Blog | Page 17

Where are they now? Last month, Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) took a victory lap after spending millions of dollars to close down the Myers Way encampment(with the swimming pool) and house many of the homeless for the next year. But some of them are now spending time at a new West Seattle encampment nearby doing drugs and simply hanging out. For the past few weeks, I followed and interviewed these men and women. It was a rare glimpse into what happens after someone exits an encampment. Many of them are thankful for the apartments. But they also say the building is like a “sterile warehouse” with “no community” and “too many rules.” They also say cameras and security are constantly Read More ›

Exclusive Tuesday evening, witnesses say a man carrying a gun unloaded at least 30 rounds in the direction of people sitting on the steps behind DESC’s Navigation Center (@DESCSeattle) in Little Saigon. One homeless man in his 50’s was hit in the buttocks. Victim stumbled to the corner of 12th Ave & Weller St where first responders arrived and took him to Harborview Medical Center for treatment. Apparently he was not the intended target. Shooter is still on the loose. The Navigation Center is one of several problematic homeless shelters in or around Chinatown-ID. It remains a major blight on the community since it feeds the open air drug market right around the corner and continues to attract addicts to Read More ›

Slow Night Just hours after a shooting near 12th Ave & Jackson St. Tuesday evening, the open air drug den and black market of stolen goods only had around 60 people. Most nights this place is packed with more than 100 peeps. How low are you willing to go if you are trying to flip a stolen toy kitchen for $10 bucks? For real. I want to say the city’s new drug bill is working, but we’re just in the “educational” phase. No one is really being arrested for smoking fentanyl. They’re just being told to move along. CM Tammy Morales (@CMTammyMorales, @TammyMoralesSEA) voted against this watered down drug bill. But she has no solutions to address this on going Read More ›

Bailing Out Government Again At this point, most of us know about the incredible exploits of We Heart Seattle (@weheartseattle.) This homeless outreach group is consistently one of the most impactful in the region because of the dynamic leadership of Andrea Suarez. She continues to mobilize volunteers and also empowers the men and women living on the streets to help clean up encampments. This weekend, Suarez and her crew focused on one of the most problematic corridors in North Seattle, removing around one million pounds of trash. But they barely scratched the surface. The WSDOT (@wsdot) right of ways in this part of Seattle are now overwhelmed with tents and structures. From Northgate to University District, it’s almost like the Read More ›

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with Caitlyn Axe, the author of a new must-read report from the Discovery Institute’s Fix Homelessness project. The report revealed that the King County Regional Housing Authority’s (KCRHA) collaboration with local companies called “Partnership for Zero” not only dramatically failed in its mission to remove homeless individuals from Downtown Seattle, but it cost taxpayers nearly 10 times the amount to house individuals than what it cost non-profits to perform the same task.  On the day the report was released, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced that the “partnership” was terminated. The report then exposed a disturbing lack of accountability by the politicians who govern the KCRHA. While the authority distributes millions in taxpayer funds to local homeless organizations, it does not Read More ›

In July, walking around the fifty blocks of the Tenderloin, San Francisco’s fentanyl epicenter, I often saw notes like this one posted on lampposts: “Mimi—5’, 100 lbs.—we miss you terribly. Please call any family member. Please call 202 [number].” The Mimis are often hidden in tents, but even for a first-time visitor like me, the dealers and their deals were highly visible. Dealers, often teenagers in clean Nikes, walked alongside potential buyers. They did not just stand at particular corners, as a great streaming television series based in Baltimore, The Wire, showed: These dealers floated up and down a block. Police say they are independent contractors, trying to establish their own clientele, and earning $300 or more on an average Read More ›

Interpreting Homeless Law Once again, I asked Burien Deputy Mayor Kevin Schilling how the city is interpreting the landmark ruling Martin V. Boise that says cities cannot enforce anti-camping ordinances if there aren’t enough homeless shelter beds available. This piece is frequently cited and misinterpreted by FAR-LEFT activists and other homeless advocates against SWEEPS. Even King County Executive Dow Constantine (@kcexec)weaponized it earlier this year and blocked sheriff’s deputies from assisting during the Burien dog park encampment removal. But Schilling makes it very clear, nowhere in the law does it say the offers of shelter must be in the city where the homeless are camping. In other words, if there is an open shelter bed in nearby Seattle or Renton, Read More ›

What’s Next Burien After weeks of contentious debate and public comment, the Burien City Council finally passed a “no camping” ordinance this week. This common sense bill was first championed by CM Stephanie Mora (@CmStephaniemora) and ended up being a close 4-3 vote. Now the heavy lifting begins. More than 60 people remain at the Ambaum Blvd encampment. I went there again this week. The open air drug use and trash is out of control. And sadly, Burien PD has taken multiple reports of young women being trafficked out of this encampment. Meanwhile, listen to Deputy Mayor Kevin Schilling describe what Highline Public School Dist. is doing in response to this situation. The city is now in talks to bring Read More ›