A Seattle small-business owner says open-air drug use, harassment and slow emergency response times outside his shops and his home have gotten worse, not better, despite city statistics suggesting otherwise.
Matt Humphrey, who owns Steele Barber and Steele Salons, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that he had to call 911 just days earlier after witnessing open-air drug use around the corner from one of his shops.
“What I’ve seen even this past week, I had to call 911 a couple days ago for some open-air drug use right around the corner from one of my shops, and they hijacked a whole shipment of produce from a local restaurant and had it strewn all over, were shooting up and smoking something. I called 911 and never saw the police,” Humphrey said.
He said the encounters happen regularly. “We just encounter this really every day or every week, and it’s, it’s dangerous for our staff, and it’s not great for our customers, and I just keep pressing on to, you know, tell everyone we can’t move, pick up and root up our businesses and just move them,” he said.
A citywide push for action
Humphrey said he was encouraged by an open letter sent Thursday to Mayor Katie Wilson and the Seattle City Council. The letter was signed by 38 business leaders in the Seattle area, including executives from Microsoft, Starbucks, Costco, Nordstrom, the Seattle Mariners and Alaska Airlines. It calls for a 100-day public-safety action plan, more surveillance cameras, increased police staffing and faster emergency response times. The letter also asks the city to prioritize treatment and shelter for people struggling with addiction while pursuing arrest and prosecution for those who repeatedly refuse help.
“I saw several things in the letter, the open letter to the mayor that were published here locally, that I think are all encouraging,” Humphrey said. “It’s encouraging to see big companies. I’m just a small company, but it’s encouraging to see big companies step forward and, and demand some accountability for what we really are working hard to do in the city, which is provide jobs.”
Disputing the statistics
Mayor Wilson said in a recent statement, shared by KOMO News following the shooting at the Bite of Seattle festival in July that left three people dead and others injured, that Seattle Police Department data show shootings and homicides at their lowest point in a decade.
Humphrey pushed back on that characterization. “I think it’s getting worse,” he said. “I don’t think it’s getting better, and that’s the tough part. It’s like when people throw around statistics, that’s not what I see, it’s not what I see driving around. I see the tent encampments moving around, blocks from my business, from my home.”
He described a separate incident near his home last week. “I called 911 last week with a guy, 20 feet from my house, that looked like he was dead. And what I get is bounced around between the 911 operator and the EMS people. And they’re like, would you, ‘Are you comfortable talking to this guy to see if he’s OK?’ And I’m like, ‘No, he could have a weapon.’ We don’t know what’s going on. This is the kind of stuff that we’re living with in the city of Seattle,” he said.
What Humphrey wants to see
Humphrey said meaningful change depends on stronger police support. “And employee security for our own employees, and we can’t do that if we’re not supported by the police,” he said. “So, increased police on the streets, increased response times to when we do call. I think those are all really simple things that we can get in place quicker if the — if the mayor and the city leaders put this into action.”
Asked what he would tell Mayor Wilson directly, Humphrey framed it in personal terms. “I would just simply say, ‘Gosh, you’re a mom, you don’t want your kids walking by people with needles laying on the ground or walking into your business. If you were getting your hair done in one of my salons and getting harassed by people that are completely out of their minds and high on drugs. I deal with that all the time,” he said.
“I know you’re a parent,” he added. “It’s — you just can’t get caught up in the cog of process and stuck with all the policy and all the nonsense that’s going on. We just have to make the change now. It just — I’ve been saying this for six years — we just have to make a change, or we’re just going to lose the city.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Mayor Wilson and the Seattle Police Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
