Breaking
Downtown Burien business Iris & Peony is exiting the city because of the unending homeless drug crisis playing out on the streets everyday. Owner Robyn Desimone says she can no longer make a living being a daily victim of vandalism and other crimes. She’s also blaming the city, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall for allowing their nasty legal battle over the public camping ordinance to continue this long without a solution.
She also believes the new “low barrier” DESC apartment complex coming into Burien next month will be a disaster, attracting more chronically homeless drug addicts and compounding problems since the operator does not require addiction treatment.
Dow Constantine’s Policies Are Failing
Look at the devastating loss in business for Desimone. This is untenable. Constantine’s political power play has turned Burien into a human dumping ground, all part of his regional approach to solving homelessness. But it’s failing and businesses are ejecting. That’s also because he’s doubling down on policies that don’t work like “housing first” and “harm reduction.” The homeless should be housed, but not without basic rules, regulations, and requirements to take that next step in their lives. People are still dying of drug overdoses in low barrier “health through housing” situations. That’s because the county is just warehousing people out of sight and out of mind. The root causes like drug addiction, mental illness, and broken relationships are not being addressed. Where is the outrage?
