Dori: Downtown restaurateur grieves the American dream amid Seattle crime wave

Just a few weeks before the start of Seattle’s cruise ship tourist season, it has been a deadly, crime-riddled nine days in the downtown corridor.

Two people were shot and killed in the past week – including a 15-year-old boy on Wednesday night — and another man was shot in the face. A stabbing occurred not far from a carjacking and subsequent accident. Each of these incidents happened near the epicenter of downtown Seattle’s Pike/Pine corridor at Third Avenue – an area some now call “murder alley.”

Two years ago, after former Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan heard nearby Assaggio Ristorante owner Mauro Golmarvi describe rising crime while on The Dori Monson Show, Durkan told him it was going to get better.

Known on a first-name basis to his Italian restaurant guests simply as “Mauro,” the restaurateur now tells Dori’s listeners it has only gotten worse.

“Jenny Durkan is lucky for COVID, otherwise she would be prosecuted for everything she has done,” Mauro vented in frustration.

In the wake of the most recent killings, Mauro is now concerned about what’s next.

“How are we going to do this summer when the cruise ships start coming back?” Mauro asked Dori. “I’m already worried about how we are going to handle these things. … There is no time that has been more critical than right now.”

Mauro’s solution?

“What we need is to get criminals arrested again,” the restaurateur said. “The city needs to be clean again. We need cleaning. [The focus should be] on downtown, Westlake Center. … We people pay so many taxes, why don’t we get help? Why don’t we get a cleanup?”

Open-air drug deals, attacks, and other crimes weigh heavy on Mauro.

“This city has been good to us, so good to me,” he continued.

In the past, he said any time that he has been asked for a donation, he would give it right away to support his city.

“I was saying to myself, ‘how lucky I am to come (to Seattle) from a different part of the world,'” Mauro said. “… I worked my heart out, and I have the most successful restaurant, get to know the greatest people, get to live in an amazing city.”

“To me, Mauro, you are the American dream,” Dori responded. “But I have to ask you: Is there still an American dream in Seattle?”

“No,” Mauro replied. “There is no American dream in Seattle.”

While he says he would like to be able to “mentor those chefs, those managers,” Mauro said he feels sorry for “the new kids” who want to open a new place.

“I’m worried about those people. Right now, I’m just trying to survive,” he said. “I’m in survivor mode.”

But Mauro assured Dori and his listeners that he won’t give up on the city and the people he loves.

“I feel responsible for downtown Seattle,” he said. “I want to be responsible. I don’t want just to make money. I want to be part of support, action, and responsibility.”

Listen to Dori’s interview with the owner of Assaggio Ristorante, Mauro Golmarvi:

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.