There is a weird thing among Seattle residents where they get extremely defensive about our social problems and act as if nothing is wrong and these are 'normal city problems'. They're not. I am a longtime resident and while this area has never been the greatest in the last 5 years it has turned into an absolute shithole if I can speak honestly and frankly. I've seriously considered whether or not Seattle is some sort of progressive social experiment where we're all the lab mice blissfully unaware of our surroundings.<p>Just a month ago an engineer at AWS, a young Asian woman, had her skull <i>cracked open</i> when a random assailant <i>hit her in the head with a baseball bat</i> completely unprovoked. This was in the same neighborhood by the way.<p><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10492101/Moment-homeless-man-attacks-Amazon-deliverer-baseball-bat-leaving-fractured-skull.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10492101/Moment-hom...</a><p>The assailant had 26 offenses on his rap sheet, another graduate of our "catch and release" program of combating crime. This story was buried in the media rather than creating the widespread outrage it deserved.<p>The amount of social disorder this city tolerates is untenable. It <i>was</i> once a beautiful city that in the span of a few years was destroyed under the watch of a small crew of activist politicians. Many stores have closed because it's become too dangerous for the employees. The whole situation is very sad.<p>Yet the city squanders resources and prides itself on absolute nonsense like making plastic grocery sacks and straws illegal while the amount of trash on our streets or in our parks continues to increase. I'm not just referring to general litter either, we're talking syringes, feces, and toxic waste from derelict RVs that are allowed to park wherever they wish without fear of reprisal.
The west coast cities are simultaneously too progressive to support punitive action, yet too “American” to pay for adequate solutions via wealth redistribution.<p>We do spend a lot of money on combating homelessness already, so I get the frustration from those who question throwing good money after bad. My short answer is that Democrats aren’t actual leftists, so they (claim to) want a bunch of progressive social policies but never pass anything that could actually reduce inequality since they’re just as beholden to the wealthy/corporations as Republicans are.<p>Here’s my laundry list of things politicians could do instead of letting tents fester on sidewalks:<p>- axe the whole health insurance industry.<p>- bring back institutionalization for the guy waving a machete on the bus, and provide wrap-around outpatient treatment for the more stable.<p>- in cities, build dense, massive public housing for all (not only for the poor) to flood the market with supply and drop prices. Some of these could be rented out on a subsidized basis or provided as welfare, with the rest owner-occupied. The US once subsidized a massive expansion of single-family homes for the middle class. We could do this for affordably-priced condos in big cities, keeping the American tradition of building equity though home ownership.<p>- for those who reject this new social safety net and pose harm to society, turn our prison system from a sick joke into something that actually rehabilitates people for life in the outside world.<p>- Tax big corporations to pay for all of it.<p>Of course, none of this will ever happen in the US, and instead Seattle can remain a city of million dollar homes with meaningless “in this house we believe” signs in the lawn and tent cities down the street that the latest law-and-order mayor can push to another neighborhood every few months.
A couple of my co-workers got robbed by gunpoint in that area walking to the bus. Its not safe anymore. I no longer go downtown for anything, not even the ferry anymore, the traffic is even horrific.
The corner of 3rd and Pine is the center of Seattle because it’s where all public transit intersects and is near the shopping district. It has had so much crime for so long that locals call the McDonalds there “McStabby’s.” It would be great if it felt as safe there as the rest of Seattle. Not sure what the city can do to change it, though.
Hmm sounds about right. Years ago I walked from pike place to the ferris wheel and on the way I saw a few “transactions” in the park, and had this uneasy feeling that I was going to be jumped. Luckily it was a group of people in the daytime.
Covid, the opioid epidemic, and stagnant wages for working people are just some of the problems contributing to all of this. Better enforcement might help, but the fact that this country incarcerates such an unusually large fraction of the population indicates solving this problem will not be so simple.
I can see a lot of blame here at liberals and progressive. So my question is what would we expect from more conservative right wing politicians? (Looking for honest answers) I am imagining more "tough on crime"