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This week, I announced a series of proposals to advance public safety and dedicate new resources to community-based services and programs.
Seattle?s Chief of Police Carmen Best and I are deeply committed to ensuring all our communities are safe. In conversations with the Chief and her officers, it became clear that we need to do more to support our officers and build the best community police department in America. That?s why this week, I proposed investing $1.6 million to strengthen recruitment, speed up hiring, and improve officer retention at the Seattle Police Department. As Seattle grows, we have to make sure we are recruiting, hiring and retaining the most experienced officers who can provide public safety and are committed to lasting reform. I also believe we can expand our Community Service Officer program and continue supporting community-based emphasis patrols in 2020, which are an evidence-based strategy to fight crime in neighborhoods across the City.
 Continued growth means we also must ensure our?ability to deliver emergency and non-emergency services?keeps pace. One area where we have a great need is to better serve some of our most vulnerable neighbors with health care, behavioral health or substance use disorder issues. The City is launching ?Health One,? a team of specially trained SFD firefighters and civilian specialists that help people with non-emergency 9-1-1 requests for issues like substance use, non-emergency medical issues, and a need to access services. In addition, I am proposing new investments including four additional mental health professionals for SPD, a new dedicated nurse line for homelessness service providers to call for non-emergency medical needs; and dedicated nurses at our largest shelters. Having these additional resources means we can address medical and behavioral health needs with the right response. ?
 The complex intersection of behavioral health, substance use disorders, and the criminal justice system, deserved a more focused approach across jurisdictions in our region. While no single jurisdiction oversees all the tools, programs, or resources needed to address these challenges, it was clear residents and employers expected us to work together and make meaningful progress. That?s why yesterday, I stood with City Attorney Pete Holmes, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg to announce four new pilot programs that focus on people cycling through the criminal legal system in Seattle and King County. You can learn more about these pilot programs, which focus on our hardest to serve communities, here. In addition, the City will continue to support investments focused on alternatives to arrest and incarceration at every step of the system, from interactions with law enforcement, to diversion programs before a court filing, to reentry assistance after involvement in the criminal legal system.?
With these investments, we?re committing to address public safety holistically, because we know that true public safety means that everyone, regardless of their background or history, can have access to lasting opportunity.
As always, please continue to write me at?[email protected], reach out via?Twitter?and?Facebook, and stay up-to-date on the work we?re doing for the people of Seattle on?my?blog.
Sincerely,
Mayor Jenny Durkan
 
Mayor Durkan joined thousands of women?s basketball fans ? including U.S. Women?s National Soccer team co-captain and local Seattle soccer star Megan Rapinoe ? to watch the Seattle Storm defend its third WNBA championship title against the Minnesota Lynx this week.?
The Storm won their matchup 84-74 to advance to the second round. The Storm?s next game will be against the Los Angeles Sparks at the Staples Center in LA.
 This week, Mayor Durkan announced $5 million in awards through the?Equitable Development Initiative?(EDI), part of the City?s effort to support Seattle?s existing residents and businesses in high displacement risk neighborhoods. Mayor Durkan announced the awards in Pioneer Square at the Chief Seattle Club, a human service agency that provides for the basic needs of their members, many of whom are experiencing homelessness. Chief Seattle Club is a recipient of this year?s funding.
The EDI fund, administered by the?Office of Planning and Community Development?(OPCD), was created to respond to the needs of marginalized populations, reduce disparities, and support access to opportunity in healthy, vibrant communities. The initiative is championed by community organizations concerned about displacement pressures and historical lack of investment that has occurred in communities of color in Seattle.
Read more to see which community-based organizations have been selected for funding in 2019.
Read more
Seattle Gathers to Remember September 11 Attacks
Mayor Durkan, along with the Seattle Fire and Police Departments joined community members at the Seattle Center September 11 Memorial Garden to recognize those we lost in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and recognize the contributions of the first responder community. Mayor Durkan, Police Chief Carmen Best and Fire Chief Harold Scoggins each delivered short remarks honoring the sacrifices of first responders, both in New York and Seattle, who risked their own lives to save the lives of others after the twin towers fell.
 
This week, the Seattle City Council, led by Councilmember Deborah Juarez (D5), adopted a resolution that acknowledges the crisis of violence against indigenous women and girls and vows to address it through a series of community-led systemic reforms that promote stronger government-to-government relations with tribes.
Mayor Durkan also announced this week that as part of her 2020 proposed budget, she would be including funds to hire a full-time Native American community liaison at the Seattle Police Department. This liaison would prove culturally responsive services to Indigenous communities navigating the criminal legal system and will help address this resolution to deliver on investments that address the MMIWG crisis.
 Saturday, September 14: Chinatown-International District Night Market
Seattle's original Night Market under the Chinatown Gate in historic Chinatown-International District.
C-ID Night Market is coming back on Saturday, September 14, 2019 from 4PM ? Midnight in Seattle's Chinatown-International District.
Enjoy a fun night filled with food, beer garden, local crafts & goods, art, and live entertainment. You wouldn?t want to miss this one!
Saturday, September 14: Georgetown Beer Festival The inaugural Georgetown Beer Festival celebrates the abundance of craft brewers in Seattle?s south end. As the ancestral home of Rainier Beer ? once the 6th largest brewery in the country ? Georgetown is our region?s original brewing district. The diverse offerings available at this event continue that tradition.
Sunday, September 15: Sea Mar Fiestas Patrias Sea Mar Fiestas Patrias commemorates the independence of Latin American countries, many of which celebrate their national independence day in the month of September. It is a festival to celebrate our history while taking pride in the new generations of Latinos that now call the United States home.
 For this week?s weekend read, we encourage you to read this story on the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance?s blog about Mayor Durkan?s participation at the Northwest Melanoma Symposium earlier this month.
When Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan was newly diagnosed with melanoma in January, her surgical oncologist acknowledged the delicate and difficult nature of having cancer and being the public face of the Emerald City.
?You can enter Seattle Cancer Care Alliance through the side door,? Dr. David Byrd, director of surgery at SCCA, told Durkan. ?Next thing I know, she is in the waiting room waiting for her turn.?
That decision to sit among patients, many of whom were likely her constituents, was pivotal for Durkan, who observed ?every age, every race, every configuration of person sitting in that waiting room. We were all the same. For me, it was an enormously connective moment with humanity.?
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