In a Seattle Times op-ed piece yesterday, former Seattle police detective Timothy Burgess sounded the alarm about police and fire understaffing in Seattle.

Little more than 24 hours after the piece appeared - and doubtless a TOTAL coincidence - Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels sends out notice of a community meeting on how we can all pull together to fight crime and build bonds in our communities. Here is an edited version:

Dear Matt: I know that having a safe and healthy neighborhood is important to you, and it is one of my priorities as mayor. I want to invite you to a neighborhood forum to share your ideas about improving the safety of our community.

On Saturday, July 17th at 11 a.m. at Emerald City Outreach Ministries, 7822 Rainier Avenue South, we will talk about how to reduce crime and prepare for emergencies. We will also talk about how we can help each other and create partnerships that build community and prevent crime.

I will be there with representatives from the police and fire departments, public utilities, and many other city agencies to answer your questions about public safety. Many of the challenges we face can only be solved by departments working together with the community in a collaborative approach. I hope you can be a part of the discussion. Thank you for everything you do to make Seattle such a wonderful place to live.

Dear Greg: Sorry, but I can't make the meeting. Saturday morning I'll be cleaning up dogsh**, discarded diapers and litter on the playground at Seattle's Roxhill Park, where my children love to explore the great wooden labyrinth donated by a local community service organization.

But here are my non-collaborative suggestions. Hire more cops and firemen. Cut back sharply on social services and social engineering. Get live human beings to answer the phones at City Hall, not machines. Enforce the leash ordinance in Seattle parks, or rescind it. Currently it's a joke, and I'm tired of dogs bigger than you confronting my kids when they play hide and seek.

And stop nibbling around the edges on our city's crappy public schools. Advance an accountability initiative requiring the mayor to appoint the superintendent and school board.

Thank you Greg, for everything you do to make Seattle such a wonderful place to live.

Sincerely,

Matt

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at July 13, 2004 08:49 AM

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