Burgess was a lead Councilmember for the  “Safer Streets Initiative” a 12-part program to address aspects of social disorder.  According to Burgess, “(i)t’s a beginning designed to address a complicated set of problems. The Initiative would pair police officers with mental health professionals to respond jointly to incidents, create alternatives to jail or hospitalization, continue the city’s plan to increase the number of patrol officers in our neighborhoods, increase financial penalties for patronizing a prostitute and use the funds to restore peer-counseling and support groups for women involved in prostitution, create safe housing and transition services for children involved in prostitution, impose civil and criminal penalties on business owners and property owners who ‘knowingly allow criminal behavior to occur and fail to take steps to stop it,’ call for more assertive policing targeted at gangs, illegal weapons, graffiti, and open-air drug markets, re-establish the city prosecutor’s High Impact Offender Targeting Program, and return School Resource Officers to some Seattle Public Schools.”

Councilmember Burgess is chair of the City Council’s Public Safety, Human Services and Education Committee and also is the Vice-Chair of the Planning, Land Use, and Neighborhoods Committee.