Shop Local now, so you can Shop Local forever.

 

First of all, thank you for being here. Thank you for all of your kind words and decades of support, which have helped us continue to be here today.

 

Here are several ways you can help us stick around for decades to come:

 

Support us with social capital -- Shout Us Out:

- Leave us a review or recommendation on Google, Facebook, Yelp, and/or nextdoor

- Follow us and share us in your posts on Facebook and/or Instagram & Threads

- Favorite us on nextdoor

- Keep up with our store's events and new products by joining our discord server

 

Support us with financial capital -- Throw Money at Us:

- Help us rebuild (for what we hope is the last time) via GoFundMe

- Donate to our Playing on Purpose play-based enrichment scholarships for after-school and summer camps

- Shop with us in-store or online (don't know what to get, buy a Gift Card!)

 

Support us with political capital -- Amplify Our Call to Action:

- Tell Mayor Harrell to ACT NOW to reduce Orgainzed Retail Crime 

- Tell Seattle City Council Member(s) to actually support small business via Systemic Change

- Tell WA State Senator(s) and Representative(s) to create an equitable tax system (personal and corporate) where we all pay a fair share to State and Local Tax Programs. 

 

Example language:

Dear Mayor Harrell, City Attorney Davison and City Officials,

Organized Retail Crime in Seattle has become unbearable to both our City's businesses and its residents. I am writing to ask you to:

• Return the police detectives who were reassigned to patrol

  • Pulling a boost off the street today and cycling them through the justice system instead of pursuing the higher levels of organized crime is a waste of our tax payer dollars.

• Re-engage/expand the community policing solutions like Choose 180 and Community Passageways

  • In the midst of a systemic hiring shortage, we need community alternatives to policing. That is what stopped the crime below and what we need in all of our retail areas.

• Act on every item in the July 2023 Organized Retail Crime Audit report

  • Our auditor laid out 7 steps to disrupt organized crime. Why haven’t they been implemented?

It is unconscionable that you have had this report (https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/CityAuditor/auditreports/ORC_Audit_20230721.pdf) since July 21, 2023, and that your Office has done nothing of substance to leverage the data collected towards reducing the violence and damage done to our City's most beloved neighborhood shops and restaurants. 

One of my favorite stores Math 'n' Stuff, in North Seattle's Maple Leaf Neighborhood, has sustained 8 burglaries out of 12+ attempts in the last four years and continues to be targeted overnight and during store hours. For perspective, they only had 2 burglaries in the entirety of the previous 24 years they've operated in that location. They said they've already suffered over $40,000 in damage and loss and the two most recent incidents on 5/27 and 7/2 will likely cost another $30,000+ to repair. Small businesses cannot sustain these types of losses.

In your inaction, I find your Office to be complicit in the continued terrorization and harassment that this wonderful family-owned business has faced.

You have been complacent while this type of crime has been normalized. This is NOT normal.

I call on you to act now and to strive for what's right by doing the hard work necessary to eliminate the blight of ORC in our City, and to bring the people at the highest positions of ORC to justice.

 

Your constituent,

(your name here)

 

More coming soon!