Bank shuttering branches as crime crisis takes hold of Dem-run city

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The Seattle Credit Union is shutting down branches in the city due to crime and cratering foot traffic, the latest in a growing list of businesses that have closed locations amid safety concerns.

"Over the past few years, branch foot traffic has declined 55% and 49% of transactions have moved to digital channels. The pandemic has had a major impact on transaction behavior and the adoption of electronic transactions," Seattle Credit Union President and CEO Richard Romero told Fox News Digital this week.

"In addition to these statistics, we also weighed branch safety issues and the cost of providing a safe and secure environment for both our members and our staff, but this is not the sole or main reason for the decision to close these two branches."

The Seattle Credit Union announced to customers that it will close its Georgetown and Rainier branches next month. Romero told Fox that the closures come after "several years" of weighing the decision.

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The Seattle Credit Union branch in the city’s Georgetown neighborhood. (Google Maps)

"In the end, we feel that with having other branches nearby and electronic services, we can continue to support these communities," Romero said.

The announcement came as no surprise to some residents and workers in the Georgetown area of Seattle, who pointed to drug use and homeless encampments near retail stores in the neighborhood.

"There’s no way I’d let my kids run around here. I don’t even like staying here late," Kauai Family Restaurant Manager Randi Buza told KOMO News. 

"I’m surprised [the credit union has] been open this long with that encampment right there and next to that apartment building where a lot of shady stuff has been going down. It’s an eyesore and it’s scary for them," she added.

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Buza said that she’d like to see more police presence on the streets, but acknowledged how the department is dealing with staffing shortages.

"It’s pretty sad. I think the city in the last few years has kind of let the people down, especially small businesses like us. It’s kind of survival of the fittest out here," she said.

A Seattle Credit Union location in the city’s Rainier neighborhood. (Google Maps)

Another Seattle resident who uses the credit union’s Rainier branch, Todd Reed, said he wants to see employees at the branch move to somewhere safer until there are more initiatives to help people with mental illnesses.

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"Unless they’re addressed or have a place they can go to where they feel safe and are reconditioned into getting back into society, they’re just going to wander around the streets and victimize or be victimized," Reed told KOMO News.

On 3rd Avenue South and South Holgate Street in the shadow of T-Mobile Park where the Seattle Mariners play baseball, homeless people are living in RVs and tents along a two block stretch in Seattle, Washington Friday July 22, 2022. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The Seattle Credit Union’s decision comes after a handful of other businesses in the city closed in the last year over safety concerns and fallout from the pandemic, including at least six Starbucks locations. Starbucks is headquartered in Seattle. 

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Other businesses in the downtown area last year spoke out about the rising crime, with one tech company, Qumulo, telling employees in March to work remotely until crime "stabilizes."