Is Seattle This Bad Now?

[MarkoB0726]

I know a lot of American cities are dealing with similar issues (See San Fran, Portland), and obviously we all saw what happened with ‘CHOP’ back in the summer, but has Seattle really gotten this bad now? Can any Seattle Catholics weigh in on whether this is accurate?

 

[Motherwit]

I can’t fathom why anyone would think that decriminalizing drugs and defunding the police can ever be a good thing. Libertarians are a deluded bunch.

 

[po18guy]

It’s worse. When a liberal democrat media type has to produce this show, its bad. And they are thinking of decriminalizing theft if you claim poverty. The county executive wants to close the jail and the youth center - releasing dangerous felons onto the street, young and old. I do not blame the criminals completely. Someone taught them that all of this is OK.

 

[Jen95]

It’s not surprising is it? Looks like Portland, SF, all California. Sad.
Maybe Biden will tax the heck out of big tech and they can fix their housing problems.

 

[CoffeeFanatic]

I have family in Seattle. Yes. They tell me it is really that bad now.

 

[MarkoB0726]

That’s a real shame. I visited there in 2015 and loved it.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I was there in about 2001 and again with the hubs in the late 00’s sometime. It was fun, but there were also a lot of people there who were a few bricks shy of a full load. However, I doubt there’s much going on there that’s not also going on in places like Baltimore and Detroit.

 

[po18guy]

Did you watch the program? Actually, it is much worse. Tents everywhere. Diseased addicts using the bathrooms of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance causing them to be shut down until they can be decontaminated. Saw that one happen and was told it was far from the first time. They have security now.

Was walking to the store after my stem cell transplant, using a hickory walking stick. Nearly had to use it to fend off a druggie panhandling. That was five years ago.

Seattle has been a very liberal city since its founding as a way point on the trip to Alaska for panning gold. Prostitution flourished and opium dens were not unknown.

However, this attitude accelerated sharply in recent decades. Zero leadership. A Marxist city council member who invaded the city hall with an unruly mob of “demonstrators” (rioters). That person also lead a"protest" to the Mayor’s house. Neighbors had to step in and armed residents had to hold the fort down.

There is near zero law enforcement and nearly 200 officers have resigned. The city prosecutor refuses to file charges against anyone claiming to be a protestor - even if they were setting fires and looting. The county prosecutor proposes a tax so that victims of crime can be paid taxpayer dollars, since the criminals refuse to pay restitution.

The proposed solutions to this quagmire is involve even more permissiveness and liberalism. I do not go there unarmed.

 

[MarkoB0726]

Yeah, I watched the entire thing…it’s pretty appalling to see it all. LIke I said, I was there in 2015, and I barely remember seeing anything like what they portrayed in this documentary. If anything, the city seemed to be a thriving place. It’s a shame to see a great city like Seattle - and other great American cities - deteriorate like this.

That being said, I’m not sure I feel a whole lot of sympathy or compassion, especially after ‘CHAZ’ and the way the city failed to respond to that situation. This seems to be common in many Democratic-run cities throughout the U.S, especially in 2020.

At the same time, we’re slowly starting to see a lot of the same issues in many major Canadian cities like Vancouver and Toronto, so we’re probably not much farther behind…

 

[phil3]

This more anarchist.

 

[phil3]

WE need to tax Big Gov, maybe then we can fix all the problem it has created.

 

[adamhovey1988]

Not from Seattle, but, I do find it interesting, that as a Conservative Podcaster, the most popular place I have listeners from is Seattle.
I hope it isn’t accurate, but I fear that it is.
The city of my favourite American soccer team is not great.
Another city in a similar condition is Chicago. I was there in 2018, and it was TERRIBLE.

Libertarians are a deluded bunch

That’s not a libertarian position…
Libertarians are very much property rights people.
Even Anarcho-Capitalists probably wouldn’t call for a total abolition of the police.
You’re confusing libertarianism with Anarcho-Socialism.

 

[po18guy]

Pick a city which has a tolerance policy toward drugs. There is no other end result possible. Drug use, at the street level, means lives and addictions out of control. Unless civil order - let alone the law - is enforced, the trajectory will be the same.

Zero city leadership. Their solution is to create a hell hole residence where all of this is out of sight. Some compassion…

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Did you watch the program? Actually, it is much worse. Tents everywhere. Diseased addicts using the bathrooms of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance causing them to be shut down until they can be decontaminated. Saw that one happen and was told it was far from the first time. They have security now.

Yes I watched it. I see, or have seen, the same in many cities on the East Coast and Midwest. In some cases the cities already hit rock bottom and are now on the upswing again after years of stuff like what is shown in the video. The video notes that the residents of Seattle are concerned that their city is developing the problems of many cities “back East”. Urban decay caused in part by inept city government is not new news. The opiate and meth crisis is driving this too. Seattle has always had a drug and mental health problem for decades even before this. I was best friends for about 15 years with someone who lives there and heard about the place from them as well as from reading/ watching media about the city (there was a ton of films, docs, books etc made about the city during the grunge era) and visiting.

I am sorry Seattle is now going through what NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Camden etc already have had happen in the past. I hope they can overcome. I realize this is upsetting to those who moved to the city when it was more of a nice yuppie place, but all big cities have cycles and one needs to be prepared to get out when and if things go bad. New York is on its way back down if they don’t soon get rid of DiBlasio.

The main reason this is news is because people thought of Seattle as a liberal utopia with great job and business opportunities in a beautiful natural setting. What is happening now does not jive with their expectations. In many other cities when the same stuff goes on people just expect it, they just shrug off that their city is a dump.

 

[Duke12VonFalkenburg]

The Devil is clearly having a good time in Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York…

 

[TheLittleLady]

God is giving the people of Seattle so many chances to care for the poor, to shelter the homeless, to feed the hungry, to put the Gospel in action.

 

[Jen95]

God is giving the people of Seattle so many chances to care for the poor, to shelter the homeless, to feed the hungry, to put the Gospel in action.

How would any individual dare approach these folks? Did you watch the footage of the man who punched the woman in the head and just kept walking?

The one lady who is a recovered addict did work for Catholic Charities for five years. The last 20 minutes or so is a proposal for an involuntary rehab facility.

 

[TheLittleLady]

If I were not comfortable interacting one on one, I would follow the example given in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Donate to and volunteer with the the programs who are established and serving the poor, the sick (addiction is an illness), the homeless, the unlovable. Make sure that these programs have everything that they need to carry out their mission.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

This TV station KOMO did a similar documentary in March 2019 about the homelessness and drug problem in Seattle and how city government wasn’t cleaning it up. Looks like it’s a chronic problem at this point.

 

[Suudy]

Not from Seattle, but, I do find it interesting, that as a Conservative Podcaster, the most popular place I have listeners from is Seattle.

Seattle proper is a hotbed of far left. The east side of Lake Washington are the more traditional liberals and quite a few conservatives. We lived in Kirkland (Finn Hill neighborhood), and the entire neighborhood was plastered with Bush signs in '04, and McCain signs in '08, and Romney signs in '12. There were some smatterings of Kerry and Obama signs, but not much. Go into Kirkland proper (especially west of Market, and it was completely flopped). But go into Seattle? 100% Kerry/Obama.

I’m not surprised you have quite a few listeners from Seattle. Most of us just answer “Seattle” when asked where we are from. It’s rather like somebody who lives in Roseville, MN (where my uncle lived for a long time) saying “I’m from Minneapolis.”