SEATTLE — A guerrilla campaign to curb gun violence along Aurora Avenue in Seattle is now over after the city shut it down. Neighbors blocked off the side streets in an effort to keep crime away from their homes, but the city removed the barricades Friday morning.
For about a week, three roads leading off Aurora were blocked by large, metal planters neighbors installed without the city’s permission. They have now been swapped out with less obstructive barriers.
“This is like Disneyland for pimps,” Peter Orr, who lives nearby, said.
Neighbors along Aurora said they are fed up with the corridor’s sex trade and the other crimes that come with it. Over the last month, they blew the whistle on multiple shootings. During one, more than 40 rounds were exchanged. During another, a sleeping baby was nearly struck by gunfire.
“And they all kind of blend together,” Orr said. “It has just been one after another.”
Neighbors built the planters with the goal of keeping criminals and their cars from turning off Aurora and onto residential streets. Within days, the City of Seattle announced its intention to remove them, citing concerns over access for emergency vehicles and trash trucks.
Friday morning, SDOT showed up and disassembled the planters. They’ve been replaced with concrete “traffic calming treatments,” which require cars to slow down and turn to get through.
“To me, it just gives pimps an opportunity to feel more like James Bond,” Orr said. “Just zig zag a little bit.”
Neighbors said the planters were not a permanent solution, but described them as highly effective.
“Any of these that we could make permanent would be great,” Kate, who lives nearby and rewested her last name not be published, said. “Or, I mean, gosh, if the city just wanted to have police officers here every night, with enough officers to stop the violence, that would be great.”
The issue has grabbed the attention of city leaders, but neighbors said attention alone is not enough.
“Attention is one thing,” Orr said. “But I’m not going to celebrate until my neighbors actually have a guarantee of safety.”
In a joint statement, city council member Deborah Juarez and mayor Katie Wilson said they were eyeing legislation to address safety issues in the area and considering permanent barriers. They expect to have an update within two weeks.
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