A local business owner is so fed up with crime, she is moving her business out of Seattle and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said Thursday he agreed something must be done to protect people and property.
Debe Franz, owner of A Bit of Taste — Queen Anne Olive Oil Company, who felt compelled to do something after a series of events made it clear to her that something needed to be done at the community level to address these issues. “This isn’t just a business problem. This is a neighborhood problem. This is an everyone problem,” Franz said.
Franz said her first “watershed moment” of recognizing Queen Anne businesses were at risk happened in 2019 when she learned someone stole $25,000 in merchandise from Queen Anne Dispatch during a break-in and robbery. Slowly, more reports of incidents via a business Instagram group came to her attention. “It’s just part of this progression,” she said of the criminal incidents. “It definitely got worse after COVID got going.”
“I cannot have my 20-year-old employee closing my store and putting her at risk by encountering someone like that on her own,” Franz said. Franz said, because the coalition is still forming, it is too early to say what the end product will bring.
“We don’t really know what to expect … because, quite frankly, we’re all a bunch of volunteers,” Franz said. “It’s going to be very chaotic and messy, but what we really all want is to make the community better.”
With each of the stakeholders communicating and collaborating, and a plan to include as many businesses and community members, Franz feels positive Queen Anne Together will accomplish its goals. “If you want to make a change, then you really have to make a change in the system,” Franz said. “You have to involve the whole system. By bringing all the diverse players to the table, then I know we can make a difference for this neighborhood.”
‘A Bit of Taste, Queen Anne Olive Oil Company,’ will be closed in the neighborhood by the summer. Franz is moving the store to continue business in Snohomish.
“I get very emotional about it because I care about people and I care about my business,” Franz said. “I care about my customers and I care about my city. I would say to city leadership: get your act together. Think about what a community needs and do what you need to, to support your businesses.”
The mayor did not go into specifics, but he said he will give a plan Friday morning on something people will see in a couple of weeks and months to address crime.
In a statement, Citywide Councilmember Sara Nelson said in part:
“Property crime and the burdens it places on small businesses is a serious issue, but this is also about violent crime against people – The fear and trauma that these frontline workers and customers experience has no price tag. We need to first raise this issue as the emergency that it is. We are not only losing businesses but jobs. We need to give small businesses and/or neighborhood chambers a direct point of contact with a designated person in the Mayor’s office who will serve as a “Crime quarterback” if you will to aggregate information from across the city on incidents and hotspots and share it with SPD, Seattle Fire, the Dept of neighborhoods and other relevant departments.”
