements downtown, according to the city.
The team may be expanded to other neighborhoods beyond downtown and the CID based on need and resources, according to the order.
Harrell is expected to submit two pieces of legislation to the city council to support the pilot program, focused on deterring retail theft and stolen goods being sold in public spaces as well as maintenance operations.
The pilot program comes a year after Harrell announced his Downtown Activation Plan to make the city safer. In August, the city gave an update on the plan calling it a “roaring success.” Forty-three of its 46 initiatives were completed or in progress as of the briefing.