Is Seattle dying?

[Luna1968]

this is very interesting. I knew of the issues the city is having but i had no idea it was this bad. such a shame the city has let this drug problem get way out of control.

KOMO News Special: Seattle is Dying

 

[Moonbeam]

If we do not care for our children and those of others, they will find away to kill us. Tragedy creates regrets that come too late.

Humanity is asleep and there is no one to blame.

 

[woolfe9998]

This article addresses the issue thoughtfully:

https://www.city-journal.org/seattle-homelessness

 

[DrDoug]

It's not just the drug problem, it's the lack of mental health care for those who can't afford it. I remember when Washington State (I grew up and spent my early adult years in Spokane), along with many other states, emptied the state mental health hospitals in the 70's and shut them down to save money. The people who were in those institutions were released, many of them poor and without any way of providing for themselves. What do you think they did? They hit the streets and became homeless. There are homeless people with severe mental health problems all across this nation and now nothing is done until one of them goes over the edge. IOW, nothing is done until it's too late. Some states try to do something about it, California for one, but the problems and numbers of people who need help are overwhelming. These homeless turn to drugs as a way to numb themselves from the reality of their shitty lives. Some states choose to do absolutely nothing except toss them in jail for a bit when they break the law. Wow, room, warmth and food for a bit and then they are back on the streets. Some kind of help that is.

It's only going to get worse the longer we go without doing anything about it. The sane public is going to have to buck up and pay the state to take care of the mentally ill or they are going to have to learn to accept seeing their communities deteriorate. The wealthy, well to do and their politicians who could do something about this mess have pretty much isolated themselves from the problem so there is no sense of urgency for them to do anything.

We either care enough to do something about this or we suck it up and eat the shit sandwich.

 

[dank69]

Seattle is just a bunch of filthy Democrats, right Luna? Hopefully if enough Democrats kill themselves with drugs we can finally get some tax cuts for the job creators and everyone will be rich.

 

[whm1974]

It's not just the drug problem, it's the lack of mental health care for those who can't afford it. I remember when Washington State (I grew up and spent my early adult years in Spokane), along with many other states, emptied the state mental health hospitals in the 70's and shut them down to save money. The people who were in those institutions were released, many of them poor and without any way of providing for themselves. What do you think they did? They hit the streets and became homeless. There are homeless people with severe mental health problems all across this nation and now nothing is done until one of them goes over the edge. IOW, nothing is done until it's too late. Some states try to do something about it, California for one, but the problems and numbers of people who need help are overwhelming. These homeless turn to drugs as a way to numb themselves from the reality of their shitty lives. Some states choose to do absolutely nothing except toss them in jail for a bit when they break the law. Wow, room, warmth and food for a bit and then they are back on the streets. Some kind of help that is.

It's only going to get worse the longer we go without doing anything about it. The sane public is going to have to buck up and pay the state to take care of the mentally ill or they are going to have to learn to accept seeing their communities deteriorate. The wealthy, well to do and their politicians who could do something about this mess have pretty much isolated themselves from the problem so there is no sense of urgency for them to do anything.

We either care enough to do something about this or we suck it up and eat the shit sandwich.

As a someone with an mental illness who was briefly homeless, I'm in full agreement with you on this subject. it is far more cost effective to provide treatment and support instead of simply leaving them to fend for themselves.

 

[alcoholbob]

San Francisco isn't any different. When you have 74 billionaires and 7500 homeless people in the same space, it really makes you wonder society's priorities. History keeps repeating itself, it reminds me so much of the late days of the Roman Republic, where citizen soldiers and farmers were being evicted and their property sold off to the merchant and nobility class as the elites of the society began to extract the wealth from their fellow citizens.

 

[DrDoug]

What I get sick of is the holier than thou bullshit from the right about big cities turning to crap because of their homeless problems. How about this little bit of fact? Many homeless people travel to the big cities to live because small towns harass them and chase them away. Many of these homeless in the 'liberal big city' came from the very areas that the holier than thou bullshit is coming from. They look out their windows and see no homeless, confirming to them that their state has no homeless problem. They don't have a problem because they forced it to move elsewhere, making others deal with the problem.

Leaving them free to disparage Democrats about creating a homeless problem in their cities while laughing at their attempts to deal with it.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I think zoning is a big problem in a lot of US cities.
Tokyo is more or less one of the biggest and most prosperous cities in the world, but, single family detached homes within a 30 min commute of the city center are under 200K. Apartments are much less expensive.

Maybe we should do like Japan, and open up all the commercial and industrial zones to also allow homes to be built there?
This is a good write up, but, there are MANY videos on youtube as well
https://devonzuegel.com/post/north-american-vs-japanese-zoning?

 

[Luna1968]

I think zoning is a big problem in a lot of US cities.
Tokyo is more or less one of the biggest and most prosperous cities in the world, but, single family detached homes within a 30 min commute of the city center are under 200K. Apartments are much less expensive.

Maybe we should do like Japan, and open up all the commercial and industrial zones to also allow homes to be built there?
This is a good write up, but, there are MANY videos on youtube as well
https://devonzuegel.com/post/north-american-vs-japanese-zoning?

thats a interesting concept.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Seattle is just a bunch of filthy Democrats, right Luna? Hopefully if enough Democrats kill themselves with drugs we can finally get some tax cuts for the job creators and everyone will be rich.

