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International District Residents Say Politicians Are Out of Touch With Their Reality

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Calling Out Politicians

Jay Yanamura watched Wednesday morning as @WSDOT crews cleared the King St. encampment in the #Chinatown-ID. He also hoped some elected officials would show up to support this Asian American community as it tries to heal and move forward from all the dangerous homeless encampments that were allowed to flourish on state property.

Especially Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) since he showed up to meet with parents at John Stanford Int. School near the Ship Canal encampment, and took a victory lap with a PR event at the 1st. Ave Bridge encampment. But the Governor never showed up. Once again, politicians only coming to #Chinatown-ID when they want dim sum or a photo opportunity during Lunar New Year. Yanamura went on to say,” Governor Inslee is clueless when it comes to our problems here. It’d be nice if we had more visits by the politicians so they could see what we have to suffer through on a daily basis.”

Asian American Poverty Rarely Seen

The ACRS food bank is right behind the King St. homeless encampment. Asian American senior citizens regularly line up for free meals and hand outs. Many of them cannot speak English and rely on these services to get by. These are the unseen challenges this community faces. You can only imagine what the homeless and drug crisis has done to exacerbate the challenges for these elders. #Seattle @GovInslee @kcexec @MayorofSeattle @JoeMcDermottWA @CMTammyMorales @SeattleCouncil @KCCouncil @wsdot @WAStateCommerce @CMSaraNelson @CMTMosqueda @D5Juarez

Jonathan Choe

Journalist and Senior Fellow, Center on Wealth and Poverty
Jonathan Choe is a journalist and Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute's Center on Wealth and Poverty, covering homelessness issues for its Fix Homelessness initiative. Prior to joining Discovery, Choe spent several years as one of the lead reporters at KOMO-TV, consistently the top rated television station in Seattle. His in depth stories on crime and deep dive investigations into the homeless crisis led to measurable results in the community, including changes in public policy. Choe has more than two decades of experience in television news behind the scenes and in front of the camera for ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, and Tribune. He has also been nominated and honored with multiple industry awards including an Emmy. Choe spent several years teaching classes on emerging media and entrepreneurship to under privileged youth in inner city Chicago. As an independent journalist, Choe also contributes regularly to the Mill Creek View and Lynnwood Times and has reported on exclusive stories in the past year for Daily Wire and The Postmillennial.