Seattle- High Crime Chasing Amazon Out of Downtown

 

Amazon will relocate all 1,800 workers from its downtown Seattle office as the area continues to be plagued by crime in the woke Pacific Northwest bastion, where the police budget has been cut by $36million since 2019 - and now other businesses are starting to do the same. 

Citing an increase in violent crime in the downtown Seattle area, Amazon made the announcement Friday that it would temporarily relocate its workers from their office at Third Avenue and Pine Street.

'Given recent incidents near Third and Pine, we're providing employees currently at that location with alternative office space elsewhere,' an Amazon spokesman told DailyMail.com in a statement.

'We are hopeful that conditions will improve and that we will be able to bring employees back to this location when it is safe to do so.' 

Amazon, which also has its headquarters in Seattle, employs a total of 1.1 million people in the U.S, and 75,000 in Seattle. The 1,800 employees at the downtown location are being given the 'choice of an alternate work location because of the safety concerns.'

The latest spike in crime comes just months after the Seattle City Council approved a 2022 budget that cut police department spending by more than $7 million - bringing the total to $35.6 million over the past three years - and drawing criticism from residents who urged the city spend more on public safety. 

Most recently, there has been a rash of violent crimes, specifically in the area of Third Avenue and Pine Street, that is pushing people away from the downtown Seattle area. 

On February 27, a man was shot and killed at Third Avenue and Pine Street. A few days later, on Tuesday, police responded to Third Avenue and Union Street for a stabbing which led them to pursue a separate incident involving a carjacking at Third Avenue and Pine Street. 

The same day, homeless career criminal Alexander Jay, 40, was allegedly caught on video repeatedly throwing the victim down the stairs at a Chinatown-International District  light rail station in an unprovoked attack.

He was taken into custody and charged with second-degree assault, and as of Monday, remained jailed on $150,000 bail. 

But the final straw for many businesses to move their employees from the area or close their doors was the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old Michael Delbianco on March 2 in the 1500 block of Third Avenue, which is near where Amazon's office building is located. 

Piroshky Piroshky bakery owner Olga Sagan, 38, made the tough decision to close her shop after the shooting. But said she constantly found the entrance blocked with drug users who refused to move - and she says the Seattle Police Department did nothing to help.

'How many shootings do we need to have to realize this is an active emergency in downtown Seattle?' Sagan told The Seattle Times. 

'The streets of downtown have been abandoned by government,' she added, 'and handed over to criminal activity.'

She added that she was trying to find jobs for her store's employees at other local businesses and that she will reopen her business when its is safe.

Piroshky Piroshky bakery has offered hand-crafted traditional Russian pastries in the area since 1992, the newspaper reported.  

The shop's closures comes after Sagan announced on social media that violence is a 'major emergency and instead of approaching this as such - all politicians do is just talk'. 

In another post, she said that she has run out of patience and is prioritizing the safety of her employees.

Seattle's Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a statement that he is working with local law enforcement agencies to address problems stemming from local violence, acknowledging that he needs to take safety-first measures to make residents feel secure in the city.

'While it will take time to reverse longstanding safety issues, Mayor Harrell's early efforts are critical first steps to address crime and improve safety through dedicated SPD officers, a mobile SPD precinct, and additional environmental changes,' the statement continued, according to KOMO News. 

'Mayor Harrell will continue to develop a comprehensive approach to public safety in collaboration with police and safety advocates, community members, service providers, and businesses, including Amazon, to activate, revitalize, and restore downtown for all.'

To address issues plaguing the area, the Seattle Police Department set up a mobile precinct and increased its number of patrolling bike cops.

But just this month, additional businesses began shutting their doors, including, Qumulo, a cloud technology firm, and several McDonald's.    

Martin Fagan, facilities director for Qumulo, based at Fourth Avenue and Pike Street, told his employees that they don't have to return to the office until the situation downtown 'stabilizes.'

'When I'm uncomfortable walking out into the street, I can't imagine what our employees feel like having to go in and out of the building,' Fagan told Newsweek.

Fagan added they're at a 'breaking point,' where things either need to change, or 'we're going to feel like we have to depart the area, and we don't want to have to do that.'  

The McDonald's on Third Avenue also closed for the safety of their employees. 

'My top priority is the health and safety of our employees and customers,' franchise owner and operator David Santillanes said in a statement to KOMO News. 'Out of concern for the safety of our employees and customers, we temporarily closed our restaurant located at 1530 Third Avenue following last week's shooting.' 

In its 2021 year-end report, Seattle Police said that violent crime in the city has increased by 20 percent compared to 2020- which is for the first time in 14 years.

According to SPD, shootings and shots fired calls increased 40 percent (+175) from 2020 to 2021, violent crime increased 20 percent and homeless-related shootings increased 122 percent.

Some reasons for homelessness Seattle have been attributed to the cost of living in the city having significantly risen in the past decade due to gentrification, lack of publicly owned affordable housing, and the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Department of Community and Human Services, 40, 800 people in King County experienced homelessness at some point in 2020. That number was 45,300 people for 2019.

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