Is Seattle dying?

[Starbuck1975]

Ha!

You’re quick on the edit. Your original response was funnier.

 

[fskimospy]

Interesting note about Seattle and all that ‘overdevelopment’. Rents are dropping there, unlike in almost any other major US city.

https://www.oregonlive.com/business...ords-compete-for-tenants-as-market-cools.html

The number one thing we can do to help reduce the number of homeless is reduce the cost of having a home.

 

[1prophet]

The usual canned responses to the big elephant in the room that the corporate bought and paid for Democrats are afraid to touch with a 10-foot pole, and the reason why representatives like AOC are so popular and scary to the current political establishment (not just ant-socialism republicans), but as long as the republicans are at the forefront battling for the rich and being the bad guy "which benefits many rich democrats as well" , the so called party of the people, the democrats, can finger point and virtue signal all day long and their supporters with their brainwashed tribalistic mentality will defend them.

While Reagan may have been the president that brought in the policies of the rich that many democrats like to finger point at, it was Bill Clinton who helped bring about the end of the Democrat party that looked out for the little guy, by incorporating those same type of corporate first policies in the Democrat Party and made it acceptable as long as you weren't an evil rich republican, and here we are today.

How “Bullying” Amazon Killed a Seattle Tax Meant to Help the Homeless
https://www.racked.com/2018/6/12/17454480/seattle-tax-amazon-starbucks

"Just weeks after Seattle passed a new business tax that would have had Amazon shelling out additional funds to help the homeless, the city has now reversed its decision.


The Seattle City Council voted to repeal the “head tax” late Tuesday afternoon, even though it voted unanimously in favor of it only one month ago. In a move that some on the city council have called “backroom betrayal” as a result of “bullying by Amazon,” the abrupt 180 on the tax plan is stunning and proves just how powerful Amazon truly is."

New York's governor jokes he'll change his name to 'Amazon Cuomo' to win the HQ2 bid hours before a report that New York City will be home to one of the company's new headquarters

https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-governor-jokes-amazon-cuomo-name-change-hq2-2018-11

""I'll change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that's what it takes," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters at an event on Monday, referring to his determination to land Amazon's second headquarters. "

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

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.

Always so negative aren't you? Look at this as an opportunity. Property values will drop and when they do that's when you buy into the market. Hire people to do construction, stiff them and lease or rent out to the next group when these deadbeat slugs kick off. Once these stupid worthless types die there's an ostentatious gilded jet in your future. You might even be elected President one day.

 

[Greenman]

Interesting note about Seattle and all that ‘overdevelopment’. Rents are dropping there, unlike in almost any other major US city.

https://www.oregonlive.com/business...ords-compete-for-tenants-as-market-cools.html

The number one thing we can do to help reduce the number of homeless is reduce the cost of having a home.

How many people will move off the street because of a 2% price reduction? We're talking about a dollar or two per day.
My hunch is that there will be a homeless problem until rents get down into the three or four hundred dollar a month range, and mental health care can be forced compliance.

 

[Luna1968]

Interesting note about Seattle and all that ‘overdevelopment’. Rents are dropping there, unlike in almost any other major US city.

https://www.oregonlive.com/business...ords-compete-for-tenants-as-market-cools.html

The number one thing we can do to help reduce the number of homeless is reduce the cost of having a home.

you kinda sound like the city council. so ill ask the same questions the news report was asking. is the problems in Seattle a homeless problem or a drug problem.

 

[fskimospy]

you kinda sound like the city council. so ill ask the same questions the news report was asking. is the problems in Seattle a homeless problem or a drug problem.

What are the odds those things are related in both directions? I’m going to say about 100%.

 

[fskimospy]

How many people will move off the street because of a 2% price reduction? We're talking about a dollar or two per day.
My hunch is that there will be a homeless problem until rents get down into the three or four hundred dollar a month range, and mental health care can be forced compliance.

This isn’t about solving homelessness, this is about reducing homelessness. If you want to look for where homelessness has increased the most it’s where rents have increased the most. The empirical evidence is extremely strong for this relationship and frankly it should be common sense. Remember, this problem has been building (har) for decades. Much like when people try to lose weight they want the problem fixed immediately, forgetting that it took them years to put on that weight. Seattle has the right idea though, just because rents went down slightly isn't stopping them from continuing to build. We have dug ourselves a HUGE housing hole in our most competitive cities by simply refusing to build new houses for years and we will need huge building for many years to come to dig out of it.

The answer to reducing homelessness is not curing mental illness any more than solving gun violence is about curing mental illness. We lack the ability to do that but we do have other proven, effective ways to reduce homelessness. In this case, reduce the cost of housing.

 

[Luna1968]

What are the odds those things are related in both directions? I’m going to say about 100%.

so i would think until the drug problem is under control that doing anything to reduce homeless would be a waste of time. The news report spells that out pretty clear.

 

[feralkid]

You’re quick on the edit. Your original response was funnier.

But I forgot to quote, so I thought the connection was too weak.
Glad you caught it and liked it.

 

[fskimospy]

so i would think until the drug problem is under control that doing anything to reduce homeless would be a waste of time. The news report spells that out pretty clear.

That would only be true if 100% of homelessness were caused by drug abuse, something that's obviously wrong.

