|
We are headed into a busy holiday shopping and event season, and we want all our residents, visitors, and employers to feel safe and enjoy all that Seattle has to offer. That?s why on Thursday, Chief Carmen Best and I announced that our Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers will do extra patrols this holiday season.
 Beginning November 30, communities will see an increase in SPD patrol officers in nine areas where we see high traffic for holiday shopping and events. Our goal is to increase officer visibility to deter and prevent crime, to make people feel safe, and to ensure everyone can enjoy the season with their loved ones. SPD has deployed these kinds of holiday patrols previously, and we know they work.
We also know that as Seattle has grown, our ability to recruit, hire and retain officers has not kept up. Working with Chief Best, we?ve acted to help the City hire and retain more officers, and we?re starting to seeing a positive change toward hiring more officers than we?re losing. My 2020 budget plan would invest to do more to speed up hiring and improve retention at SPD.
In April, based on community feedback and our analysis of public safety data, we also asked SPD and other City departments to look at communities that need additional police patrol and maintenance. We deployed those pre-summer emphasis programs in seven neighborhoods, and we also launched summer emphasis programs. They?ve worked very well; when I?m out in community, a lot of times I hear from residents that they want more services and SPD presence in their community. That?s why my budget plan? would also invest to continue those emphasis programs in 2020.
As City Council completes its review of my 2020 budget plan, it?s critical that we retain these investments in public safety and our officers so we can continue to have the best community policing department in America.
Finally, I want to say thank you to all the officers who go to work every day in Seattle. As I told the officers I met with on Thursday with Chief Carmen Best during their roll call at the West Precinct, we are a changing and growing city, and our police officers work hard every day to help make a better Seattle.
The job of policing has changed, and we are asking our officers to do more and more. For example, last year, our officers responded to over 17,000 times to people in crisis, and used force of any type only 0.26 percent of the time, and when force was used, the overwhelming majority involved the lowest type of reportable force.
As Chief Best said, our officers are on the front lines of keeping Seattle safe every single day, and we?re grateful for all they do for our growing city.
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,
 
 This week, Mayor Durkan launched Affordable Seattle, a new tool to help residents easily and quickly identify which City-provided benefit programs they qualify for. Affordable Seattle makes it easier for residents to sign up for benefits ranging from discounts on their utility payments to two years of free college through the Mayor?s Seattle Promise College Tuition Program.
Instead of browsing through over 100 programs available at the City, County or State level on the City of Seattle website, Affordable Seattle allows residents to determine what programs they may qualify for in less than five minutes by entering their household size, income, and zip code. It also makes it easier for residents to find more information and sign up for programs for which they are eligible.?
The new Affordable Seattle is among the first the Mayor?s Innovation Advisory Council (IAC) projects to be delivered, and was developed in partnership with the City of Seattle Innovation & Performance team and IAC member Expedia Group.
Check it out.
 Sound Transit is conducting a survey to help them understand more about the challenges Sounder and Link light rail passengers encounter when paying fares, and which policies, practices and information would better ensure safe, equitable transportation opportunities for all passengers. This survey, which will be live until midnight on Friday, Dec 6, is available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, simple and traditional Chinese, Somali, Russian, Korean and Tagalog.
Take the survey.
In the run-up to the anniversary of her second year in office, Mayor Durkan met with a number of community partners this week, including Choose 180, the Female Founders Alliance, MLK Labor, and more. Check out some of the photos below!
 Mayor Durkan met with members of CHOOSE 180 to discuss their programming for young people.
 Mayor Durkan joins Heather Redman from Flying Fish for a standing-room only Q+A session about livability, affordability, technology and working together with technology startups at the Female Founders Alliance.
 Mayor Durkan and a young constituent discuss policy at the Child Care Assistance Program.
 Mayor Durkan and labor leaders celebrate her ?Most Powerful Labor Policy? award for her Fare Share plan.
 Mayor Durkan joins community members at a community celebration for her two years in office.
 The Mayor visits Seattle firefighters at Fire Station 25 on Capitol Hill.
 Get your own piece of the Viaduct: Saturday, November 23 and Sunday, November 24; 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Small pieces of concrete are available for free at the Waterfront Space at the corner of Western Avenue and Union Street. Friends of Waterfront Seattle runs the space to showcase plans for Seattle?s rebuilt waterfront. Here?s where and how to obtain a piece of viaduct history:
- Friends of Waterfront Seattle
- 1400 Western Avenue (corner of Western Ave and Union Street)
- Public hours: Wednesday ? Sunday, noon ? 5 p.m.
Laser Lizzo @ Pacific Science Center: Saturday, November 23; 9:00 p.m.
Gobble Up Seattle 2019:?Saturday, November 23; 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
 For this edition of the Weekend Read, we encourage you to check out Gene Balk?s latest deep dive into Seattle public transit and commuter data. It shows that more people than ever are choosing to trade ride-alone car trips for alternative transportation methods, including public transit, carpooling, and even walking:
In 2018, just 44% of the 444,000 Seattle residents who were employed drove alone to work on a typical day, according to the latest census data. That?s a huge decrease since 2010, when a solid majority (53%) of Seattle?s workers were solo car commuters.
Seattle?s 9 percentage-point drop is easily the largest decline among the 100 most-populous U.S. cities since the start of the decade. And we now have the sixth-lowest percentage of drive-alone commuters among those 100 cities. The lowest is New York, where only about 23% of commuters drive alone.
Slightly more than half of those 100 cities also experienced a decrease in the percentage of drive-alone commuters since 2010, but most were tiny compared with Seattle. For example, in nearby Portland, the number fell by less than half of 1 percentage point, and remains about 59%.
|
