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This Wednesday evening, during the peak of rush hour, our downtown was shaken by an incident of gun violence. In one of the busiest blocks in our City, bullets hit innocent people, including one child. On behalf of the entire City, I extend my most profound condolences to the loved ones of the person who passed away yesterday.? I also extend the City?s support and prayers to the seven survivors, as we wish them a speedy and healthy recovery.?
Our Seattle Fire Department and Seattle Police Department first responders were on the scene and administering aid within seconds of the first call. I?m incredibly grateful to them for their work to save lives. Following the incident, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) quickly identified three suspects, arresting and booking one of the shooters. The other two shooters have been identified, and a search is currently underway. If you have any information on either suspect, please call the SPD tip line at (206) 233-5000.
We also know that guns were not supposed to be in the hands of these individuals. As U.S. Attorney for Western Washington, I worked to ensure we prosecuted career criminals who were known to possess firearms, and worked to curb illegal gun sales throughout Western Washington.?
Seattle has some of the strictest gun laws in the state, from our safe storage law that prevents firearms from falling into the wrong hands, to our Emergency Risk Protection Orders which help take guns out of the hands of those who may pose a risk to themselves or others. In 2019, SPD took over 1,100 guns off the streets, and out of the hands of dangerous people. But ultimately, we can only control what goes on within our City?s borders. We need other cities, the state, and the federal government to step up and pass commonsense gun control laws, and we need it now. People?s lives are truly at stake.
 As Chief Best and I have worked to address public safety challenges downtown, I know we can and must continue to do more. Downtown, specifically the Pike/Pine corridor, has been a focus of the City?s public safety efforts for some time. Last year, we focused community-based emphasis patrols in the Pike/Pine corridor. In addition to regular SPD patrols, officers spent 5,000 additional hours in downtown Seattle, including this corridor and Pioneer Square to address public safety issues. SPD?s consistent work in the West Precinct allowed officers to arrive at the scene in less than 15 seconds. But both Chief Best and I believe we can add more resources to downtown, so we deployed two mobile precincts, one at the Courthouse and the other at Westlake Center.
We also know that true community public safety requires resources for diversion, youth violence prevention, and educational opportunity to address the root causes of violence. That?s why I proposed over $5 million of investments in last year?s budget to fund restorative justice programs that focus on keeping young people out of the criminal legal system by addressing larger underlying issues. ?
We also need to invest in community-based policing, which is why I proposed $1.21 million to expand the Seattle Police Department?s Community Service Officer program. We will be re-launching this program next month across the city to help residents navigate services, engage with communities and neighborhoods, and support programming for vulnerable youth.
We will continue meeting with residents and businesses across the city to ensure our actions are responsive to community needs.?
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.
 
This week, Mayor Jenny Durkan attended the 88th?meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. The Mayor had a packed schedule, moderating panels, meeting with other mayors, and meeting with Seattle?s federal legislators to discuss our housing and transportation priorities.
 Mayor Durkan served on a panel hosted by The Hill on 50+ Americans, discussing the many ways that Seattle is addressing the needs of our aging population, from increasing investments in affordable housing and transportation, to expanding access to the City?s Fresh Bucks program, which help low income people purchase healthy foods and fresh produce.
As part of a forum hosted by the Center for American Progress on the Future of Work, Mayor Durkan shared Seattle?s commitment to expanding access to postsecondary education through the Seattle Promise and Opportunity Promise programs, as well as our work to advance the rights and dignities of working people through our Domestic Worker Bill of Rights.
Weeks after announcing a record $110 million City of Seattle investment in low-income affordable housing development, Mayor Durkan?s Affordable Middle-Income Housing Advisory Council delivered a suite of strategies that government, the private sector, and community organizations can act on together to increase housing options available to working families and individuals.
The new approaches, which will be considered by Mayor Durkan over the coming months, are suggested tools to help create more opportunities for homeownership, bring more housing online faster, and increase housing options in neighborhoods throughout the city. Too?many of Seattle?s?working families, including?those who serve in our schools and hospitals,?in our restaurants, as?maintenance staff,?and who?keep our small businesses?running, struggle?to find?a place to live?in our City?that they can afford.
 Mayor Jenny A. Durkan was appointed to serve as Chair of the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) Automation and Future of Work Task Force. Under Mayor Durkan?s leadership, the Task Force will focus on developing innovative, progressive policies that center around youth opportunity and workers while addressing the changes caused by new technology and the gig economy.
?We are living in the most disruptive era since the Industrial Revolution. Long-term jobs are giving way to gig work, and real wages have barely budged for working people,? said Mayor Durkan. ?In Seattle we?re working to address this by implementing policies, like Fare Share and Opportunity Promise, that protect workers and ensure we?re developing a pipeline of local talent. I look forward to working with my fellow mayors on this Task Force to find new, innovative ways to fight for the rights and dignities of our workers in this rapidly changing economy.?
This year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Mayor Durkan and the Seattle Mayor?s Office Staff joined City Year to volunteer at Concord International School in South Park, Seattle. Mayor?s Office Staff were sporting Green Bay Packers?Seattle Sonics green and gold, thanks to a friendly wager that Mayor Durkan made with Mayor Genrich of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Check out some of the photos below.
 Mayor Durkan paints details of an MLK, Jr. mural
 Some photos of the Mayor and volunteers at Concord School
 Mayor Durkan and City Year coordinators pose for a photo
 For this week's edition of the weekend read, we encourage you to read an?op-ed by Mayor Durkan,?which ran in The Hill this past week. In this op-ed, Mayor Durkan argues that the federal government needs to do more to help major cities like Seattle?invest in true opportunities for the future of our nation:
Between 2005 and 2017, five coastal cities ? Boston; San Diego; San Francisco; San Jose, Calif.;? and Seattle ? accounted for more than 90 percent of the tech jobs created in the United States. In Seattle, we are the fastest-growing city over the last decade, with an influx of more than 140,000 new people.
Seattle is proud to be home to some of the most innovative and forward-thinking companies in the world, but we cannot deny that Seattle?s economic boom and rising costs have left too many behind, particularly working families, people of color and older Americans. The wealth gap in our city is felt urgently by many, including senior Americans on fixed incomes. The disparities have been made worse by the policies of this president and the lack of federal investments in education, transit, affordable housing and health care.
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