by Suzanne Phan, KOMO News Reporter

Updated Sun, April 24th 2022 at 10:32 AM

The owner of the popular Piroshky Piroshky Bakery in Seattle said she was held up at knifepoint this week on 1st Avenue near Pike and Stewart.

Olga Sagan and many others are worried about ongoing crime in Downtown Seattle, especially in trouble spots like the 3rd Avenue corridor.

KOMO News talked to people who live and work in the area about the changes they are seeing and asked local leaders what more can be done.

Some of the trouble on a section of 3rd Avenue has cleared out thanks to the Seattle Police Department mobile precinct and extra police officers there. But many people say there's a lot more work needed.

On Twitter, Olga Sagan, owner of Piroshky Piroshky shared that she was threatened with a knife in Downtown Seattle.

Sagan closed down her shop on 3rd Avenue because of all the drugs and crime directly in front of her business.

On 3rd and Pike at the Melbourne Tower, restaurant and café owner I-Miun Liu has his office headquarters. He has seen all the trouble.

“It’s people literally tripping on drugs, human feces, fights, shoplifting,” said Liu. “I did see a woman there tripping out on drugs, she was convulsing. She was shaking around and people walk by like it’s a regular thing.”

Even though a mobile precinct and several police units are now posted in front of his building, Liu is still concerned.

“Safety is number one reason why long term I can’t see us being there,” said Liu. “My main question is 'what’s the long-term plan for sustainability?' The policies that have been enacted over the years have actually led to this. I don’t see any changes in the policy. I just see some clean-up.”

Alexander Butowicz is the owner of Iron and Oak Protective Services.

His staff patrols 3rd Avenue through a program with the Metropolitan Improvement District.

“When we first started, we had anywhere from 8-10 reported incidents per day. That could be anything from medical emergencies to criminal matters. We’re now down to 1-2 incidents every 2-3 days. It doesn’t mean that incidents have been resolved completely, but the area is improving,” said Butowicz. “It’s because of the investments being made both publicly and privately.”

People like Olga Sagan worry about crime returning and the mobile precinct going away.

KOMO News asked Councilman Andrew Lewis and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell about it.

“Mayor Harrell has returned significant police presence to 3rd Avenue. But what we’ve seen is that is not going to be sufficient. It’s helpful. It’s important that they’re there. But, added support is going to have to come from making physical improvements to 3rd Avenue. It has to come by way of extending the Just Care Programs so police and social workers can make referrals.”

A spokesman for the Mayor’s office told KOMO News that Mayor Harrell is working to make Downtown Seattle safe through a number of means. He has implemented some critical first steps including a mobile precinct, more officers on site, and temporarily closing the bus stop near 3rd and Pine Street.