Seattle Neighbors Block 3 Aurora Side Streets With Planters After 40 Shell Casings Found
Updated
Updated · MyNorthwest · May 23
Seattle Neighbors Block 3 Aurora Side Streets With Planters After 40 Shell Casings Found
7 articles · Updated · MyNorthwest · May 23
Three residential streets at North Aurora and N. 97th, 98th and 102nd were blocked Saturday after neighbors hauled in steel planters following another overnight shootout.
Roughly 40 shell casings were found near Aurora Avenue N. and N. 98th Street, a week after bullets tore through a Greenwood home and passed near a six-week-old baby’s bassinet.
Residents said they acted after years of complaints and after promised street closures following last summer’s nationally noted Aurora shootout never received final approval from the mayor’s office.
A mayor’s office representative and Seattle transportation officials came to object, neighbors said, but residents refused to remove the barriers and said they were focused on getting through the weekend safely.
The standoff underscores widening anger over violence and sex trafficking along Aurora, where a city council member this week cited Seattle police staffing falling to about 861 deployable officers from 1,203 in 2020.
As residents and officials clash over street blockades, who truly controls the safety of a city's neighborhoods?
When residents use planters to block streets from crime, is it a valid community solution or dangerous vigilantism?
With police understaffed and crime plaguing multiple neighborhoods, can Seattle's current safety strategies actually succeed?