“I feel like the city can always do more. I feel like the community can always do more as well, in terms of embracing non-violence. In terms of community work, embracing non-violence is imperative to help preserve and sustain life, right? In terms of what the city can do, what they are paid to do, I think they need to invite and join arms with community members and see what are the concerns of the community, because the city cannot guess that on their own. They have to work with community.”
“Going out, the nightlife, I feel brothers and sisters going out to enjoy themselves are not protected because we don’t know what’s out there. Law enforcement is supposed to protect the people, but what are they protecting? They are not protecting us. They are giving out bogus tickets, speeding tickets. They are not patrolling the area. Back in the day when we were kids, they would patrol the streets and make sure that we were safe. And that’s what needs to happen—they should go back to the old ways.”
“Yeah, the city could do more to protect the people in the nightlife, especially in the Pioneer Square area, where there are a lot of shootings and even homeless people. People are breaking into cars during nightlife hours as well. You just never really know what can happen when you are out, even with the cars that are just driving around or driving by these areas. But I really do think Seattle could just do more to protect people when they are out.”
“Yes, I think they do, because I don’t want to be scared to walk around alone during the night as a woman with pepper spray in my bag. I just want to be able to walk around without having to carry anything, and listen to music through my headphones, and not having to worry about something going on around me or somebody coming up to me.”
“As a door guard, I know that Seattle isn’t doing enough to protect people during nightlife hours. It seems like there isn’t really much of a solution to very many things—as much as it’s just jumping in and trying to push people back. And even then, I have noticed that it’s really hard to get the police to respond in time or in the proper way to certain things.”
“In today’s environment, it’s a thin line on what we can expect from law enforcement and protecting the community. Social outings should be safe, but life is unpredictable. No telling what can happen in the midst of folks just trying to have a good time. Of course, alcohol and drugs play a major role in nightlife violence, but the city and law enforcement can and should invest in more protection strategies when it comes to safety in our nightlife realm.”
