Two weeks after Mayor Greg Nickels, a two-term incumbent, lost his
bid for reelection and ended a lifetime in politics, the reasons for
his failure have become conventional wisdom: He lost because of his
ham-handed handling of last December’s snowstorm, his support for a
$930 million tunnel to replace the viaduct, and his bullying management
style.
All true. But Nickels’s approval ratings were in the toilet long
before the streets looked like crap. Anyone professing shock at the
outcome—not to mention those in the mayor’s own camp who are
presumably paid to predict such things—missed obvious signs of
his vulnerability going back at least a year.
In South Seattle, lots of people could have told you he was on shaky
ground.
When kids as young as 14 were being gunned down in the streets
there, Nickels said the city had no problem with youth violence. Then
he said the news media had invented the problem. Then, with an election
looming and more teens getting shot each week, the mayor unveiled a $9
million initiative to prevent a problem he’d insisted did not really
exist.
“Nobody believes in the plan,” said Dawn Mason, a former state
legislator and community leader who regularly holds meet-and-greet
events attracting hundreds of people to her Hillman City home. After
decades in local politics, Mason has become something of a South
Seattle doyenne—enough so that Joe Mallahan twice stopped by her
backyard fish fries while campaigning. He won Mason’s vote and her
considerable influence. Nickels, meanwhile, earned only her
disgust.
Kids were getting shot, but Nickels did not show up at their
funerals or the community marches that followed. (He said he did not
want to be seen as grandstanding.) Meanwhile, in a politically
tone-deaf move, he was touting his ability to fill a proposed $200
million city jail.
“He is not connected with the community or with those who are really
doing the work to help kids,” said Mason, on her way to speak at a
March for Youth rally Sunday in the Central District. “I think it
backfired on him. All of that stuff was resonating, and those are the
conversations people were having. All of my fish-fry friends voted, and
they did not vote for Greg Nickels.”
For Mason, Nickels’s purported interest in preventing youth violence
smacked of insincerity. He made no public statement after De’Che
Morrison, 14, bled to death behind a car after being shot in January
2008. Nor did he say much after Allen Joplin, 17, was shot and killed
at a party that same month; or after Perry Henderson, 18, was fatally
shot one evening a few weeks later; or after Pierre “Pete” Lapoint, 16,
was gunned down that summer walking along Rainier Avenue South. In
September, more than nine months after youth violence began making
headlines, Nickels unveiled his multimillion-dollar plan to combat the
problem, though it wouldn’t get under way until more meetings and
arrangements had been made. Quincy Coleman, 15, was killed outside
Garfield High School a few weeks later. South Seattle residents were
screaming that their mayor cared only for downtown developers, that
black boys getting killed simply didn’t rate.
Did youth violence lose Nickels the election? That’s probably going
too far. But it did contribute to a general sense that the city wasn’t
running as well as it should. Even those who have long supported the
mayor admit that this summer—with a brazen daytime shooting
outside of juvenile detention, teens hit by bullets in South Seattle,
gunfire at the city-boosting Torchlight Parade, and a youth murder in
Leschi—has been the hottest for street crime in a long while.
Further, between January and June, the number of assault calls
involving guns jumped 58 percent over the same period last year.
“I don’t think it had anything to do with him losing the election,”
said James Kelly, president of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle
and a point man for Nickels’s youth-violence initiative. He attributes
the mayor’s loss to the snowstorm-tunnel-recession triad. Still, he
allowed, “People are worried about the shootings.”
On internet bulletin boards, posters repeatedly rip Nickels for his
flaccid response to crime.
“Dear Greg,” wrote one on SeattlePI.com, “What low crime rate?? Tell
that to the residents of South Park, the family of the young
storekeeper in Ballard, or the families of all the young men shot in
Rainier Valley this year. Get out of your limo and do something about
the gang violence, drunk houses, and rampant drug use in our
neighborhoods. We need proactive leadership, not reactive.”
Blithely, the mayor keeps touting statistics showing that his city
is safer than ever. But South Seattle resident Tom Acker isn’t buying
it. He filed a blizzard of public-records requests with the police
department and found that certain areas—the South End, in
particular—suffered a dramatic spike in homicides, assaults, and
burglaries through 2008.
The numbers validated Acker’s less-than-secure feeling, one echoed
by the Seattle Police Officers Guild after a patrolman waited almost 10
minutes for backup last summer while holding a suspect at gunpoint. “An
eternity,” in the words of guild president Rich O’Neill.
So while crime was merely part of the background din drowning out
Nickels’s reelection bid, districts that might have carried him by a
landslide ended up much closer. “I was surprised that 75 percent of the
voting population did not vote for Nickels,” Acker said. “But I was not
surprised that he lost.” 
I love that the stranger calls the south ends resident NIBMY’s when they want a comment from real ‘south end’ people. Those folks do NOT represent us but thanks.
