Comments

1
"activated parks" (basically, parks that people actually use). People don't use Carkeek or Ursula Judkins or Westlake? Since nobody is using them lets sell them and use the money for homeless issues.
3
@1: They're used a lot. I attended a wedding at Carkeek this summer.
4
@2: "trimming fat from bloated gov't agencies" is a truly tired canard.

if you want the homeless crisis solved, you need to help everyone, including the undeserving. a violent felon with a home and a job is less likely to violently offend again, no?
5
@3 Huge if true. The article indicates it is not though.
6
@4. How about helping everyone who is willing to help themselves? Merit based aid is liable to reach and help more folks who sincerely want to change their life and environment for the better.

(By merit based aid I mean housing and support services in exchange for clean UA's and participation in mental health therapies)
8
One would hope that this kind of dumbfuckery would actually inspire the city to spend more on much more frequent sweeps. Seattle should not be a save haven for tweekers.
9
So the real motive behind getting Kirsten Harris-Talley onto the Council, even for two months, is increasingly evident every passing day. On day four of her tenure, a new tax, the latest "solution" to the homeless crisis is proposed by Harris-Talley and Mike O'Brien. Day Five: Ban the "sweeps".

And this is just Harrris-Talley's first week! Imagine what the troika of Mike and Kshama and Kirsten can do in the next seven! The Revolution will be televised! In full intersectional color!

The naked cynicism and raw will to power in these moves is almost artistically Bolshevistic.
10
So, Council Member O'Brien, fresh off his great idea to allow lived-in vehicles to occupy even more of our city's already-scarce parking spots, now proposes we allow filthy and crime-ridden encampments to seize our public spaces. Yay.
11
Literally had to step over two giant piles of obviously human shit on the sidewalk Thursday. There are real health issues associated with letting people camp & do whatever all over the sidewalks & streets. There have to be some standards of what is acceptable behavior.

Open up some vacant lots for camping. Put in porta-potties and hand wash stations. Patrol them. Patrol them some more. People selling drugs or piling up stolen bikes or committing assaults or whatever go to jail (just like those who are not homeless do if caught doing the same things). Stop fucking around with all this discussion while the problem gets worse.
12
I just went to O'Brien's District 6 office hours on Wednesday night on Phinney Ridge and spent 3 hours listening to his budget presentation and Q&A with constituents. THIS NEVER CAME UP, even during targeted discussions on these topics. No wonder trust amongst his base is dwindling so fast. He grows more extreme and disingenous by the day. His pure and mighty intentions are disastrous to individuals, environment, and governance. Please let clearer leadership help us forward as a community.
14
Unofficial camps are a public health menace. The mirage of "housing first" is forestalling more cost-effective and pragmatic solutions, such as a city/county joint effort to build larger-scale tent "cities" (not the little "Potemkin villages" we have now) with garbage collection, sanitation, potable water, laundry, kitchens, storage/lockers, mailboxes/voicemail, wi-fi/internet, health/social services, access to treatment/therapy, transportation, governance, etc.
15
Seems as if CM's Sawant and O'Brien are using President Trumps starve the ACA approach.
16
I just spoke with O'Brien's office and his staff member was unfamiliar with this article and seemed surprised that O'Brien is described as leading this. He was unable to provide any information about the "proviso" other than a very brief verbal description. O'Brien didn't discuss this with constituents at last week's office hours. There is no way to stay on top of the freight train of activism that is happening behind closed doors then pushed forward (with no meaningful reviews) by a crowd of red-scarf-wearing activists. Our environment, our public safety, and our ability to effectively serve people in need are all at the whim of this circus. God help us all.
17
There is talk of bring the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program to the north end. It currently only operates in downtown Seattle and Capital Hill. LEAD would begin to get at the concern that we all have about criminal activity.

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