Don: Neighbors aren’t holding Murray hate-fests

KIRO Radio’s Don O’Neill was one of hundreds of neighbors who attended Thursday night’s Neighborhood Safety Alliance to address RVs parked around Queen Anne.

“It was cool to see hundreds of people come together … they’ve only been organized for a couple of months. And it was great to see how much love this community and my neighbors have for the homeless,” Don said.

Related: Magnolia neighbors plead with city to do something about RVs

Though he was invited to the community meeting at Seattle Pacific University Thursday night, Mayor Ed Murray did not attend. Rather, a representative from the mayor’s office was present – Scott Lindsay.

“What (my neighbors) haven’t done is what political leaders here have done, which is conflate everything and throw it all into one big pot,” Don said, noting that people living on the streets, in RVs camped along Seattle streets, and in tents along I-5 cannot all be approached the same way. And they are not all the same group of people.

“The reason my neighbors were there last night is because of the crime in our community,” Don said. “The crime in our neighborhoods and the crime at our homes. And you know what? Sometimes those are people living in RVs. Sometimes those are people that are homeless. And sometimes it’s a 15-year-old kid coming into our neighborhood on a bus, coming into our homes, breaking into our cars, stealing our stuff, and going back to their neighborhood.”

What should not be the result of the meeting and community conversation Don said, is the impression that Seattleites hate the homeless.

“To say that because we are standing up against crime in our community, we hate the homeless &#8212 that’s ridiculous,” Don said.

For example, another aspect of the conversation is the fact that Seattle neighborhoods are now hiring their own private security to supplement the police force. Critics say Seattle police will not respond to property crimes or other incidents that fall below the priority of a shooting or high profile crimes. That leaves residents with little help when someone breaks into their home or car.

Don stresses that the meetings aren’t “Murray hate-fests.” Rather the attendees just want to feel like the mayor cares enough to hear them.

Don said having a mayor’s office representative was a poor substitute. He said it seemed that Lindsay was in over his head.

“People would like to see (Murray),” Don said. “They are not there to shout him down. They want to have a conversation. The mayor sent somebody that nobody has ever heard of. And frankly, he got very defensive last night. The only ‘boos’ I heard last night were toward him. And that’s too bad.”

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