SEATTLE — A war zone at his back door is reinvigorating Seattle City Councilmember Rob Saka’s public safety push to address gun violence throughout the city.
On March 30, Saka and his family heard gunfire erupt in their neighborhood, with an estimated 100 rounds shot during a vigil for a young homicide victim who had been killed earlier that morning.
“My neighbors, and now my constituents, were shocked and traumatized. Me too,” Saka said, who woke up his children from sleep to make sure they weren’t struck by stray bullets. “It was a war zone. It’s unacceptable, and our city needs to do better.”
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Saka said he has now experienced first-hand the sense of heightened fear that so many residents face after being repeatedly subjected to these traumatic incidents. Saka especially wants to focus on the North Delridge, Snake Hill, and High Point neighborhoods in West Seattle, which have been historically underserved.
“The people of Delridge, Snake Hill and High Point are fed up with the gun violence,” Saka said.
That is certainly true for Phil Brandt, who just a couple of weeks ago had dozens of rounds fired just feet from his home in High Point.
I believe it was 66 casings at 9:45 at night, a 9mm,” Brandt said. “Two of them went through the windshield of our car, with one of them going through our son’s car seat.
Brandt is angry about the violence and said it is time for accountability from city leaders and the Seattle Police Department (SPD).
“I called the Southwest Precinct non-emergency hotline 25 times over the course of 24 hours just to get the case number for the shooting, and I couldn’t get through once,” Brandt said.
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Saka acknowledged that while it falls to the Mayor’s Office to implement crime-fighting plans through SPD, he is making gun violence a top priority. Through his legislative powers, he said he will work to set policies, allocate resources, and hold city departments accountable for their work to improve public safety.
Yes we need more police. More specifically, we need a more proactive police presence and to be out there engaging in community-oriented policing, having positive interactions with policing before crime happens,” Saka said, adding that it doesn’t stop there. “We also need stronger intervention programs, more after school programs, more robust parks and programs at our parks.
When it comes to North Delridge, Snake Hill, and High Point, Saka shared results of an SPD assessment that attributes the rising levels of gunfire to a mix of gang activity and use of an adjacent greenbelt for illegal target practice.
Since taking office last year, Saka has backed more than a dozen new public safety laws, some of them related to gun violence. He has also supported programs meant to improve the recruitment and retention of officers.
Now, Saka is organizing a community forum to focus on public safety needs in West Seattle, which will help inform his policy priorities back in council chambers.
“Because when communities like High Point and Snake Ridge and Delridge win, everyone wins,” Saka said.