“Kids were getting shot, but Nickels did not show up at their funerals or the community marches that followed”
Ahh yes, those ‘community’ get togethers that accomplish nothing because they refuse to address the core problem: young, unwed girls squirting out gang bangers willy nilly.
16 murders in a city like Seattle is nothing. Baltimore, with the same population (600+K), has had 144 so far. Same population, but….rather different demographics.
Claudia, your argument is unconvincing. It is undermined by the fact of primary election results from Southeast Seattle. Residents there gave MORE VOTES to Nickels than they did to Mallahan, McGinn, or any other mayoral candidate. That’s not exactly Southeast Seattle getting up in arms to throw out the Mayor now, is it?
You were somehow not aware of this? Peter Masundire wrote an excellent article about this over a week ago in the Rainier Valley Post. http://www.rainiervalleypost.com/?p=1565… .
Chris Rock knows what the problem is:
http://tinyurl.com/8fg5v5
Best solution to gang violence in the CD?
Gentrification!
It’s already working wonders.
When a white person gets shot in the south end, the mayor will be all over it. This is an interesting chart created by Ray Akers from rainiervalleypost.com….
Incident #1
Thursday, August 27th, after midnight.
911 Emergency; report of multiple shots fired.
Local police response, including Guardian One helicopter.
No report of arrests, outcome unknown.
No media response.
No report on SPD blog.
Incident #2
Friday, August 28th, 9:30 PM
911 Emergency; report of multiple shots fired.
City-wide police response, including Guardian One helicopter, K-9 units, SWAT officers, and command staff.
State Patrol response.
I-5 closed in both directions for 3 hours.
Police set up perimeter blockade of neighborhood.
Police notify residents to “stay indoors and turn on outdoor lights”.
Police cooperate with Blockwatch Captains, providing real-time updates to community.
Police apprehend one suspect, without incident.
Tear gas fired at second suspect; suspect apprehended without incident.
Local TV stations dispatch multiple reporters; live satellite broadcasts & real time videos are supplemented with on-air witness interviews. Local broadcasting is preempted for over two hours as all stations go ‘live’ to the scene.
An ‘AK-47′ semi-automatic rifle and an ammo can were confiscated.
Detailed report on SPD blog.
Note: Both crime events happened in Seattle, 24-hours apart. Incident #1 occurred in Southeast Seattle and Incident #2 occurred in North Seattle.
Rotten, maybe it’s the novelty of white people gang banging that attracts interest?
Rotten you also have to remember, up here in the Great White north the sounds of gunfire on the streets is so rare, we’re not really well ‘educated’ on what to do. Up here in Wallingford, a ‘troubled’ kid is one who line jumps at Dicks.
Rotten you also have to remember, up here in the Great White north the sounds of gunfire on the streets is so rare, we’re not really well ‘educated’ on what to do. Up here in Wallingford, a ‘troubled’ kid is one who line jumps at Dicks.
Of course no one wants to deal with violence in the south end or the U district.
Keeping the slums as slums is the city’s answer to “affordable housing”.
If they cleaned up the slums, rents would go up. Suddenly the people who make your coffee and bring you your lunch wouldn’t be able to rent in the city anymore. Having a large, readily available and local “service class” of citizen is of vital importance to the wealthy.
“Having a large, readily available and local “service class” of citizen is of vital importance to the wealthy.”
That’s right, so make that latte asap and I’ll give you a nice tip little fella!
“Keeping the slums as slums is the city’s answer to “affordable housing”.”
No one is too poor to pick up trash in their yard and Mayor Nickels didn’t make these kids turn into thugs, their parents did. So hurry up and move to Kent why don’t ya, we got some gentrication to do in the CD.
@12: Don’t move to Kent; it’ll be under water in a few months.
The Mayor was at TYRONE LOVE’s FUNERAL and the RALLY that raised money for his funeral.. KUN LUV
“The Mayor was at TYRONE LOVE’s FUNERAL”
Did he get a “RIP Tyrone” t-shirt to show off to all the honkeys at the West Seattle farmer’s market?
I don’t remember Norm Rice or Paul Schell attending any funerals when they were in office. One year in 1990’s 30 Black young people were killed and perpetrator was also Black. All on the monies in those years went to law enforcement like WEED & SEED. This is the only Mayor who put real dollars toward getting youth of gangs.
“that black boys getting killed” … by other black boys.
You morons act like “violence” is some kind of airborne disease that floats around and attacks innocent youfs and forces them to kill each other.
HELLO AFRICA
“If they cleaned up the slums, rents would go up”
=======
If they cleaned up the slums, the blacks would shriek “racism”.
In fact, they already do.
