The Seattle City Council is running scared – again – and this time it’s from Black Lives Matter activists who don’t want the city to build a new police station that has been in the works for years. One which the council itself voted to proceed with last month.
However, after protesters filled council chambers and said really mean things about the council members (“This is what fascism looks like”), the council has reversed course, curled up in a collective ball, and asked them nicely to go away – by essentially moving away from building a new North Precinct station with the dreaded decision that they are going “review it.”
That’s democracy Seattle style – if you yell loud enough, and tell liberal council members that they really are not that liberal enough, you get your way. Even if the Council – and Mayor Ed Murray think you are wrong, as they said in the press release that came with their surrender: “The City still strongly believes there is a need for a new police facility in North Seattle and remains committed to replacing the current building.”
We can expect years more of “Seattle Process”, with activists demanding more money for things entirely unrelated to public safety, but in the name of public safety. And you can expect the city’s police officers to continue to wonder whether the city’s elected leaders really are willing to stand behind them at all.
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