Mayor meets with U-District residents to discuss concerns about crime

Mayor Greg Nickels mingled with dozens of University District residents at Saturday's Farmers Market to let them know that he is taking their public safety concerns seriously.

Flanked at times by Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske and senior commanders, Nickels acknowledged that high-profile attacks in recent months have made residents nervous.

"But the underlying message is that this is a safe place," he told reporters. "We're working hard ... with the neighborhood to make sure we get the people who are responsible for those attacks and we restore the sense that this is a great neighborhood."

It wasn't all law and order at the mayor's public safety open house, held at the Farmers Market Saturday morning. There were also representatives from the University of Washington, the Department of Neighborhoods, Seattle Public Utilities, the Department of Planning and Development, and Seattle City Light.

But crime was on the minds of most residents because of a series of recent incidents.

One of the most high-profile attacks in recent months was the Jan. 8 assault of a 22-year-old female University of Washington student, who was struck in the head with a hammer. The woman was confronted by an assailant as she went to move her parked car. When the attacker demanded her car keys, she refused, and he beat her.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been several other events that have grabbed the attention of both residents and the press, many of them taking place within a roughly one-mile radius of the U-District. These crimes have included fights, a robbery and even a stabbing.

While police recently arrested at least nine people, including four suspected of home invasion robberies, the person who attacked the UW student with a hammer has not been caught.

Following these incidents, North Precinct commanders in February increased the number of officers in patrol cars and on mountain bikes.

During busy periods in a day there are on average 40 officers patrolling the North Precinct, Lt. Clay Monson has said. But police said increased "emphasis" patrols will continue in the spring and as necessary.

The mayor also touted other measures to improve police enforcement. The city is making a concerted effort to hire more officers, he said. The current plan is for the city to hire 20 additional officers each year through 2012.

Police department commanders have also redrawn patrol districts to better balance workloads and resources, with one officer typically responsible for a certain area. In the past, Nickels said, an officer could spend his or her patrol time in an area other than their assigned beat.

The department has also improved its communication with the University of Washington Police Department, Nickels noted.

As he was explaining his policing plans to reporters Saturday, residents at the public safety meeting approached, each with their own personal crime stories.

One woman told the mayor that people smoke crack cocaine nightly in an alley near her home. Nickels said police would look into her concerns.

Another woman complained that vandals have painted graffiti on her house five times since 2006. She later brought her concerns to a neighborhood community police officer, and was pleased to learn that the officer maintains an e-mail list to alert residents of neighborhood police news.

Victoria Brown, 67, was shopping at the market and said she doesn't feel safe at night in the neighborhood. She lives in another part of Seattle but often visits friends and colleagues.

While Brown liked the mayor's Saturday community outreach effort, she wants to see if neighborhood crime decreases before she judges its effectiveness.

"We'll just hope that they're taking it seriously," she said.

For Nickels, one measure of progress will be if he returns to the market in six months and residents talk to him about other topics, like transportation, he said.

"Then, I think we'll have succeeded," the mayor said. "Right now, what they're talking about is not feeling comfortable."