Nice theory, but too bad the article offers exactly zero proof to back anything up. Anecdotes don’t make for evidence, and other than a couple of worn out community activist windbags and an anonymous blog commentator(those are your experts? yikes!) yapping here and there, this article has absolutely nothing to it. Where are the statistics? Did you even ask Nickels for a comment? It would have been really easy to just ask King County elections for some district by district poll results, which wwuld have blown your hypothesis right out of the water. Geographical election results will show that Nickels did well in the south and west, his perennial stronghold, despite what the article claims. But hey, why let those pesky little facts get in the way, right?
And what does that gun assault comparative graphic supposed to add? I see no correlation between it and youth violence, as it provides no evidence that youth gun crimes are up. Sorry, but I think this is sloppy journalism at best, irresponsible at worst.
Nice theory? True theory. Nickles may have supporters among those living near the lake but all of us in the lower rent areas of the RV and CC have been feeling abandoned by the city for the past 2 years as we have been counting bodies and witnessing a spike of criminal activity in our neighborhoods. On my street, the length of about 3 blocks, we’ve had 4 burglaries (that I know of) this year. Two women have been mugged at nearby bus stops, one injured in the attack. There have been several car thefts, numerous car prowls and acts of vandalism, grafitti is popping up everywhere. My neighbor recently opened her back door to find two strangers smoking crack on her steps. I have seen police chasing suspects down my street a couple of times, but until very recently, I’d never seen a cop cruise through on patrol. With the advent of the train and the change of command at the South Precinct, we have seen more patrols and this gladdens us, but we wonder how long it will last. Just anecdotes? Maybe. But these are not isolated anecdotes. Read the RVP and you will see just how widespread is the suspicion among its residents that the south end is getting the short end the stick. The comment by South End Cop gives one more perspective.
http://www.rainiervalleypost.com/?p=1500…
Even if you believe that the mayor did all that he could to combat these problems, there is definitely one thing he did not do, that is to recognize and confront the depth of disillusionment among south end voters with his management of the problems we face.
“Nickles may have supporters among those living near the lake but all of us in the lower rent areas of the RV and CC have been feeling abandoned by the city”
Oh I see, by south end you don’t mean all of the south end, none of the whitey, richy-rich parts count, just the selective parts that make your facts work. Great logic there.
Again, why should I give a sh*t about gang bangers killing each other off? And sorry, since when do baby mamas and their criminal offspring even vote? You can bet voter turnout in the Great White North was higher than the poop shoot that is the Rainier Valley.
“we have seen more patrols and this gladdens us, but we wonder how long it will last”
..and aren’t you the same kinds assholes who as soon as the cops do start patrolling will start screaming about profiling? You can’t fucking win with you assholes….let you stew in your own juices and do yourselves a favor, stop squirting out fatherless gang bangers.
Given the apparent lack of regard for Seattle’s low income neighborhoods, would someone please explain why Nickles has been so gung ho about annexing White Center?
” apparent lack of regard for Seattle’s low income neighborhoods”
I agree, the people who live in these ‘hoods have no regard. You’re never too po’ to pick up trash on your lawn.
“why Nickles has been so gung ho about annexing White Center?”
A lot Asians, Somalis and politically conscientious whites, most of whom all like to work, stay in 2 parent homes and believe in the value of education.
Hey lookie here! Actual reporting and fact checking! And guess what, Claudia is flat out wrong.
How Seattle mayoral candidates fared by geography http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/po…
The basic premise Claudia’s article is wrong. Simple reporting (making phone calls, looking at public records/results) would have easily shown that.
Here’s an example.
How Seattle mayoral candidates fared by geography http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/po…
@GreenWater, this is precisely the point that I made 6 days ago in comment number 3.
I know she inserted some weasel words (“Did youth violence lose Nickels the election? That’s probably going too far.”), but the basic premise of Claudia’s article is faulty because of the actual “primary election results from Southeast Seattle. Residents there gave MORE VOTES to Nickels than they did to Mallahan, McGinn, or any other mayoral candidate.”
I included a link to an article by Peter Masundire posted in the Rainier Valley Post 15 days ago (the link was gobbled). Here is the link again: http://bit.ly/OGXnD and again.
Your link to this morning’s Seattle Times article says the same thing.
People get into territorial pissing matches and start shooting each other and it’s the Mayor’s fault?
Ok, the man is far from competent. But c’mon people. Guess it’s just easier to blame the mayor than to actually get involved or for people to take personal responsibility. Join a community center, work with council of neighborhoods, get zoning ordinances changed, go on a night patrol with the police, petition the Council to get more officers to patrol certain neighborhoods, work with the Parks Board to get the community center hours extended, something. Just complain and go back to your latte, put in your earbuds and update your facebook status.
crime is up in Belltown as well – welcome to America! Where we keep people down in the slums and then get upset when they are pissed off with their guns and disturb everybody else.
