(Headline USA) During the summer of 2020, when radical Black Lives Matter rioters took over a portion of downtown Seattle and established the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, former Mayor Jenny Durkan considered giving the rioters control of a police department building within the zone.
Durkan drafted legislation to relocate operations from the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct building and transfer control of the building to Black Lives Matter-Seattle-King County on the same day that rioters attacked it, according to documents obtained by the Seattle Times.
“Mayor Durkan’s office directed [the Seattle Department of Finance and Administrative Services], in its capacity as the city’s real estate and facility management agency, to outline the process to transfer the East Precinct to BLM-Seattle-King County,” Melissa Mixon, a spokeswoman for FAS, confirmed this week. “FAS did not, and does not, have knowledge as to what Mayor Durkan’s office intended to do with the East Precinct in June 2020.”
The draft legislation would have transferred permanent “use of/ownership” of the East Precinct building, estimated to be worth over $5 million, to BLMSKC effective July 1, 2020. The legislation would also have required the city to remove all of its law enforcement material from the building, but continue to contribute to the building’s maintenance.
“The East Precinct, located at 1519 12th Avenue, Seattle WA is located in the heart of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, a neighborhood known for its diversity and social activism,” the draft legislation stated.
“This precinct houses Seattle Police officers who patrol Seattle’s Central District neighborhood and has been seen as a symbol of police oppression in one of Seattle’s historically Black neighborhoods,” the draft continued.
BLM rioters established the CHAZ after chasing out law enforcement from the East Precinct, declaring the zone to be a police-free area. The zone remained for about a month before Durkan finally authorized police to reenter the area and clear out the rioters.
