Yes, Happy Birthday Andrew Robinson. We get it.

Disabling cloud storage and dropping your phone into water on the same day? That certainly doesn't sound at all like someone trying to purposely destroy public records.

Harrell on Earth

The kids will learn all kinds of important outdoor survival skills at "Camp Bruce". Or what about "Harrell-land"? Brucesterville?

Most renters will probably continue along in their current leases, as most landlords don't want to get rid of good tenants who made an effort to pay back rent and show good faith.

Still flogging the dead horse of Evil Jenny, eh? Well, yes, she did orchestrate the defeat of CM Sawant on Sawant's biggest issue (the EHT), and so the hate from CM Sawant and the Stranger shall flow everlastingly. The main actual takeaway from the report shows the city's amateurish 'process' for data backups:

"We also understand that Ms. Chen had a process whereby she backed up Mayor Durkan’s iPhones at different points in time. Ms. Chen confirmed that she had performed her backup process on multiple phones in use by Mayor Durkan, over a period of time, but she did not have a regular cadence for making those backups."

Had Seattle implemented an actual, professional policy covering retention of such records, then it wouldn't matter who set which iPhone to what when, because all of the data would have been properly backed-up outside of the device already. That's the actual lesson here, which of course the Stranger studiously ignores.

(Meanwhile, CM Sawant refuses to use city IT at all, communicating with her party bosses at Socialist Alternative via Google Docs. Public-disclosure requests for any such city-related communications have been completely ignored. Not that the Stranger cares, of course.)

Seattle residents drink more beer and wine than Portland residents. More Seattle cops quit than Portland cops. There's a correlation that needs to come out of hiding.

We could call the encampments Addictsville.

"What should we call all of the new encampments Bruce Harrell is about to create?"

I'm still trying to figure out why the Stranger believes allowing Seattle's eviction moratorium to lapse will result in mass evictions. That hasn't happened elsewhere in the state. See, e.g., https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/jan/23/no-wave-of-evictions-in-spokane-county-but-worry-p/

Sorry to be this way on Valentine's Day (my heart was the star delicacy at a weenie roast years ago) but here goes:

When the legislature promises to do something about the housing crisis, they are just foolin' with ya. Real estate is the number one investment strategy in America. We've managed to fill our state houses with the wealthy and near-wealthy, and they are not interested in doing anything that's going to disrupt that gravy train. And since the driving force of about 98% of them is to get re-elected, the most we can count on is just enough from them to keep the torches and pitch forks at bay - and away from Capitol buildings.

So, what is to be done? Hard to say. We could begin by stop basing our election decisions on TV ads, media soundbites, and slick PR. But - oh! - how to convince the stupid of this? (None of whom are here, I'm sure.) Not optimistic, but not totally devoid of hope either. You know, I remember a time long, long ago when a politician had to go out and earn your vote instead of dropping a few million to buy a consulting agency's promise to get him elected.

Also, bring back civics as a required course in high school.

On another note, why is syphilis still around? If one buys the premise that everything in life has a reason to exist, has a purpose, then what is syphilis's? And please don't give me that "God's punishment for immorality" crap. Where was he during the Holocaust (both of them)?

Yep kids will drop out of school if it sucks bad enough, and forcing them to learn through a screen for 18 months qualifies as that! It’s not just GOP mommies pulling kids from public schools. BIPOC are pulling themselves. Thanks “progressive” but actually anti-science ideology!

@17, Why do people exist? Why does anything?

Bezosville

you can check out
antime you like but
you can Never leave

oh & the same for Palo Alto:

Zuckersburgherville

'antime'?
''proofreader''
you're FIRED!

I do Not miss
that shitshow

@16: "I'm still trying to figure out why the Stranger believes allowing Seattle's eviction moratorium to lapse will result in mass evictions."

