Seattle: Often Attacked Police Substation to Close

According to a local blog, Tom Bangasser will be closing the Central District Drop-In Center to make room for what he calls "a mini-chamber of commerce." Bangasser owns the building on the corner of 23rd and Union, and had allowed Seattle police to use it as a substation in order to encourage an increased police presence in the neighborhood.

The story reports that, "the big SPD shield on the drop-in center sign, which was intended to send a message to people engaging in criminal activity at the corner, will be coming down." That symbol seems to have had an unintended consequence for Bangasser's building; the substation was the target of anti-cop graffiti during a demonstration last July, had its windows smashed out in July, and was the target of arson in February, again following an anti-police demonstration. Anti-cop slogans were also painted on the substation at least two other times during this time frame.

Bangasser claims the attacks were not a factor in his decision to close the substation. But what, after all, pushed him to the conclusion that a visible police presence on that corner is "not as needed now as it was"? The lesson is obvious: anyone who openly houses the murdering cops makes themselves an appropriate target of all those with a passion for freedom and the courage to act.

Seattle cop Joel Guay pipes in to guess that a "less in-your-face" police presence is "appropriate."

Bangasser has offered that the SPD can still use "the mini-chamber of commerce" to complete paperwork or make phone calls.

http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/615