” Residents there gave MORE VOTES to Nickels than they did to Mallahan, McGinn, or any other mayoral candidate.”
Well, you have to understand, she is not including white people’s votes. She’s only counting the votes of baby mamas and gang bangers and from what I hear, the two who did vote, may not have voted from Nickels.
Again, 16 murders in Seattle is nothing. Baltimore with a smaller population, but way different demographics, has had 144 so far this year.
” Join a community center, work with council of neighborhoods, get zoning ordinances changed, go on a night patrol with the police, petition the Council to get more officers to patrol certain neighborhoods, work with the Parks Board to get the community center hours extended, something”
DO all that and rents and home values will sky rocket.
Claudia, given your background, you should be writing better researched articles than this.
I’m getting increasingly pissed off by all the slagging of Rainier Valley. I wouldn’t live anywhere else in this racist city. I’m white. I like the diversity of my neighborhood. Gangs exist throughout the city, not just in RV.
And to the fool who blamed the parents, you have my pity. Obviously you have no idea what you’re spouting off about.
Blacks make up only 8% (eight percent) of Seattle, but somehow blacks committed over half (fifty percent) of the murders in Seattle in 2008, and it looks like they have a rate of about 85% (eighty-five percent) of the murders in 2009.
That does not even count non-murder violent crimes, of which they have a solid rate of at least 85% (eighty-five percent) also.
Someone please explain why the anti-skin-pigment people, anti-progress folks, the bigots and sexists and haters – the anti-americans & traitors in other words, are hanging out reading something so base and vile to their sensibilities as the Stranger?
Or, are you sending out your seceret code…?
Just big ole closet cases, right?
@35: By your tunnelvision glance at the facts, it would be also true to blame the neighborhoods: over 55% of local criminals in 2008 came from the low-rent, low-density districts. Leading the question; “why are so many folks identifying as black choosing to tough it out in these bad neighborhoods?”
Could also be more accurate to say that those identifying as whites get away with more crimes for longer; “Why are law enforcement missing so many white murderers, like Ridgeway, Bundy, et al? And so much property/dollars lost to white thieves, like Enron, 401ks/Banks, and billions in mortgage scams?”
“With whom could they POSSIBLY be wasting all their time & resources , fruitlessly pursuing, misdirected like idiots???”
Trellis/88keys/greenwater/roger et al: the article isn’t trying to be a court case and doesn’t claim Nickels lost *because* of SE Seattle turning on him (in fact, Claudia says twice that’s NOT a fact). It’s a news story meant to open yuppie Cap Hill/caphill wannabes’ eyes to the reality of youth crime politics in this town. The subtitle: “How the Mayor Blew It on Youth Violence… in the minds and hearts of people dealing with it in their neighborhoods” would be more accurate.
Methinks the misogynists doth protest too much. And it’s cute how y’all miss ECB and shit…
Lesson: Stats are stupidly fluid. And stats don’t serve to provide solutions. They serve opinion makers, bigots and politicians (damn, got redundant there, sorry). And yes, terribly irresponsible child raising, (in general, not on the part of the victim’s parents necessarily), IS 25% to 50% of the problem. Giving those parents more time to do right, and more tools to succeed – that’s society’s challenge.
Claudia Rowe… experienced news writer and new Stranger editor. One expects credible work, and….
… after a handful of basic verifiable facts, the key points of evidence in her piece are… an internet message board, a couple of random quotes, and info per a phone call from a Mayoral spokesman who may or may not have changed his story between speaking to her and another news source. And it’s unclear what the idea of this piece is, other than to kick the corpse of Nickels’ career.
Welcome to the Stranger, Claudia. From the looks of the differences in your piece from your previous work, it looks like you’re already doing a fine job of fitting in with the paper’s shifting editorial direction.
I was about to write a letter to The Stranger about the importance of basic fact checking. Looks like many folks have already argued my case. To recap:
Aug 21: King County Elections posts an unofficial abstract of results, as of election night, broken down by legislative districtss. These show overwhelming support for Nickels in the South End.*
Sept 1: The Stranger publishes Rowe’s article, speculating that Nickels may have lost the election due to the lack of support of South End voters. The reporter speculates that this lack of support may be due to Nickels’ stance on youth violence. A small handful of people are quoted as representative of a huge swath of voters.
So Rev. Smith, the article:
1) Isn’t news. It’s not based on fact.
2) Doesn’t underscore the problem of youth violence in the South End. As Gomez comments, the idea behind it is obscure.
What it is, is misleading. Believe me, I think that youth violence in the South End is a serious problem. Aaron Sullivan was murdered near my front steps. Rowe’s article failed to give me a sense of what voters as a whole in the South End think about the issue, or how that thinking may (or may not) have contributed to the results of the Aug 18th primary.
*See http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/elec…