Comments

1
"But there will still be people who refuse to go to city-supervised encampments or shelter and the city must reckon with that."

Maybe arrest them? Put them in jail?
Not sure I understand why City needs to reckon beyond saying "No".
Please explain.
2
are you allowed to have your dogs & drugs in a city-supervised encampment?
3
@2 - NO!
4
The Council should get the credit for this. Anybody who imagines that they didn't prod Murray into action isn't paying attention.
5
3000 homeless being used as chess pieces as Suburban whiners who freeload on Seattle park levies try to tell us what to do
6
@5: The park levy passed by a large margin. If you're not the kind of person who would object to the breaking of tree limbs in our parks for firewood or seeing poop and toilet paper on our trails, then you are {please complete this sentence}.
7
@1:

Maybe because criminalizing homelessness has proven to be not only ineffectual, but a drain on public resources?

Look, there are always going to be a few people who, for whatever reason, simply refuse offered services. If they weren't homeless Libertarians would no doubt be lauding them for their independent spirit and desire to cast off the shackles of societal obligation. Even 100 years ago there would still have been room left in the wide and broad expanse of the North American continent for them to exercise their independence; but today we don't really make it possible for lone anti-social types to eke out an existence trapping or hunting or mining a claim in the wilderness or farming some remote homestead in unassigned territory. So, they end up on the streets of our cities instead. And frankly, a fair number of them are already so damaged: by substance abuse or mental health issues they're just not capable of making informed judgments in their own best interests. I guess we could force them into shelters or institutions, but that means we have to be willing to pay for those, which it seems many people find just as objectionable as the current situation.

Many people simply don't want to see or be around the homeless, but at the same time they also don't want to invest the social capital to get them safely and humanely off the streets either, so I'm not sure how we're supposed to solve that conundrum.
8
@1 You're right. If they have been offered an alternative that is more clean/safe and they still want to do whatever they please then maybe Seattle isn't the right place to squat. We currently are a homeless magnet and it's not Seattle's responsibility to accommodate every homeless person in the country.
9
This is more bullshit.

You folks have children? Then shut up.
10
Hey Heidi Grover

Do you have a daughter whose grade school is within three blocks of a sanctioned encampment?

Did your daughter tell you she found a needle in the playground? I do.

I didn't think so. STFU already.
11
I'm not a huge fan of this plan, but good for the Mayor. Sawant and Obrien or seriously confused. Sawant said that hundreds of people have reach out to her to support her plan. Hundreds, really? There is a petition out there to stop your plan that has nearly 21,000 votes. I say that beats your hundreds. Even the most liberal friends I have think that the problem is out of hand, and your solution is ridiculous. These guys are pathetic.
12
I say if people refuse to go to sanctioned encampments because they cant do drugs there, then yeah.. they should get the heck out of Seattle if they don't want to end up in jail or an institution for breaking the law!! Another commenter was right that Seattle is a transient magnet! How many times have you seen transients with free phones, free bus passes, and can park their tent wherever they please because no one is going to force them to move in a timely manner? Of course more people come here! What other city allows this? Two years ago you saw a tent here and there, and it's gotten completely worse. It won't get better if you keep building encampments or allowing people to sleep wherever ( which is basically what the city is doing because they don't allow promp action against illegal camps). It's a complete "build it and they will come" scenario and it's attracting bad folks that just want to do what they want and don't care if it's illegal. For the encampments that do have rules, a lot of the people just go down the street, drag some random sofa onto the sidewalk (yes this has happened), do drugs all day, leave needles and garbage everywhere, then go back to the camp at night.
14
@9 You live in a city. There are conversations you're going to have to have with your children here that parents in more rural areas do not. Encampments are just one of the societal ills that comes with living in a densely populated area.

I would also talk to other parents in the area and form a group that does daily checks along the childrens' walking paths for any needles or other dangerous material. You can be part of the solution too. It's your community.
15
Key word here is "supervised." That means no piles of stolen bikes, no drugs or drug dealing, and no harassing the neighbors. We had one of the Tent City camps at the end of our block a few years ago and there were no problems whatsoever. It was 180 degrees opposite from the hobo camps you see around town now. I suspect most Seattleites would gladly pay for proper supervision and services for supervised tent sites that require reasonable behavior.
16
Why are we wating time and money on clearing out the Jungle.Let them stay there,let them leave their used hypos on the ground.Let them shit and pee in their area.Quit worriying about it and tell the GoodyTwoShoes to find another cause
17
@3- one of the proposed camps is a low-barrier that lets them have their drugs.
18
The managed encampments I am familiar with do allow pets. However, some do draw the line at pitt bulls because they are perceived to be more dangerous.
19
http://iamhomelessinseattle.blogspot.com…

check out my story.....leave comments........

peace

rp

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.