Seattle voters are getting ready to choose who will represent their district. Seven district seats will be decided, as well at two at large positions. KPLU’s election series, Back On The Block, revisits issues affecting each district and introduces us to the candidates.
We start with the South Park neighborhood, in District 1, which includes all of West Seattle. The candidates are Lisa Herbold and Shannon Braddock.They will need to win over the residents of South Park who say they are ignored by City Hall and are tired of crime happening out in the open.
Seattle’s District 1: South Park
The last time we visited South Park’s main intersection at 14th Avenue South and South Cloverdale in July, we met community activist Jeff Hayes.
“This is the main drag of South Park. It’s the main commercial center. We’ve been talking for about an hour and we have seen no Seattle police cars, no Seattle police motorcycles, not even any parking enforcement,” said Hayes, clearly frustrated.
There are a few Mexican restaurants, Napoli Pizza, and a large building on the southeast corner that has some abandoned storefronts and a medical marijuana dispensary.
Hayes was tired of all the crime that happens here. At the very least, he said, the children of the neighborhood deserve to have a safer place to live.
“Not walking by prostitutes on the way to school stepping over used condoms or needles when walking to the store to get a candybar. They deserve to walk to Napoli Pizza without a car pulling over and asking them to party,” said Hayes.
Two Candidates, Both With Experience In Government
Pretty soon, Hayes will know who to call to share his complaints and his ideas for positive change.
It will either be Lisa Herbold who believes, “no matter what walk of life you come from, public safety touches all of our lives,” or it will be Shannon Braddock, who says with this new system of districts, Seattle has, “the opportunity to have more accountability at the city level.”
Both candidates are long time staffers for elected officials. Herbold has been working for Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata for 20 years and Braddock is chief of staff for King County Councilman Joe McDermott.
’More Accountability At The City Level’
Braddock is fully aware South Park residents are frustrated by a lack of police presence.
“I also know there is a lot of work that people don’t see,” says Braddock.
Braddock is encouraged by more engagement by the Seattle Police Department. She says officers are doing a good job checking in with the South Park Community Council to update residents on various criminal investigations. Braddock is also optimistic about the department’s efforts to develop micro-community policing plans.
“For neighborhoods like Delridge, Admiral and South Park, to see what the specific concerns of those neighborhoods are, so they can have strategies to address them,” says Braddock.
’Public Safety Touches All Of Our Lives’
Herbold says the unique challenge for South Park, which is separated by busy arterials, SR 99 and SR 509, is sharing the limited resources of the Seattle Police Department’s Southwest Precinct with the rest of West Seattle.
According to Herbold, the precinct is down two community police officers. There have been three retirements and they have had to cut down on their bike patrols.
’Freeing Up Officers’ Time’
Herbold would like to bring back a program that was cutduring the Great Recession. It would hire community officers to be more like social workers than police.
“So if your landlord locks you out without having to go through due process, they will help get a tenant back into their property,” said Herbold. “They’ll help with utility shut-offs, which is another activity landlords engage in. But they are also active in freeing up police officers to do real policing by dealing with a lot of other civil issues like runaways - a whole slew of things.”
Freeing up officers’ time so they can patrol places like South Park is also one of Braddock’s goals if elected. Braddock would like to expand a program that refers low-level drug dealers and prostitutes to job training programs and housing instead of jail.
”[We should] redirect some of our services toward people who need substance abuse help or help with mental illness as opposed to having our officers manage all of that; because I know our officers want to do that.They want to serve the people who really need that help even if they’re the ones causing issues at the time.”
Whoever is elected might have more resources to work with to fight crime. Mayor Ed Murray has funding in the budget for 30 more police officers city-wide.
Meanwhile, South Park residents are still waiting for a mobile police precinct to arrive. It’s a trailer that serves as a home base for officers to make it easier for them to do foot patrols.
The trailer has yet to arrive. It was supposed to have been up and running back in May.
