I agree with Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, the new City Councilor, on many issues. As a former teacher he shows a heart for the community and I’m glad he’s trying to be a change agent for District 2 on the East Side.
But I don’t agree with his story that there is too much police presence at high cost. Some might say I’m biased because my husband is a San Antonio detective, but listen to me.
Let me start with a recent trip more than 2,000 miles northwest to downtown Seattle that taught me a lesson. My husband and I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Downtown, near the Washington State Convention Center. We created unforgettable memories. It was our first visit and there is no place like Seattle. But the beauty of downtown Seattle is increasingly obscured by closed shops, homelessness, crime, and a lack of police presence – an evolving challenge urban cities across our country are grappling with.
Hope downtown San Antonio will never be like downtown Seattle that we experienced. Homeless people – many apparently drunk, drugged, or living with mental illness – gathered in and out of tents on sidewalks and shop doors. We saw few police officers. Retail stores, cafes and restaurants close before dark.
Many stores – Macy’s, Amazon Go stores, restaurants – have been permanently closed. More than 450 shops in the city center are closed, according to Seattle’s Mayor Jenny A. Durkan.
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A downtown homeless camp was evacuated due to increasing crime while we were in Seattle. This, as reported by local news, detailed police reaction times of more than 60 minutes. The smell of urine permeated the air and trickled down the sidewalks. Graffiti was over. “SPD kills” was sprayed on a street.
“Speed kills? Like the drug or like driving a car?” I said.
“Seattle Police Department,” corrected my husband with a heavy sigh.
As we stood in line at CVS Pharmacy, we saw a black man screaming profanity in the face of a white officer working there and threatening his life. The officer never took the bait. According to the Associated Press, more than 200 Seattle police officers quit their jobs last year, accusing the police of climate and city policies.
One night as we were walking back to our hotel, a man on a bicycle passed us with the warning, “Don’t drive down this street!” Obviously shocked, he said that someone was about to shoot another. When we made a short detour, we could see a crowd at the end of this street. We could hear screams. We wondered how companies can plan conventions in downtown Seattle.
San Antonio has its own challenges with homelessness and crime made up by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s not a Seattle.
However, policies and executives can profoundly affect downtown – creating more or less challenges that Seattle can deal with. As our progressive city guides work to recover from the pandemic and grapple with longstanding homelessness problems, they must view downtown Seattle as a cautionary example.
McKee-Rodriguez denied them, during an Aug. 17 working session on the city budget where Police Chief William McManus presented crime statistics, said: the increase in police officers and the budget did not translate into a decrease in crime. Actress Taraji P. Henson later shared a Grassroots Law Project picture of McKee-Rodriguez’s remarks, saying he was fighting “for real public safety beyond policing”.
McKee-Rodriguez is wrong.
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San Antonio has grown by 300,000 people in the past decade. While proposal B to lift collective bargaining with the police was only narrowly rejected in the May elections, city surveys show that the majority of residents want more police presence. Some of the largest consumers of police services are in the McKee-Rodriguez district.
There are more people in San Antonio, and As across the country, crime has increased.
Our city, which is dependent on tourism and is already severely affected by the COVID-19 closings, absolutely needs a strong police presence. It must also continue its innovative efforts to address the root causes of crime, help businesses recover, and move the homeless to safe spaces. There has to be a balance.
Let’s learn from Seattle.
Nancy.Preyor-Johnson@express-news.net