Comments

2

Adults should be able to settle name calling and fights by themselves and not seek public consumption of their tawdry affair by their grandstanding, positioning, pouting, and demanding or refusing compensation from one another.

3

@1 From her parents. Just like you.

4

We're negotiating. Raise it to 60%.

5

The apology tango has gotten complicated. The immediate firing of the manager, significant donations and other compensations are not enough. Fuck everyone involved except the owners of momiji, who tried.

8

Are we back to reading the deplorable book of Asian/Asian-America discrimination against Black folks? Remember the Rodney King riots? There was a major backlash in that event against Asian-owned convenience stores and other businesses because of past untoward behavior. It had simmered for years. Apparently we have a local coda. Momiji serves great food and they have a beautiful restaurant. I want to believe the current partners. Maybe give them a break?

9

The police budget should be increased by 15%. Hire more officers. Cut Council staff.

10

SPD should also be able to get some more free stuff from the military. Replacement flash-bangs and gas canisters, a few more armored vehicles, some extra surveillance equipment, drones and so on. Barricades and whatnot. Maybe a couple of those robot dogs from Boston Dynamics for individual anarchist targeting and control.

11

Cutting any of SPD's budget is foolish - it's already a tiny police force for the area it covers and number of citizens it serves..... I'm not arguing that changes shouldn't be made. I'm all for adding mental health resource personnel & addiction treatment personnel (and they, along with the courts, should be able to mandate not simply offer treatment), social work and outreach - but find additional funding to do it, the cops themselves are already spread thin..... Don't believe me?
Compare for yourself

Seattle 9 officers/sq mile
549 citizens/ officer

Camden (a supposedly “defunded” police force)
36 officers/sq mile
192 citizens/ officer

LA - 20 officers /sq mile
404 citizens / officer

Boston - 24 officers/sq mile
388 citizens/ officer

Philadelphia 45 officers/sq mile
234 citizens/ officer

Chicago 50 officers/sq mile
278 citizens/ officer

Detroit 15 officers/sq mile
324 citizens/officer

how about international?
Vancouver BC 20 officers/sq mile
455 citizens/officer

London 53 officers/sq mile
279 citizens/officer (and this does not include the 3,300+ volunteer officers that work at least 2 days/month…)

12

I'm sure DARPA is also cooking up some autonomous crowd control technologies, robots, drones, new chemical agents, agitator recognition systems. We need to get in on the ground floor of that, be part of the initial tests and such.

13

"Durkan has also asked the police department to prepare models of what 20%, 30% and 50% budget cuts would look like."

Just wait - SPD will say crime will increase one-million-percent if you cut their budget one-red-cent.

A 20% cut, and the entire city will turn into CHAZ/CHOP.

A 30% cut will result in half of us bring raped, another half murdered, and a third half raped then murdered.

50% cuts, and Seattle turns into a Mad Max, everyone for themselves hell-scape.

14

Who runs Bartertown? Jeff Bezos, that's who.

15

"It looks like Americans will continue to be barred from entering the European Union . . . 'which would lump American visitors in with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome, is a stinging blow to American prestige in the world and a repudiation of President Trump’s handling of the virus in the United States...'"

trumpf's isolating us
from the Free World
it's all part of the Abuse
he plans on inflicting us
are you Tired of all the
"winning"? FUCK YOU
reptilicans.

Just say NO to
'right' wing
Terrorism

16

WA-BLOC and Creative Justice need to look up "magnanimous" and step up and do their fair part for a better society.

17

@4 Will in Seattle and @15 kristofarian: Agreed and seconded.

Only a 5% cut in SPD funding? Get real, Durkan! +1 to Will @4--make it a 60% SPD cut. 5% is a wrist slap. Redistribute the funds that would go to military assault rifles and aggressive policing (!!!??) toward affordable housing, healthcare and sustainable employment for all. And where is SPD Chief Carmen Best during all this? What happened to Black Lives Matter? They still do!
I swear, I just don't know Seattle, anymore. As a native I find that very sad.

18

I'm curious about the calls of voter suppression in Kentucky. Seems like Bitch McConkel would probably prefer to have the more left leaning Booker win things, as he'd ostensibly be the less formidable opponent in the general (a la Bitch Trumpkin hoping for Bernie, as opposed to JB.) And so suppression efforts would seem to undermine that cause, as high turnout favors minority and underdog candidates.

Not saying they're not doing it, as I know they do so when and wherever the opportunistic occasion presents itself; just not sure I'm seeing the benefit to them here. Maybe they deem Booker to be as much or more of a threat than they do McGrath? Or down ballot candidates/measures carry weight? Or maybe just old habits die hard?

