Neighborhood Business District Webinar – Clean and Safe

On Tuesday, April 21, the Only in Seattle (OIS) team hosted a webinar with neighborhood business districts and partners to provide relevant and timely information for small businesses. The OIS team coordinates with Seattle’s neighborhood business districts to provide resources for community stakeholders, businesses and property owners, and local organizations to achieve economic development outcomes determined by the community.

In response to COVID-19, the OIS team continues to work with business districts and community partners to provide resources and language access to small business. In this webinar, participants heard about Seattle Police Department programs that can help them reduce and manage crime and its impacts to businesses in their districts. They also learned about the City’s Navigation Team and how it is working to help people experiencing homelessness during COVID-19.

Speakers included:

Mark Solomon – Crime Prevention Coordinator (SPD)
Business District Block Watch & Community Police Team

Mark Solomon is a Crime Prevention Coordinator for the Seattle Police Department. A Seattle native, Mark has been with the department for over 29 years, working with community groups, individuals and businesses on public safety issues, and quality of life issues that impact public safety. Crime Prevention Coordinators are experts in crime prevention techniques. Businesses can talk to Crime Prevention Coordinators about ongoing crime problems in their neighborhood, getting involved in Block Watch and setting up a neighborhood crime prevention training.
Detective Travis Testerman – Seattle Police Criminal Intelligence Unit (SPD)
Graffiti in Business Districts

Detective Travis Testerman have been with SPD for 28 year, he served on patrol in the East and North Precincts (including five years as a member of the North Community Police Team prior to assuming this position with the Crime Intelligence Unit in November of 2019.
Dr. Christopher Fisher – Executive Director of Strategy (SPD)
General Crime Trends and Best Practices

Dr. Christopher Fisher is the Executive Director of Strategy to the Chief of Police. Most recently he was Senior Policy Advisor at the Council of State Governments Justice Center with a focus on law enforcement issues. Prior to the Justice Center, Chris worked throughout the New York City justice system. As Director of Analysis and Integrated Solutions in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice he coordinated interagency efforts to solve criminal justice challenges.
Tara Beck – Navigation Team (HSD)
Update from the City’s Navigation Team

The City of Seattle has launched the Navigation Team–a specially trained team comprised of outreach workers paired with Seattle Police Department (SPD) personnel, to connect unsheltered people to housing and critical resources, while helping address pervasive challenges around the issue of homelessness in Seattle.