Comments

2
So what do we do?
I'm no expert but I get no sense that _anyone_ has a clear handle on what to do.
Only thing clear to me: practically unrestricted camping in City Parks is not part of a strategy.

Or put it this way:
How is practically unrestricted camping in City Parks part of a strategy?

3
The only correct answer is you don't let dozens of people camp out underneath a freeway. If you care about any of these people you have to keep them out of places where they are at greater risk. Hell, listen to the journalist in @1's story:

"The killings of Jeannine Zapata and James Quoc Tran interrupted a news conference by Mayor Ed Murray last January. But another homicide is perhaps more telling. On March 14, 2015, at 8th Avenue and Yesler Way — the northern border of the zone — Margaret Marie Pitka was shot in the tent of one of 20 members of a drug ring that reportedly ran narcotics throughout the zone and were arrested during a police undercover operation. A rival dealer, Dung Hoang Nguyen, is charged with second-degree murder in Pitka’s killing. He has pleaded not guilty and awaits trial."

No the homeless are not all criminal degenerates but there are some *real pieces of shit who are also homeless and who will only ever occupy spaces like this*. The longer it is allowed to remain the greater the risk another person dies for no goddamn reason.
4
@2, NO one has suggested unrestricted camping in parks.
5
@4: What, you think the homeless are going to abide by regulations in our parks? A few will. Most won't. Already tree are being burned for firewood and poop and toilet paper are ruining Woodland Park.
6
I know nothing about camps but I'm very well informed about homelessness in general. The first thing people don't know about is how invisible most homeless people are and how many of them desperately cling to employment and any semblance of a normal life. (YES! many homeless people have jobs and try to work hard, save money, etc.)
The bums you see pan handling are not always homeless, and everything on the signs they display is probably a lie. They aren't veterans, don't have diseases and weren't victims of a natural disaster. They are lying, thieving, heroin addicts and meth users who deserve nothing but a chance to go to inpatient treatment when they are ready.
This crisis is the direct result of mollycoddling the real estate development industry for decades while lavishing free giveaways on big money special interests and wealthy individuals, and attacking unions, workers rights, and the social safety net. It will take a very long, hard political struggle to fix it. Just because we win this year (Not a done deal yet!) is no reason to slack off after the victory parties. It won't be over, ever.
7
I must say that is some interesting graffiti along that beam in this photo.
9
Mollycoddling the real estate development industry! Oh, don't you pine for the good old days when Seattle didn't gi…? Money didn't always rule this town.

Yes, Seattle lay under a mile thick glacier when back when money didn't rule this town, but still. Good times.

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