Our Yakima is SAFE
North 1st Street is the gateway to our city, and it holds so much potential to be a welcoming entrance to all Yakima has to offer. By holding out-of-town business owners accountable, enforcing best practice laws at hotels, and supporting local organizations and businesses, we can transform this once-beautiful area into a safe, clean corridor that reflects what Yakima can become.
Protecting our streets
I want everyone who lives in our city to feel safe in their homes, playing at parks, and walking down their streets.
Growing up in Yakima and having lived here most of my life, I understand what it's like to not feel safe to move freely around the city. This city has amazing potential, however, there are a few core issues that need to be addressed.
To make a safe and secure Yakima, I propose starting from the inside. Communicating, interacting with, and building up our neighborhoods from within—really learning and understanding the issues they are facing at an intimate level is imperative. I will collaborate with our neighbors living in those communities to create real solutions that will work for them and, in return, Yakima as a whole.
My plan for a safer Yakima
Collaborating
Identifying community leaders within our troubled neighborhoods and providing them the support and structure they need to start making a difference from the inside out. Everyone in our community wants their friends, family, and neighbors to be and feel safe. By working closely with those who can have the most impact from within, we can start taking steps toward a safer future for all of us.
Enforcing
Introduce and provide the structure to maintain Best Practice Laws for hotels and other businesses throughout the city. Our city is one of the highest-ranking cities by population in the USA for prostitution, gang activity, and narcotic drug dealing—most of these illicit activities take place at under-regulated hotels and businesses around our community. By implementing Best Practice Laws, we can begin to have legal justification to help these businesses eliminate such acts that make our community less safe.
Connecting
Provide the space, time, and opportunity for our community members to connect with our police officers. This will include continuing programs like Coffee with a Cop, and working with the department to prioritize routine foot patrols through neighborhoods rather than driving. By taking these few low-cost, low-barrier steps we can come together to rely on and trust each other, leading to safer and more secure neighborhoods throughout our city.