New city budget putting some neighborhood services at risk

Please contact the City Council to advocate the restoration of the funds. During this time of cuts to public safety and social service programs, grassroots organizations, which facilitate community involvement in preventing and ensuring safety within their own neighborhoods are essential. It is much less expensive on many levels to actively involve citizens in preventing crime and promoting public safety at the neighborhood and precinct levels than it is to address each crime and safety issue one by one with no common understanding among the communities, the police, the prosecutors, and social services. Without this coordination the crime rate would likely climb and citizen anxiety regarding safety would increase. Fear, by itself, severely negatively impacts communities.

Below is a list of the City Council members:
Jean Godden Jean.Godden@seattle.gov
Richard Conlin Richard.Conlin@seattle.gov
Nick Licata Nick.Licata@seattle.gov
Tim Burgess Tim.Burgess@seattle.gov
Sally Clark Sally.Clark@seattle.gov
Sally Bagshaw Sally.Bagshaw@seattle.gov
Bruce Harrell Bruce.Harrell@seattle.gov
Tom Rasmussen Tom.Rasmussen@seattle.gov
Mike O'Brien Mike.Obrien@seattle.gov

Remember that SNG facilitates and supports the activities of East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition and coordinates meetings that include community members, the Seattle City Attorney and Seattle Police Department to address the many different strategies that make our community safer and more livable. Without this support the (EPCPC), a grassroots non-profit group established in 1989 would be severely challenged to be effective.... read more stated on SNG's web site ( http://www.sngi.org/welcome/...
read more
hp), "SNG's role with the EPCPC is to provide community organizing and outreach expertise, general staff support, leadership development, and fiscal sponsorship."

SNG and EPCPC are necessary for programs such as the Drug Free Communities (DFC),a prevention program addressing needs of middle and and high school youth and their families, to be effectively supported by the community.

SNG coordinates the First Hill/Capitol Hill Safety & Security Group, to ensure safety coordination among the security directors from Swedish Medical Center, Group Health, Harborview Medical Center, Virginia Mason, Northwest Kidney Center, Seattle Central Community College, and Seattle University.

SNG supports the Drug Market Initiative and ensures that the community is updated.

For more details visit: http://www.sngi.org/welcome/index.php

So SPD has Crime Prevention Outreach coordinators and Seattle Neighborhoods claims to so something similar. Please cut this six figure amount that the city gives to SNG!

Have you ever attended an East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition meeting?
While the crime prevention coordinators were and are a piece of the community activities coordinated between SNG and SPD, the issues here are different. Crime Prevention Coordinators do not organize the East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition meetings where citizens can come together to advocate for and support a variety of strategies to increase the safety and livability of a neighborhood,or mediate broader community concerns. The first time I met a Crime Prevention Coordinator was at an EPCPC meeting. He was among a number of persons there to meet with the community.

The East Precinct (SPD) lost their crime prevention coordinator position in this area and is currently sharing with another precinct.
The crime prevention coordinator works with individual citizens, businesses, and block watch groups on security and safety issues. Most often these are very specific such as how to better secure individual property or in response to community concerns expressed at an EPCPC meeting. I'm sure that they also work with officers who become concerned about an individual property.

hi, Andrew