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1101 East Pike St. Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98122
1101 East Pike St. Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98122
Well looking like a butch lesbian probably helps.
I only caught the beginning of the piece, but props to whomever was there from The Stranger on speaking out against her ridiculous bullshit... and doing so in a much more well-spoken manner.
Cienna, this is not a democracy, it's a Burgessocracy. No one is allowed to say that legislation works better when it's based on cold empirical data that justifies the need for a law with evidence.
some folks really are feel scared. and the fact that I never have been, and you never have - doesn't change that.
try to show a little empathy. yes yes... the fact that Burgess is on one side of this can make that a challenge. but i know you're up for it!
Just because you don't feel the aggressive panhandling does not mean other women don't. Stop speaking everyone else please.
It is really easy for us that live inside the downtown area to explain how well we handle aggressive contact on the street but remember we want people to be attracted to downtown. We want them to come and walk around slowly, spend money, and attend shows and art galleries. If you want to zoom about your business in a shell of non-interaction buy a car and move to the suburbs.
And through all this, still no word from Burgess that he would do anything to get more money for more cops. Which, if you point it out, apparently sends his supporters into a hot rage.
"Studies show that tourists, heterosexual couples on dates, and women are more likely to be panhandled."
I don't know why I bother writing a comment to point that out, though, because you obviously cannot read.
It's good to know that Ciena is young and strong and powerful enough to beat up any baddies who dare cross her path, with an awe-inspiring fuck-you attitude, as Vince puts it. After all, life is really just a question of who's the most punk rock. Who's the most DETROIT, man.
It's good to know that we all live in a world with no old people, no frail people, no vulnerable people.
Someone says "some people feel threatened", and you answer "well I ain't afraid!". That's not the point.
I've met Ciena. She's taller than I am, and she could easily take me in a fight.
One thing that a lot of you seem to be missing that the people on the other side of this dispute aren't talking about tough-as-balls young people, however lovely you are when you're working out your street-walking chops. But the little old ladies in Chinatown are citizens too.
Also: you know who the primary victims of aggressive street behavior are? THE HOMELESS. When I was homeless the very first thing that happened to me was I got robbed at knifepoint under the viaduct, relieving me of the only dollars I had.
Homeless people are far more likely to get harrassed, threatened, robbed, beaten, raped and killed on the street than other people. It happens all day long, every day. There's a lot more kinds of aggression out there than just the red herring "panhandling".
Yes, Seattle has problems with homelessness and panhandling, like every other city in America. But Balter came in playing the gender card, and a lot of women are taking issue with that.
And yeah, I work downtown, walk to and from work from the hill, am a petite female, sometimes I do wear heeled shoes...
"There's a lot more kinds of aggression out there than just the red herring "panhandling". "
--
And there are laws against that shit. Enforce those laws.
That's the cynical ploy that Balter and her team are attempting to use here. She'd have you believe that this is all about making women safe, rather than the real target: defeating McGinn and empowering Burgess.
Bullshit. Stop the silly posturing. Burgess had his chance to declare a run for Mayor and chose not to. We have serious issues facing the city, and we need everyone to roll up their sleeves and get to work.
This thread is now about puppies.
"Butter my buns and call me a biscuit!"
Cienna, you're just trying to fit in with the macho boys club where you work. Yes, a lot of them are gay with a little lisp, but they sit around all day acting like frat boys, picking on easy targets they can to give themselves a cheap laugh. The Stranger's brand of comedy is to mock and humiliate the weak, as long as you can figure out a way to frame it in a way that passes for politically correct. And you're part of that club.
I really want to hear what Dan Savage thinks about this. You kids doing an terrible job.
Your last three lines should be engraved on a heavy rock and thrown through Ms Balter's Seward Park window. Her "argument" is straight outta the 50's when women were still thought of as the weaker sex. Fuck that shit. Feminism - real, TRUE Feminism - sez FUCK that shit.
(Why is elenchos being such an ass?)
Joni is partly right. A lot of women do feel more vulnerable downtown at night. It may or may not be justified, but they feel vulnerable nevertheless.