The Stranger's belief reflects their unalterable ideology, which flatly states Seattle's homeless are hard-working Seattle locals, driven out into the streets by sadistic rental increases, which in turn were born of soulless tech company salaries. Meanwhile, anyone who comes into actual contact with Seattle's homeless quickly learns they are mostly recent arrivals with substance abuse disorders, mental-health issues, or both. But that's reality, not ideology, and is thus ignored here.

For those of you who love punching down on, or dunking on those who are in a worse position than you (you know who you are), try reading this about an apparently successful program in San Francisco.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90717489/what-happened-after-these-unhoused-people-got-monthly-500-checks-two-thirds-have-homes

I'm so old I remember when SLOG was actually topical and funny

Jenny don't change your number
Eight six seven five three fuck you

When it comes to any news related to police accountability The Stranger's reading comprehension is always exceptionally poor, as we can see with last weeks report on missing text messages from city officials during summer 2020.

Matt notes that someone set Durkan's phone to delete messages after 30 days -- we don't know who, could have been Durkan, could have been a member of her staff, family member, etc. What Matt missed is that SPD Chief Carmen Best overtly and unquestionably lied about her missing messages, claiming in May 2021 that she didn't know how her texts disappeared, but in November 2021 stated that she "deleted text messages periodically." So, Best lied &, as the chief law enforcement officer in Seattle, flagrantly violated both city and state records laws.

Maybe read beyond the first few paragraphs? Or, maybe not, since police accountability isn't your thing.

@7 - exactly. Tenants who act in good faith and are working at holding up their obligations will not be tossed out. If someone makes it clear that they have no intention of working on the back rent, they deserve to be out on their ass.

And most of those kids will be back in school once their parents get sick of having them around all day.

@4 Original Andrew and @20 kristofarian: I was going to go with The Harrell Hellhole, The Transient Tidal Wave, or Bruce's Refuse (say REF-use) Way, but I nominate the two of you instead as winners of the Bruce Harrell thread. Bravo and kudos!
Harrell on Earth and Bezosville are tough to beat.

@11 pat L: I noticed that, too.

@22 tensor: I am aware that the majority of homeless people are newcomers from other parts of the U.S. or elsewhere, with mental health and substance abuse issues. It has gotten bad where I live and must be infinitely worse in Seattle. People from red states and communities seem to have put Seattle, most of Western Washington, and the West Coast on the map as some sort of 21st Century "Promised Land", only to get a "Midnight Cowboy"-like awakening.
A lot of people who could easily buy or sell their homes for under $100,000.00 with money left over in other parts of the country are suddenly in sticker shock when home shopping here. In reality all they can afford is a house in Republic, Ferry County (if I recall, there was a previous article here in The Stranger citing just that) where prospective newbies would be hanging out with maskless zombie ex-cop and failed Republican gubernatorial candidate, Loren Culp.
We're about to be double slammed by two tidal waves: first, all the newcomers seeking Valhalla only exacerbating our region's current escalating traffic, crime, housing, and cost of living problems, and the other one along our coastline when The Big One strikes. Cities of Raymond, Tokeland, and Ocean Shores among other oceanfront communities are bracing for tsunamis forecast to wipe out the entire Cascadian Subduction Zone, stretching from British Columbia, Canada to Northern California. We are said to be some 322 years overdue.

@25 Will in Seattle: So do I. Sigh.

@31 & @32 dvs99: Bravo to Seattle parents though, for passing the School Levy again and for Seattle Schools leading the State average on Math and Reading scores, despite COVID and all the ado within the system.

I'm still reeling over Jenny Durkan and Carmen Best comparing themselves to Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise. As IF.

@23: For those of you who enjoy making snide put-downs based on simplistic non-solutions, and you know who you are, did you even try reading past the first paragraph of the article you cited? Yes, two-thirds of those helped got housed. That's because a grand total of NINE persons received aid, and SIX got housed -- and at least one of them moved to another state to obtain that housing. (Even then, he wasn't self-sufficient; the article notes he was living with a friend.)

