From South Dearborn to Denny Way, Seattle’s Third Avenue marks the spine of an area that could be papered over with the police reports used to track the crime within it.
During the past year, it’s been the setting for more than 3,800 incidents, everything from shoplifting and narcotics use to car theft, robbery, and shootings. 33 times, someone threatened to kill someone else. 91 times, someone was trying to vend cocaine. In this context, the King County Courthouse on Third Avenue seems conveniently located.
While any given crime is being committed, it’s likely that a great number of other people are either getting on or getting off a bus, as Third Avenue is also a transit-priority corridor, with Rapid Ride service and 42,000 daily boardings. Some are Macy’s shoppers, since the department store sits between Third and Fourth.
Almost a year ago, that confluence provided this Seattle Times headline: “Seattle looks to clean up Third Avenue transit corridor,” which also detailed how a 69-year-old man “had just taken a photo of the Macy’s Christmas star with his iPhone and was sending it to friends in California when he was jumped, beaten, robbed and left lying in Pine Street.”
This week, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Downtown Seattle Association President and CEO Kate Joncas signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA pdf), which lists a series of improvements to Third Avenue: “such as transit reliability, attractive streetscape design, pedestrian flow, criminal activity and coordinated support for individuals who struggle with extreme poverty, limited housing resources, mental illness and/or drug and alcohol dependence.”
The sprucing up will include real-time transit arrival information at all major stops; better-looking bus stops with off-board fare machines and new street “furniture” (i.e. garbage cans, vending boxes); and afternoon and evening cleaning of sidewalks. Meanwhile, the Seattle Police Department will assign foot-beat patrols to trouble hotspots, while directing low-level drug offenders to community and dependency services. Also, the SPD will seek court orders to prevent drug dealers from returning to “their” corner– a Stay Out of Drug Area (SODA) program.
For its part, the Downtown Seattle Association has agreed to work with the city to help the homeless and transient people who may need housing and hygiene services. Through the Metropolitan Improvement District (MID), a mental health professional will be has already been hired to help the mentally ill find treatment.