But where she goes completely off the rails is the false assumption that this new aggressive panhandling law would have done anything to actually make women safer.
Attacking Joni for feeling vulnerable is useless. That isn't the point. Attack the misguided law (which Dom has been doing quite well).
Joni (and doubtlessly many other women) feel vulnerable downtown at night. Fine. I sympathize. But don't use your fear as justification to create bad law.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=women+more+likely+t…
via http://www.pineforge.com/isw6/articles/c…
The article goes on to show via research that men are quite a bit more likely to be panhandled, but women are far more likely to change their shopping habits, even though they are less likely to be panhandled.
accessible to homeless panhandlers." So yeah, women who don't feel safe in area and avoid that area, are therefore not going to be panhandled there. Uh, doh.
I would nominate 5th between Main south to Uwajimaya, centering maybe on Union Market on Jackson, as the current scuzziest blocks downtown. I think Ballard by the library, or maybe 36th just before it turns into Leary in Fremont as the worst overall. On those blocks right around the George and Dragon there's been a couple of guys who reek of booze and piss and shout, lunge, and kick out at passersby the last few times I've been by there.
Of course, if I lived in Fremont and had to bear with the insufferable nightclubbers, I might do a little kicking out as well.
It is NEVER incumbent on anyone to go out verifying your claims. It is ALWAYS incumbent on you to do that.
It's not that I'm helpless; it's that I'm not interested in doing your work for you.
Now, please go through your google search, read some of those links, and post the ones that support your assertion. I'm not doing that for you.
The city needs to hire more cops. The city said it was planning on hiring more cops (21 new uniformed officers a year). The city isn't hiring more cops.
Why isn't the city hiring more cops like it said it would? Is it up to the city council to hire more cops or is it up to the mayor to hire more cops?
Cops, cops, cops, cops, cops!
At least half the murders in Seattle are committed by blacks, a group that makes up only 8% of Seattle. In 2008, blacks committed at least 14 of the 28 murders here. In 2009, blacks committed at least 12 of the 21 murders here. Black thug violence is a far more dangerous and serious problem in Seattle than the panhandling bum problem, which is also a big drag.
Maybe you can try finding some facts every once in a while. Ah, but that would mean you might want to try and be objective.
The Stranger has turned into a crappy left wing Fox News. So sad, as you used to actually do reporting...
I have a hard time believing Joni Balter's afraid of anything or anyone. More likely the other way around.
@six shooter: From your handle, I think it's pretty obvious what your solution to the world's problems is: Kill 'em all. That must be why you want more cops; more violent thugs to bash some heads in this city. No thanks.
@58: What's your source? How are you defining "black"? Did you get the census records of the individuals involved? How many whites that killed other people were charged with simple manslaughter instead of murder? How many people did police kill in those years before they got away scot-free with no charges? And moreover, what have you done lately to address the problems of poverty and lack of self-worth or a positive self-image faced by inner city minority youth?
@Cienna Madrid: Nice post. We need less fear in the world.
This story was covered far more eloquently before Cienna's post. Cienna, you make me ashamed to be a woman because you can't find any more nuanced arguments against such Joni's obviously trolling comments. Your vagina does not make you entitled to speak for all women, sweetheart.
This is starting to look like the second coming of ECB.
murder data = Seattle pi's year-end articles
population data = citydata dot com or any site that gives demographic info.
Black males already have too much self esteem! They don't need more! What they need is some humility! Also it is not my responsibility to raise some trashy crack mammy's ghetto spawn. That is the responsibility of the brood-sow and the buck babydaddy.
You are a disgrace to humanity.
It's wonderful if the writer has never experienced harassment on street. I'm from the east coast, lived here for almost 2 decades and consider myself somewhat of a tough cookie. Yet I have been verbally (and physically, unfortunately) accosted on the street multiple times since I was, like, 12. This doesn't make me a victim, and I'm not bawling every day over it, but I certainly don't begrudge women who want streets safer for other women. The writer should consider that her experience may not be reflective of her entire gender's.