What an ignorant response!! -- sorry! I just replaced the batteries in my sarcasm meter!!

 

[Jhhnn]

What an ignorant response!!

Check your sarcasm meter.

 

[Moonbeam]

What an ignorant response!!

Yes, but it’s not dank’s answer. It’s the answer he sees us giving.

 

[Starbuck1975]

this is very interesting. I knew of the issues the city is having but i had no idea it was this bad. such a shame the city has let this drug problem get way out of control.

KOMO News Special: Seattle is Dying

Seattle was an amazing city in the late 90s and early 00s. Now, you’ve got Amazon overdeveloping everything and driving up the cost of living while the lunatics run the asylum. I never thought I would see tent cities along American freeways. I never thought I would see people shooting up in broad daylight or defecating on city streets. Even Capitol Hill, which used to have a really cool vibe, is now overrun by code bros, neon haired Tumblr types and neckbeards hanging around the pot shops.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Check your sarcasm meter.

Batteries in sarcasm meter replaced!! Thx!!!

 

[JEDIYoda]

Yes, but it’s not dank’s answer. It’s the answer he sees us giving.

Thx!!

 

[crashtech]

Criminalizing vice solves problems like gasoline puts out fires. It's ironic that our society treats addicts in the exact opposite way that they would need to recover. Instead of care and compassion, they get hard cold streets or jail cells, a perfect prescription for a downward spiral of continued self-medication and eventually death. This outcome doesn't seem to bother the average citizen either, as long it occurs out of sight.

 

[nickqt]

Criminalizing vice solves problems like gasoline puts out fires. It's ironic that our society treats addicts in the exact opposite way that they would need to recover. Instead of care and compassion, they get hard cold streets or jail cells, a perfect prescription for a downward spiral of continued self-medication and eventually death. This outcome doesn't seem to bother the average citizen either, as long it occurs out of sight.

Our entire economy has been designed, like a machine, to enrich the richest people in the solar system. They "donate" money to politicians to write laws that benefit themselves and their families.

If you aren't a well-fitting cog in that machine, well get the fuck out. And try not to cost the owners and operators of society money on your way out, please.

 

[crashtech]

Our entire economy has been designed, like a machine, to enrich the richest people in the solar system. They "donate" money to politicians to write laws that benefit themselves and their families.

If you aren't a well-fitting cog in that machine, well get the fuck out. And try not to cost the owners and operators of society money on your way out, please.

Criminalizing vice is a leftover from our Puritanical past and really does not serve anyone's interest. Redirecting the funds used to prosecute and incarcerate drug offenders would actually help people regain their ability to become what you might term as cogs in the rich man's machine; as ignominious as that might be, it beats dying in an alley in a puddle of vomit.

 

[DrDoug]

Seattle was an amazing city in the late 90s and early 00s. Now, you’ve got Amazon overdeveloping everything and driving up the cost of living while the lunatics run the asylum. I never thought I would see tent cities along American freeways. I never thought I would see people shooting up in broad daylight or defecating on city streets. Even Capitol Hill, which used to have a really cool vibe, is now overrun by code bros, neon haired Tumblr types and neckbeards hanging around the pot shops.

You decided that my post above about small towns chasing the homeless away was boring? I guess that's old news to you, eh? Or are you one of the people enjoying the benefits of small town life while laughing at the big cities and their problems? That's the way it is here in our small coastal town here in Oregon. Homeless people in to our town move on real quickly once they figure out the conservatives run it and don't want them around. So they head to Portland, Eugene, Medford, Eureka and so on. It's relatively easy for a small town to keep the streets clear of homeless. It's impossible to do that in the big cities.

The homeless are going to need to be somewhere, even the rural homeless, and the path of least resistance means the big city is where they eventually head.

 

[MooseNSquirrel]

This article addresses the issue thoughtfully:

https://www.city-journal.org/seattle-homelessness

Except for the blatent usual right wing tropes about socialism, capitalism, welfare, appeal to authority and "traditional family and community", I did learn a few things and its well written.

 

[feralkid]

Even Capitol Hill, which used to have a really cool vibe, is now overrun by code bros, neon haired Tumblr types and neckbeards hanging around the pot shops.

Yes, obviously they are the real problem.

 

[Starbuck1975]

Yes, obviously they are the real problem.

No, you are

 

[Starbuck1975]

You decided that my post above about small towns chasing the homeless away was boring? I guess that's old news to you, eh? Or are you one of the people enjoying the benefits of small town life while laughing at the big cities and their problems? That's the way it is here in our small coastal town here in Oregon. Homeless people in to our town move on real quickly once they figure out the conservatives run it and don't want them around. So they head to Portland, Eugene, Medford, Eureka and so on. It's relatively easy for a small town to keep the streets clear of homeless. It's impossible to do that in the big cities.

The homeless are going to need to be somewhere, even the rural homeless, and the path of least resistance means the big city is where they eventually head.

I’ve lived in both rural areas and cities, currently live and travel to numerous cities on both coasts. Yes, the homeless need to live somewhere. Small towns are not the issue.

I’ve also noticed that due to urbanization, the wealthy and educated, those in a position to help the problem, don’t want the needle exchanges and shelters in their neighborhoods. Funny that.

 

[feralkid]

Ha!