After gunfire, march on Aurora, Seattle leaders call to block streets

Seattle's City Council president asked Mayor Katie Wilson to close five streets off Aurora Avenue North, saying temporary traffic calming measures installed there last week to prevent gun violence "are not working."

During a Monday public meeting, Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth asked Wilson's office to direct Seattle's transportation department to close North 97th through 102nd streets at Aurora to vehicles "no later than this week."

Less than two weeks ago, Wilson directed traffic-calming measures on some of those streets, replacing makeshift barricades residents had placed there in response to recent shootings. Hundreds of demonstrators marched down Aurora on Saturday night, demanding city officials do more to curb shootings and sex trafficking that has proliferated there for decades.

On Monday, the council introduced a bill to allow the city's transportation department to close a street if the police chief recommends doing so to prevent criminal activity. Under Seattle's municipal code, the director is only authorized to close alleys - not streets - after such a recommendation.

Hollingsworth said Wilson does not need to wait on the emergency legislation to close streets along the Aurora corridor, where residents need to see "a sense of urgency" responding to gun violence.

"We need to close the streets," Hollingsworth said Monday. "The mayor has the opportunity and ability to do that."

In an email Monday, a representative for Wilson's office said the transportation department has about one more week to evaluate the impact of street closures and other traffic measures along Aurora. The department is partnering with police and fire officials to determine if closures would impact their services," and the Seattle Police Department is providing "emphasis patrols and other resources, according to the email.

The bill was referred to the public safety committee. Councilmember Bob Kettle, the committee's chair, called gunfire along Aurora "unacceptable."

"We've got bullets flying into the bedrooms of children," Kettle said during the Monday meeting. "We need to have more public safety interventions up there, and that means making our roadways safer."

Residents living just west of Aurora blocked off North 97th, 98th and 102nd streets with soil-filled steel planters on May 23, hours after an early-morning shootout struck a vehicle and nearby buildings. A separate shooting on May 16 blasted a hole through the wall of an infant's bedroom near Aurora and 98th.

An unsigned letter that appeared with the planters said city officials never carried out a plan to close off two side streets after a shooting there last summer. Ongoing gunfire left residents "with no other option" but to close the roads themselves, the letter stated.

Seattle police data shows reported shootings in that area spiked last month, with eight shootings reported in May, compared to nine between January and April.

In an interview last month, Councilmember Debora Juarez said the council bill would give the city a "mechanism" to close streets and prevent gun violence from spilling into neighborhoods. This would deter people from blocking roads without permission, which risks impeding police vehicles, ambulances and fire engines en route to emergencies, said Juarez, who represents North Seattle.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.