Seattle leaders have announced a new plan to block off key neighborhood streets near Aurora Avenue North, responding to months of escalating gun violence, open sex trafficking, and intense frustration from neighbors who say they’ve been left to fend for themselves.
At a news conference Thursday at Seattle City Hall, at least nine elected officials stood alongside Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes to unveil a coordinated strategy aimed at disrupting drive-through trafficking and shootings tied to the Aurora corridor.
Neighbors reached a breaking point
Residents living near Aurora have been sounding the alarm for weeks. They reported gunfire in the middle of the night, bullets striking homes and passing dangerously close to families, and ongoing sex trafficking and exploitation of young women and girls in plain sight.
Many said they no longer trusted the city to protect them. That feeling boiled over when neighbors began building their own makeshift barriers to slow cars and cut off cruising routes used by pimps, buyers, and people engaged in violent activity…