19

Since the name Hermit Kingdom is already taken, what should we call this sad country, once they've gotten us locked up behind travel bans and hardened borders?
We won't even need that sick joke of a border fence.

22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njMK04xlSf4

23

@20 - According to the PD there are 1,300 officers. Seattle is 142.5 sq miles and has a population of approx. 713,700

1,300 divided by 142.5 is 9.1
713,700 divided by 1,300 is 549

nothing fishy about the math at all.... I did the same process for the rest of cities listed. No magic or fudging needed. Only the violent crime rate here is fairly low.... and we already have a small police force - no problem to solve right? The property crime rate is high. Don't know about you, but I still want a response if my car is broken into or my house is burglarized.

24

I'm all for transforming public safety, but starting with a 50% cut to SPD is just stupid, especially done on the half-ass like this would be.

It needs to be done methodically - looking at what the cops do, and figuring out who might be able to do it better. Then create a framework and legislation for funding those new ways of doing things. Take the appropriate amount of money from the SPD budget as you do so.

Having the city create "affordable housing" or "sustainable jobs" is a recipe for disaster. The city is incapable of doing that under its current political leadership. Initiatives like that get weighed down by political agendas and then drown in the Seattle process, taking millions with them.

25

@24: Stop being reasonable, and join the Capitol Hill Unorganized Mindless Protesters in making simplistic demands. ;-)

@9, @12: Sounds like we're really going to have to jack up our city's soda tax now. Maybe by 50%? 100%? 200%? Let us know which level you prefer. Sweet!

26

I'm amazed we were allowed to even get to phase 2, so I could see us being here for a while. It's too bad though, say goodbye to all small restaurants, bars, music venues, festivals and anything that had brought people joy thanks to our inept president and micromanaging governor. If you own a house in King County say farewell to any value it would've had because there's nothing left for the cities anymore. Our governor could care less as our economic epicenters become seas of unemployment and eviction. Pour another one out for the environment too, expect to see more and more masks and gloves littering our landscapes, and an explosion of greenhouse gases thanks to everyone ditching mass transit. There may not be a future for our city or county but at least we can pat ourselves on the back and say we protected the vulnerable populations...

27

Shorter Conservatives: "Protesters demonstrating against police brutality just are a bunch of dirty, filthy, Commie-pinko hippies - why isn't the government gassing, bombing, shooting, tasing, choking the life out of them?"

Shorter-Shorter Conservatives: "My hair looks terrible - and the gubbamint won't do a thing about it! Where's my AR-15? I'm going to the state capitol!"

28

Good lord, tmplknght, you certainly excel at hanging the crepe.

For what it's worth, after a small dip during April, permits for new construction have shot back up here in Our Fair City, and I continue to get letters from realtors offering to buy Chez Vel-DuRay, so perhaps you should take your pills and calm yourself.

29

Fine, de-fund the police and create unarmed units to handle most calls. Send in the de-escalation team, unarmed, plain clothes, into a domestic violence situation.

30

@29:

Better than sending a squad of heavily armed SWAT to break down the doors of the wrong house and kill the occupants.

31

I think we need to take a hard look at what police actually do. What do they really do?

Call them to report your iPhone stolen (value of the phone would indicate Grand Theft, a serious felony). See how long it takes an officer to come out and take your statement -- or if an officer even shows up, or if they even want a statement. Then take the license plates off your car and go for a drive. See which one draws more police attention faster.

Now go and set up a picket line in front of Chase Bank. Maybe get someone out there with a megaphone talking about "evil capitalists" and see how long it is before the police arrive. Was that faster or slower than the officer who came out to take your statement on your stolen $1000 phone? Would they arrive sooner or later if you were selling crack on a street corner?

I think in our hearts we all know what the police really do. They're bureaucrats with clubs and guns.

37

The question is not how many more or less police we need.
The question is are they even trained properly?
Answer: definitely not!

In New York, 500 hours of training to become a police officer. 1000 hours to become a massage therapist. WTF!!!???
It's basically the same across the country.
Lousiana, 360 hours to become police, 500 hours to to become a barber.
...
...

38

@30 COMTE for the WIN, baybeeee!!!

39

@24 Catalina VelDuRay: I guess I just don't know Seattle, anymore, since I left the city in 1997. A mere 5% cut in SPD funding sounds like a wrist slap to me, and not one to encourage real change for the better of the community. I'm inclined to agree with COMTE (@30). Why do police officers anywhere "need" AR-15s, rubber bullets, and tear gas in residential neighborhoods? No justice, no peace.


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