Seattle has claimed the top spot in the nation as the city with the highest sales tax. Even with this incredible revenue stream, Seattle is now less safe.  It has been misguided politicians and policies, not the lack of funds, that have made it a city where criminals feel comfortable while charities flee. 

Earlier this month, another act of criminal violence collectively shocked our community.  An 80-year-old woman was murdered in a carjacking in the residential area just South of the Seattle Arboretum. We quickly learned that the assailant successfully stole the car and was free to commit more vicious crimes elsewhere in the city (fortunately he was soon captured).

We also began to learn about the victim. Ruth Dalton had two children, one grandchild and one great-grandchild. She started a dog-walking business in 1989 to help pay for her granddaughter to go to private school. She was walking dogs when the brutal attack took place, and it was the act of defending the animals from the assailant in her car that tragically led to her death.

Ruth Dalton exemplified “Seattle nice” by who she was.  Her tragic death is the latest symbolic erosion of the friendly reputation Seattle built during the 80’s and 90’s as it repeatedly received “Most Livable City” awards.

In the days after Ruth Dalton’s murder, another piece of unrelated news provides further evidence of the decline of Seattle.

Goodwill Industries announced that due to crime and safety concerns it was closing two shops (University District and South Lake Union) within the city. A senior Goodwill official stated, “Both locations have experienced a troubling rise in property damage, break-ins and safety concerns for our employees. These challenges have made it unsustainable to continue operating in these areas.”

Thus, one of the nation’s leading charities for helping those seeking a better life believes it can no longer safely conduct some of its basic operations in Seattle.  How bad do things have to get for charities to close their doors?

How did Seattle go from being the place where everyone wanted to live to becoming a place where even charities are fleeing? This question becomes more confounding when you consider Seattle charges its citizens the highest sales tax in the country. 

What is the city doing with all that revenue?  Shouldn’t it be spent on more police to keep our citizens and businesses safe? 

Citizens have begun to fight back by electing moderates to the Seattle Council and passing initiatives to allow police to do their job. Yet, as we are learning, it takes time to clean up all the damage done by reckless policies and spending priorities that have weakened the safety of our city.

We all wish these needed changes to come quicker when brutal acts like the one committed on Ruth Dalton occur.  For some of us, it inspires us to do more. Get involved with neighborhood or community safety programs, help troubled youths, get involved in a political campaign, or simply remember to vote.

We have the power to make the necessary adjustments, we just need to keep motivated through the process to make the changes. We owe it to future nice people, who are like Ruth Dalton, to restore our commonsense values and policies to our public safety.