SPD Chief John Diaz told the crowd at a Belltown community meeting last night that SPD plans to keep up its increased patrols in the neighborhood through the end of the year.

Seattle Times:

Diaz, along with Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, answered a range of questions from Belltown residents and business owners about efforts to deal with the drug dealers and addicts, homeless and mentally ill people, irresponsible club owners and unruly bar patrons who make people afraid to walk the streets at night.

They also dealt with more mundane issues — from garbage and vomit to improperly permitted hot-dog vendors and cracked sidewalks — that also affect safety and civility in the neighborhood. Soon, McGinn said, residents in Belltown will be given a phone number to call for crews to clean up trash from the neighborhood's streets and alleyways.

One woman gave a graphic description of a recent 8 a.m. walk to a local store that took her past a pimp and a group of prostitutes, a drug dealer waiting for a buyer and a homeless man who was masturbating in a doorway. McGinn responded that the city's challenge is to balance public safety with providing services for those who need help:

"We live in a big city and we're plagued with the problems many big cities have. ... If solving homelessness and drug dealing were easy, it would've been done a long time ago," he said.