City More Blockwatches in Belltown
posted by on May 14 at 16:26 PM
Joe Corsi, manager of the Concept One apartments on 2nd and Blanchard, seems to have gotten the reaction he was looking for when he asked his tenants started videotaping crime in the alleyways outside of their Belltown building to post on Youtube.
Over the weekend, Corsi’s story was picked up by just about every media outlet in town, and Corsi says he’s been fielding dozens of requests for interviews, and Corsi says he’s even gotten calls from Geraldo and Nancy Grace.
Corsi says he’s definitely seen an increased police presence in his neighborhood since his story was picked up, and now Corsi is joining with a group of Belltown businesses to expand his neighborhood watch.
David Selig, owner of the Apartment Bistro has taken a cue from Corsi, and is forming his own blockwatch with neighborhood businesses in the hopes of getting more police attention on 1st Ave.
Selig says in the three and a half years his restaurant’s been open, he’s seen a dramatic increase in crime in the neighborhood. However, Selig, who also lives in the area, says he knows the problems aren’t going to completely go away, but he’s hoping to make the neighborhood just a bit safer. “Belltown’s always going to be Belltown, we just want to make sure it’s going to be safe and clean,” Selig says. “People should be able to walk from restaurant to restaurant without being accosted by drug dealers.”
Selig, Corsi and the Belltown Community Council will meet with the city on the 27th to talk about a strategy for cleaning up the neighborhood.
I'm glad he's getting noticed by local media but seriously hope he turns down the bait from "amazing" Grace and Gerry.
Hopefully this will force the city to respond. As long as Kelly's Bar is in the neighborhood, the crackheads will have a headquarters.
From genuinely concerned tenant to fodder for paranoid rightwing axe-grinders...it's a crazy world.
Don't forget to turn the sound off if you don't want to commit a felony under Washington State Law.
Not a crime when they're in public, Will. There's no reasonable expectation of privacy on a public street. Welcome to America.
And once again Will is shown as to not know what the fuck he's talking about.
Tune into his next SLOG post where we'll see him do it again! And again! The fun never ends!
<cue laugh track>
I used to be all PC about the crackheads wandering around my neighborhood. After two years of dealing with these shitheads, however, I'm beginning to understand why some people vote Republican. (I'd never do it, but I understand it).
Recording any video with sound without the express permission of the subjects is contrary to the law.
There is an expectation of privacy in many facets - for example, someone filming from inside their residence or of someone inside a vestibule or beneath a covered area not easily visible AT NIGHT or ...
Any law student could get any charges against such taped individuals tossed out without much work.
Now, if you want to hang out on the sidewalks and videotape this, you also are then categorized as a voyeur and incur additional penalties.
(god, don't they teach Americans their own legal system?)
If I ever suddenly blow up and hand you a balloon that smells like adult diaper, it's not because I'm in a fanciful mood, it's because I'm terribly, terribly suspicious.
#8: Wow, that's not even close to right. Not one sentence.
Uh, this is all you asslicks pick up on? First, one of those crackheads would have to have a lawyer to sue, right?
I lived in Belltown. It was bad when I moved 4 years ago, it's worse now. I was grabbed on the street at 3:00pm the other day. Seattle's cops are pussies, plain and simple.
In other, real cities, cops would walk this beat and get in these people's business, " Are you waiting for a bus? Because you've been here for 2 hours. Do you need a bus schedule? What's your name? Do you live around here?"
Nothing strong arm, but they aren't doing anything now. There are these two old beat cops I call Mutt-n-Jeff that spend more time in and around Ralph's than anywhere near 2nd, Blanchard, or that shitbag corner at 2nd and Lenora. Everyone in the neighorhood knows it.
Thank you You Tube for finally giving us a medium to shame our pathetic excuse for a downtown patrol.
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