Even if all NINE persons had been chosen at random, that's far too small of a sample from which to extrapolate. But those NINE persons were most emphatically NOT chosen randomly:

'The pilot group was very small, and recipients were carefully selected based on factors such as how much the money was likely to help them, how engaged they were with their “buddy,” and whether they were currently facing challenges like addiction.'

In case you're having even more trouble with reading comprehension than you have already here demonstrated, that last clause translates to, "we very carefully and intentionally didn't give any money to persons with Substance Use Disorder or other serious problems, because we know it would have been spent on drugs or other issues, not housing." This TINY sample was very carefully chosen to maximize the chances of success.

Also, note that money was not the only assistance given:

'The program was unique because of its strong social component—the nonprofit’s primary work involves connecting people experiencing homelessness with volunteers who become friends, staying in touch with weekly calls and texts. Everyone who participated had already had a volunteer “buddy” for at least three months, and to get the money they had to agree to continue that relationship.

'“This program would not have worked for me if I didn’t have the social aspect of it,” says Ray, one of the recipients, who asked to be identified by only his first name. Jen, the volunteer who became his friend, he says, “gave me three things, and that was hope, confidence, and friendship. With those three things, I was able to gather myself and think about what’s better for me, what’s good for me. And you can’t do that alone. There’s just no way in this world you can do that alone.”'

So $500/month was just the start of the assistance given, and that assistance was given to the candidates who were most likely to succeed. While I'm glad those persons improved their lives, there is no reason to believe this success can be replicated on a larger scale.

@33: Thank you for this validation, but all you've done is join our chorus. Everyone who lives in Seattle knows the size and basis of the homeless problem, but the City Council and the Stranger cannot be forced to admit this. How to solve a problem if you can't admit the source of it? Welcome to Year Seven (and counting) of Seattle's Homelessness Crisis.

@35 tensor: It's all I can do, agree with you and likewise commenters on Seattle's current issues as I don't live in Seattle, but you do. I cannot vote for the Mayor of Seattle and decide who serves on Seattle City Council, but....guess what?--you can. Believe me when I say I feel your Seven Years and Counting of Seattle's Homelessness Crisis pain. We're getting more than our fair share of drug-addicted transient spillover in our neck of the woods, too. As long as the West Coast remains a hot landowners' market the rest of us without ten trillion dollars in the Bank of Wall Street just to buy a loaf of bread are basically fucked.

@35: Seriously. Is it just me, teensy, or do you live to accuse and argue to the point of sending the game into extra innings? It appears that your tensor is stretched a bit too tight lately. Sleep deprived? Get a nap or take a hot soak. If that doesn't help, have a glass of wine or cup of herbal tea.

@36: I no longer reside in Seattle. I have moved to a place which is famously liberal (hint: Bernie), but has a reality-based approach to these issues. The airport here has a large display on Substance Use Disorder, and when a local encampment became a crime-producing nucleus, the city promptly cleared it. (Also, city engineers had noted the camp's below-code housing structures were potentially fatal fire hazards.) There is simply no benefit to anyone in allowing such encampments to exist; certainly not to the homeless themselves. (I also really don't know what local property prices have to do with an influx of already-addicted, already-homeless individuals.)

@37: You're actually not one to talk on that matter, as your literally-belittling reference to my pseudonym nicely demonstrates. (How old are you, twelve?) If you were referring to how my comment @35 analyzes the reference @23, I make no apologies for reading material supplied by other commenters, and showing how their own selected material does not support the point(s) they believe it does. In that specific case, the pilot project shows just how difficult addressing some cases of homelessness can be: the project carefully picked a very small sample from the local homeless population, lavishly supported them with a lot of money and volunteer care, and yet one third still remained homeless.