Homelessness is caused by a whole bunch of factors, drug abuse among them. The #1 reason however, is simply being unable to afford housing. Honestly if anything from a housing perspective fighting drug abuse should be secondary to building more houses.

https://nlchp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Homeless_Stats_Fact_Sheet.pdf

According to the most recent annual survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, major cities across the country report that top causes of homelessness among families were: (1) lack of affordable housing, (2) unemployment, (3) poverty, and (4) low wages, in that order.42 The same report found that the top four causes of homelessness among unaccompanied individuals were (1) lack of affordable housing, (2) unemployment, (3) poverty, (4) mental illness and the lack of needed services, and (5) substance abuse and the lack of needed services.4

https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/basic-facts-about-homelessness-new-york-city/

• Research shows that the primary cause of homelessness, particularly among families, is lack of affordable housing. Surveys of homeless families have identified the following major immediate, triggering causes of homelessness: eviction; doubled-up or severely overcrowded housing; domestic violence; job loss; and hazardous housing conditions.

 

[dank69]

Always so negative aren't you? Look at this as an opportunity. Property values will drop and when they do that's when you buy into the market. Hire people to do construction, stiff them and lease or rent out to the next group when these deadbeat slugs kick off. Once these stupid worthless types die there's an ostentatious gilded jet in your future. You might even be elected President one day.

Who's negative? What do you call 1000 dead Democrats at the bottom of the ocean? A good start.

 

[sandorski]

Only made it 18ish minutes in. The Cop Fellation and Enforcing the Law angle got too much to bear. Does the report actually discuss Causes and/or other solutions?

 

[DrDoug]

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.

I've also lived in big cities and currently a small town and I'm not bored with the issue. Since you realize the homeless have to live somewhere I take it your "boring" response is that you don't give a shit about them as your jumping to needle exchanges indicates you view drugs as the problem.

Nothing about the homeless problem is funny but you go ahead and keep laughing about it.

 

[Triloby]

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?

I'd imagine Japanese zoning laws are due to the fact that the country as a whole is a tiny island, and land is a precious commodity over there. You can't really spread out as much as you want on a tiny island, so you have no choice but to densify.

However, what needs to be considered is that Japanese houses are considered worthless and disposable after a certain period of time due to those same regulations. Half of all homes in Japan are demolished before 38 years, and there is virtually no market for buying used homes over there. The land the houses sit on maintains its value, while the house's value itself plummets like a rock.

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/why...isposable-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast-3/

Some of Japan's zoning laws make sense, but there are a couple aspects of it that wouldn't make any sense in America simply due to the much bigger availability of land here.

 

[hal2kilo]

you kinda sound like the city council. so ill ask the same questions the news report was asking. is the problems in Seattle a homeless problem or a drug problem.

The core problem with most of the homeless is substance abuse, and mental illness. The manufacturers of Oxytocin suckered the medical community that they had magic opiates that did not cause addiction. So they start prescribing these things for even minor pain, people start getting addicted and need more, so the doctor you go to says you've had enough. Next, you start doctor shopping and the pharma companies have been complicit in supplying the "pain treatment" doctors with all the pills they could manufacture. State finally takes control of that situation, and now all the people who've been cut off from "pain management" move on to Heroin, stronger, and cheaper, with the added risk of getting a hot shot with some Fentanyl. We all know this. It's not just in Seattle, Snohomish county has been decimated. Guess who's the biggest employer in Everett which is in Snohomish Co., Boeing. There are places in Everett now where you don't want to walk down the street in the daytime. Yes, opiate addiction is at the heart of the massive bloom in homelessness, and it's at crisis proportions, with nothing but lip service by this administration. States are doing the only thing they can, and suing the crap out of the pharma companies, who will promptly declare bankruptcy and will escape responsibility for the nightmare that has be purposely spread upon us by greedy pharma companies.

 

[alien42]

we all know rural America is dying and that the Opioid crisis is centered there, why no concern for that?

 

[Vic]

It's kinda weird how the topic of amazingly wealthy liberal cities always turns conservatives into socialists.

 

[crashtech]

It's kinda weird how the topic of amazingly wealthy liberal cities always turns conservatives into socialists.

We're all socialists to a degree, but conservatives have a harder time admitting it. Few question the utility of socialized roads, for example, and of quasi-governmental infrastructure and utilities. Besides, drug use on the streets is a problem that in large part is the fault of the government and its insane war on drugs, so a government solution to that end of the problem will be mandatory.

 

[fskimospy]

It's kinda weird how the topic of amazingly wealthy liberal cities always turns conservatives into socialists.

It is always odd to me that conservatives are all about fewer government regulations unless those regulations are to prevent people from building adequate housing.

 

[KeithP]

I don't see how anyone can think more money is the answer. All more spending has done so far is enable a much larger homeless population.

-KeithP

 

[fskimospy]

I don't see how anyone can think more money is the answer. All more spending has done so far is enable a much larger homeless population.

-KeithP

Wait so to be clear you're claiming that people are electing to be homeless because of all the sweet benefits they get?

Alternatively, are you saying the homeless would otherwise have died?

Have you thought this through? People aren't homeless because it's so fun and you get so much money from the government. If you think otherwise I suggest you try being homeless for a few days and see if it's as good as you imagined.

 

[Luna1968]

we all know rural America is dying and that the Opioid crisis is centered there, why no concern for that?

who says there isnt?

 

[Luna1968]

Wait so to be clear you're claiming that people are electing to be homeless because of all the sweet benefits they get?

Alternatively, are you saying the homeless would otherwise have died?

Have you thought this through? People aren't homeless because it's so fun and you get so much money from the government. If you think otherwise I suggest you try being homeless for a few days and see if it's as good as you imagined.

if you watch the hour long video in my first post link it will answer your questions.

 

[whm1974]

if you watch the hour long video in my first post link it will answer your questions.

Can't you give us a summery of the video?