??!! May 28, 2021 at 2:20 pm

Jenny Durkan won't be around to reap the rewards of keeping coronavirus at bay. But the next mayor will be.

Comments

1

Mudede.

2

Mike the Mover!

3

@1 - sure, why not.

4

"In a sea of virtual candidate forums, so far no one leaps out."

It's too bad there isn't a local publication well-versed in Seattle's arts, entertainment, and dining scene reporting on the candidate's interests. Maybe the Times will take up this task.

5

Oh, by Persephone and all of the other goddesses, The Stranger has finally admitted the screamingly obvious:

"...lethal combination of rampant homelessness, unchecked substance abuse, and untreated mental health problems."

It took only half a decade of users shooting up heroin or smoking meth' in parks, playgrounds, sidewalks, Westlake Station, and every other public space in Seattle, before The Stranger could acknowledge what eveyone else who ever interacted with our homeless population immediately knows: drugs and addiction make and keep people homeless, and that is the primary problem we must solve.

How big of a volte-face was this? Recall how it was just one week ago today CM Sawant laid down the orthodox hardline, writing an entire post here which did not contain either of the words "drug" or "addict." (https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2021/05/21/57559745/there-is-no-compassion-in-compassion-seattles-proposed-charter-amendment). The closest she allowed herself to come to these doubleplus unallowed terms was "substance use disorder treatment," but that was only to attack (of course!) a brand-new political group for supposedly not wanting to fund it.

Down in the bowels of City Hall this long weekend, her Thought Police will be getting real busy with Stranger staffers in Room 101! ;-)

6

@5 Seattle had plenty of junkies in the 90s, but few homeless people. What changed? No cheap housing.

7

What changed? Seattle saw an influx of already-homeless drug users. The City conducted a survey of the homeless in 2016, and published the results about four years ago. (http://coshumaninterests-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/City-of-Seattle-Report-FINAL-with-4.11.17-additions.pdf) Here's some of what it said:

68.7% of the homeless reported not being from Seattle. A majority reported having arrived in Seattle already homeless. A majority reported drug use. A majority reported themselves as being unemployed or unable to work; only 11% said a rent increase had caused them to become homeless.

That's it: one out of nine homeless persons blamed their conditions on rising rents. Hardly the huge numbers the "housing affordability" folks would have us believe.

Don't get me wrong; we should continue to build affordable housing, as the city and Vulcan are at Yesler Terrace: (https://www.connectcre.com/stories/vulcan-plans-another-mf-development-in-seattles-yesler-terrace/). We just shouldn't expect many of our homeless to move in there, as lack of housing isn't why they're on the street.

8

@7 Ha! Do you even live in Seattle? Hardly anyone here is originally from here. 68% seems lower than the norm.

10

Also, you're just lying about the rest of the stats you cite. Fuck off.

12

@8: I'm not from here either, but you were claiming the difference was housing prices. The difference is in the vast change in our homeless population between the '90s and today. (And if you'd been here in the '90s, you wouldn't need statistics to tell you how much that has changed.)

@10: Go whine at the City of Seattle. It's neither their fault nor mine that they actually talked to real homeless persons, and you didn't.

14

@12 You’re dumb.

15

"Tourists packed the waterfront, coming from whatever miserably boring place they came from. " man the stranger writers are straight up assholes

16

@6 what changed was cheaper dope and an 20 year oxy epidemic

17

"Who Will Be the Mayor of Seattle's Reopening?"

Um, the state is set to re-open in a month. Barring accident or illness, it will be Mayor Jenny Durkan. See? That was easy; one sentence, not a whole post.

"Seattle may universally loathe Mayor Jenny these days,"

Or we might not. Who knows? How could one possibly learn such a thing?

"When poll takers were asked if approve or disapprove of the job Jenny Durkan is doing as mayor of Seattle, 36% responded that they approve while a quarter disapprove. Nearly half, 46%, say Durkan should remain in office and nearly one-third, 31%, say she should resign."

Well, that's not great, but it could be worse:

"Do you approve or disapprove of the job the Seattle City Council is doing? Nearly a third, 32%, of respondents approve of the job they’re doing and just 7% strongly approve. About 26% disapprove of the council, and another 17% strongly disapprove."

Ouch! That'll leave a mark on City Council supporters! What a miserable minority! Perhaps they need to get out more?

(https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/seattle-mayor-jenny-durkan-police-chief-carmen-best-job-approval/281-1a7e18f5-9f92-4b05-9b93-de9b6fd7929f)

18

All the restaurants are opening or reopening in June, and the ones that are open are packed.

It's going to a long hot COVID-free summer!

And laugh at the few non-vaccinated seated in the "denier" seating when you go in.


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