🔭 Look up at the stars tonight

What Will Change After Bite of Seattle Shooting?

Nearly two weeks after a fatal shooting and the resignation of police chief Shon Barnes, Seattleites are talking about gang violence, youth violence, and legal approaches to youth possession of firearms. Today we have a podcast diving into these issues and the latest news from around town. [City Cast Seattle]

• What is Seattle’s plan for gun violence? There is a clear division in how the city council wants to handle gun violence in our city. Maritza Rivera has criticized Mayor Wilson’s decision to ask Barnes to step down, and has called for the mayor to continue the expansion of CCTV cameras in the city. The program is on pause until an audit being conducted by NYU’s Policing Project is concluded this fall. Simultaneously, Joy Hollingsworth has called for unused SPD funds to be put towards hiring Community Violence Interruption ambassadors, and interim chief Andre Sayles has expressed interest in working with ‘interrupters.’ Rivera is also advocating for the city to work with the National Network of Safe Communities to identify “those folks in a city that are most at risk or who are getting involved with gun violence.” Wilson’s administration has not committed to supporting this plan so far. [The Urbanist]
• Lawmakers want a lower 5-strike penalty threshold: Youth in Washington state caught in possession of a gun have 5 strikes before they can be sentenced to detention longer than a month. State Representative David Hockney wants to lower that number to 3, and has previously tried to do so with no success. However, lighter sentencing is shown to prevent worse outcomes as youth become adults, according to juvenile justice advocates. [KUOW]
• Police Chief puts focus on ‘community’: In a recent interview with the South Seattle Emerald, interim police chief Andre Sayles said he wanted to be ‘overly involved in the community’ and he wants his officers to be in the community as well, in plain clothes. He was photographed doing double dutch at the August 4 night out in Rainier Beach. He also shared that he was interested in working with LEAD and increasing the number of people accepting LEADs and collaborating with CARE. [South Seattle Emerald]
• Today on the podcast, fill-in host Marcus Harrison Green is joined by William Hairston, the Director of Impact Programs at Center for Children & Youth Justice, to discuss what it really means to talk about gang violence in Seattle, what programs exist to interrupt youth violence, and what is missing from the conversation about recent shootings.

🧸 Toy store fixture closes: Pioneer Square toy shop Magic Mouse has closed after nearly 50 years in business, according to a sign on the front door. Owners Walter and Pamela Powers have not commented on the reason for the closure, but recent visitors to the store said they saw no sign the store was closing. [Seattle Times]

🚚 Uber Eats holds payments for year and a half: Local Teriyaki spot Kyoto Teriyaki went a year and a half without receiving payment for deliveries ordered through Uber Eats, totaling $40,000 from nearly 1,500 orders. Uber claimed the delays were related to extra identity verifications. Despite the experience being extremely frustrating, owner Joy Kim says Uber is a revenue source that they cannot ignore. [FOX13]

✨ Tonight, look to the stars: It is going to be a good night for the Perseid meteor shower, an icy ball that orbits the sun every 133 years. The combination of the new moon and the peak of the shower from midnight on Wednesday into Thursday means that as many as 100 meteors could appear. You’ll have to wait until 2125 to view them again, soooo…get on it if the clouds behave. [Seattle Times]