Seattle’s double standard: Adding surveillance cameras while cutting public transparency
Oct 11, 2024, 6:38 AM
A surveillance camera is seen installed in front of a Starbucks logo. (Photo: Cheng Xin, Getty Images)
(Photo: Cheng Xin, Getty Images)
Most of my career has been spent on camera, so, in general, I am in favor of the ability for more of us to see more things for ourselves.
I think cameras in courtrooms bring transparency. I think public broadcasters bring accountability. I think the more light we can shine in the darkness, the better.
Yet, I find it ironic that this week, the Seattle City Council voted 7-1 to add live video surveillance cameras to three city neighborhoods.
More from Seattle City Council: Seattle passes plan to install cameras in crime-ridden areas
It’s not because I don’t agree with many of the residents of those neighborhoods who are begging the council for crime relief and support the cameras. Or law enforcement experts who said it would be a force multiplier when we have so few cops on the street.
No, what I find ironic is that Seattle city leaders are so willing to switch on these new cameras and aim them at you and me … while at the same time switching off cameras aimed directly at themselves.
That’s right. These new CCTV cameras will cost $1.5 million — an expense the council is apparently glad to pay. But the current budget cuts proposed for next year would decimate the city-operated Seattle Channel … and how much would it save? Just a little over $1.5 million.
Hi Peter. This is Paul.
With these cuts, residents and taxpayers will lose all the hours of original public affairs programming, including deep dives into city policy, robust arts coverage and granular civic affairs discussions. In other words, the very positions, policies and proposals our city leaders are pushing will get even less examination than they get today.
More from Travis Mayfield: Teaching kids about hypocrisy was way too easy this week
Our elected leaders will have to answer even fewer questions about the business they claim they are doing in our name. But you know who will now be answering even more questions? People in those three Seattle neighborhoods soon to be under constant video surveillance.
I am absolutely fine with cameras being used to reveal wrongdoing, as long as those cameras are fairly aimed at the right places.
Travis Mayfield is a local media personality and fills in as a host on KIRO Newsradio