@38: Like you, I no longer live in Seattle. I can also express whatever the @#$% I want on SLOG, too, without your permission or approval. As usual, your literally-belittling condescension toward anyone disagreeing with you is facetious bullshit. Could you be desperate to make up for something else lacking? Your snarkily juvenile manner in attempting superiority shows that is it YOU who has the mentality of a South Park fixated twelve year old, not I.

In response to your ridiculous both barrels blasting of my comments @37 and @38, in my reference to Seattle's homelessness problem was that of overwhelmingly unaffordable housing. Seattle has rapidly caught up with San Fransisco, interestingly where the nine predesignated homeless people were enrolled in the aforementioned program for housing, and Los Angeles. Many people born and raised here in the Puget Sound region cannot afford to buy a house, largely due to skyrocketing real estate prices. It's a seller's market. Other than the recent concrete workers strike, development hasn't slowed. And it isn't affordable housing going up, it's luxury condos and retirement communities. Add to that a good number of people who have moved here from other parts of the U.S. or elsewhere where the cost of living is considerably cheaper, for a job transfer, school, etc., only to find themselves priced out. The average rent currently in Seattle is $2,197.00, without the added costs of utilities, food, insurance, maintenance, and healthcare. Even public transportation is unsafe; ridership is down with drug addicts practically living on buses and Sound Transit trains, vandalizing property and threatening violence.

I am a Gulf War veteran happy and fortunate to be where I live on a budget. I can't imagine living in Seattle, the city where I was born, in this day and age with all the growth, crime, and ongoing regional concerns associated with the COVID pandemic. I wish I had an answer to these very real problems. Newly elected Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has made his first City of Seattle Address. Some of his ideas sound good, some maybe wishful thinking. Time will tell on how much Harrell can deliver.
[Google https://www.rentcafe.com >wa >seattle]
Say hi to Bernie and all the folks in Burlington, Vermont. Have fun snow shoveling.

@39: For all of the amusing faces you're making at the excruciatingly bitter taste of your own unwholesome medicine, you still haven't revealed the connection between rising housing costs and an influx of already-homeless drug users. People who get priced out find less expensive housing, either by downsizing locally, or by leaving the area; they don't just move out into tents on the sidewalk and start shooting up. Confusing these two unrelated issues is what got Seattle seven dreary years of homelessness crisis, as building more housing, at any rental cost, can't help persons whose first and last dollars always go to obtaining drugs. As the pilot program in SF showed, such homeless persons need much more expensive and intensive help, and Seattle's civic dialog on whether to foot the bill for this aid has yet even to begin. (After decades of throwing money at the problem just to watch it worsen, I'm guessing the taxpayers would decline, if ever the politicians were to so ask them.)

"Could you be desperate to make up for something else lacking?"

Keep on digging that hole; I'm sure it will soon start magically getting smaller.

@40: As usual, you keep missing my point, teensy. I never said people getting outpriced automatically end up in tents. Do you even bother to fully read my comments, other than to zoom in on specific parts to willfully misinterpret? Have fun further declining in your own self-made hide-y-hole, arguing for argument's sake. Obviously life for you trolling incels must be pretty boring indeed, especially if I hit a particularly tender little subject. Get over it already.

@40: Ah--I see now, teensy. You got snowed in. Bummer! Well, from your track record it wouldn't be the first time. Those Nor'easters can be a bitch. Catch you in the spring thaw, provided you don't end up in an Overlook Hotel metaphor.

@41: Your comments @33 and @39 each mention Seattle's housing prices in the context of Seattle's homelessness crisis, so I assumed you believed a link existed between those two topics. Thank you for your clarification; I will no longer assume links exist between the topics you mention.

Also, if you keep doing the same thing over and over and over, it will stop being a humiliating failure, and become a raging success. (You'll just have to trust you on this, because you won't find anyone to tell it to you.)

@42: We're having an ice storm here; we're not snowed in. This ice storm originated in Oklahoma, which is south-west of here. Thanks for playing!