Safe, small-town feel means people don't miss the big city

By JOHN IWASAKI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The city has invested some of its revenues in beefing up its police force, adding about four additional police officers per year over the past four years. No murders have been reported in Lynnwood since 1995. Reports of crime dropped nearly 2 percent last year.

"We have a very safe community," Police Chief Steve Jensen says. "The primary issues, like everywhere else, are traffic, domestic violence and theft."

Perhaps not surprisingly in a city filled with shops and shoppers, thefts made up nearly 80 percent of the crimes reported in 1997.

"I feel it's a safe, close-knit community, even though it's grown a lot," says Jordan, mother of two children and a Lynnwood resident for almost a decade. "I think it's pretty kid-friendly."

She and her husband, Rodney, who works for a general contractor, recently discussed moving to a bigger house. "I said, 'Where do you want to live?' He said, 'Lynnwood, period,' " Jordan recalls.

That sentiment is not isolated.

"I feel safe in Lynnwood. I can never see myself living in Seattle," says Casey Jeppesen, 16, a junior at Lynnwood High School, as she paints a clay sculpture in art class.

Across town at Lynnwood's Sno-King Ice Arena, Ellen Kenny, who traveled across the country for a year with the Disney on Ice show, takes a break from teaching several pint-sized skaters.

"We're not really a small town. But we're small enough to run into people you know -- not every day, but every other day," says Kenny, 23. "Being to other places made me like it here more."

At Wight's Home and Garden, bookkeeper Teresa King can't remember the last time she ventured into downtown Seattle.

"I've been to the Space Needle and to the waterfront probably two times since I've lived here," says King, who moved to Lynnwood 33 years ago. "I don't like the crowds and traffic . . . everything you need is here."

Even Lynnwood's fabled traffic is not so bad, some residents insist, for people who both live and work in the city and don't need to rush back to Seattle.

"We're definitely a middle America town," says Karen Block, general manager of Wight's Home and Garden.

If she can't find what she wants in Lynnwood, she travels to Seattle to attend the theater and sporting events, and even to get her hair done. While joking that "you'll never starve" in Lynnwood because of the proliferation of fast-food joints, she wishes there were more fine-dining options.

"We do hunger for an identity other than a place to shop," Block says. "But I've been here 23 years and am totally happy."