Blog | Page 28

It’s a Zoo The Seattle Pride Parade (@OurSeattlePride) shine has already worn off in downtown #Seattle. The drug market has come roaring back on 3rd Ave & Pike St. Tuesday evening, it was good to see volunteers with Union Gospel Mission (@SeattlesUGM) right in the thick of things, trying to help the homeless and addicts out here. Why isn’t the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (@KingCoRHA) deploying more workers out here? I wonder if Councilmember Andrew Lewis (@cmandrewjlewis) regrets his NO vote on the drug bill that would have given City Attorney Ann Davison(@_ann_davison) the power to prosecute this type of open air drug use and bring back some accountability to the city. Major League Baseball All-Star Game (@mlb) is Read More ›

Fentanyl Free…Sort of On Sunday afternoon, the Seattle Pride Parade (@OurSeattlePride) flowed through downtown #Seattle and brought in a ton of people. There was also a heavy police (@SeattlePD) presence at many street corners along the parade route. For the first time in nearly a year, I saw the potential of 3rd and Pike St, free and clear of drugs and the black market of stolen goods. In reality, a few addicts were still lingering around the Ross Store vestibules and bus stops. But the insane hoards of people congregating in the drug dens were gone this past weekend. Will it remain this way at least until Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game (@mlb) in less than two weeks? Highly unlikely. Read More ›

Saturday Stroll It remains a tale of two cities in downtown #Seattle. The fentanyl addicts are still doing their thing near hot spots like 3rd Ave and Pike St. It’s just a foil party everywhere and people are literally passed out in the middle of the sidewalk. People were a little bit more aggressive than usual towards me today. But the rest of downtown is packed with tourists and looking spectacular. So much upside to this city. No doubt preparations for the Seattle Pride Parade (@OurSeattlePride) on Sunday are helping. But if elected officials can get the drug crisis under control, this is a preview of good things to come. I just hope co-existing with the open air drug use Read More ›

Another Homeless Encampment Shooting Blood remains splattered on the sidewalk in front of Quest Church on Leary Way NW in Ballard. Authorities say a “robbery escalated into a shooting” early Friday morning, possibly involving a bicycle. Victim is in the hospital and shooting suspect is still on the loose. The homeless campers on the ground say dude got blasted near a tent. Details remain sketchy and witnesses are saying conflicting things. Bottom line, someone got shot. So far this month, this part of Ballard has seen multiple shootings. Councilmember Dan Strauss’ (@cmdanstrauss) district is out of control. The King County Regional Homelessness Authority (@KingCoRHA) and city’s Unified Care team need to step up even more in this hood. Weapon Found Read More ›

Today, nonprofit organizations designed to help the homeless compete to be beneficiaries listed in wills. Some offer public relations after death: “Make your generosity live on after you! You can assist the homeless by supporting the work of ___ in your will.” Or, “How Will You Be Remembered? You can help… overcome homelessness, poverty, addiction and mental health issues — even after you’re gone.” Other requests for bequests emphasize helping ourselves as well as helping others: “Your charitable trusts can be established to help homeless families with children, and offer you a tax advantage,” or “Your bequests can leave a lasting legacy, secure tax advantages for your family, and help us to prevent and end homelessness for years to come.” Is partly self-interested altruism new? The late Read More ›

Tammy Town Councilmember Tammy Morales (@CMTammyMorales) continues to ignore the homeless encampment off Rainier Ave S and Plum St that’s spiraling out of control. As of Wednesday evening, I counted 15 tents and 13 vehicles on the grounds of the former Burger King and 7-11 that recently burned down. New people keep moving in. Drug use is rampant and there are signs this is turning into a chop shop for bicycles. At the same time, there are babies on the premises and kids playing catch. Overall, everyone is chill. But most homeless people here are rejecting the shelter options being offered. They want tiny homes, apartments, or an RV lot. This is the on-going narrative at a lot of these Read More ›

Latest Chinatown Encampment Oh boy, here we go again. Dearborn St. continues to be a hot spot for pop up encampments. On one side, you have multiple tents and structures on Washington State Dept. of Transportation (@wsdot) property. On the other, rows of RV’s and piles of wooden pallets now being constructed into shelters. There’s also tons of trash and needles piling up everywhere. Open air drug use remains out of control. I’ve been to sweeps in this hood at least a dozen times in the past year. Thursday evening, I recognized some of the same homies. Some new faces, but mostly veterans like Tong and Yung. Some folks have been placed into hotel rooms and are making solid progress. Read More ›

Routine Night in Seattle Downtown fentanyl overdose, more drug/trap tents in front of #Seattle City Hall, and an arrest made a few blocks away in #Chinatown-ID for an altercation. Of course, the night would not be complete without a deranged person exhibiting menacing behavior towards me. Nothing to see here. Move along. This all happened within a 30 minute span Wednesday evening. Check the @seattlepd police blotter. Can’t make this stuff up. Wait until Major League Baseball (@mlb) fans see all this insanity next month. I’m gonna start charging for tours. Where’s Councilmember Andrew Lewis (@CMAndrewJLewis) and the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (@kingcorha?) Councilmember Tammy Morales (@CMTammyMorales) remains MIA for her #CID district. For whatever it’s worth, City Hall Read More ›

“I’ve seen both pills and powder coming through,” Dennis Folk tells me. Folk is sounding the alarm that fentanyl is increasingly making its way into the King County jail and inmates are overdosing at a staggering rate. He is the president of the King County Corrections Guild, representing men and women who are trying to stop the flow of this lethal drug into the facility. “It was heroine years ago, now it’s fentanyl,” he tells me. Seattle Fire and medics respond to each overdose and administer Narcan. KYI Radio’s Ari Hoffman and I have been looking into this concerning trend. We’ve been told that there have been at least eight fentanyl overdoses in the jail since the end of May. Read More ›

Do we love our homeless countrymen and women enough to insist that as we provide roofs over their heads, they also diligently engage in programs to restore themselves to lives of dignity and personal self-respect? We often hear about what “we” — i.e., society —owe the homeless. But we rarely discuss what the unhoused owe us. It’s time for that to change. This is a matter of great urgency. Some of our (once) most prosperous and beautiful cities — San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, etc. — are imploding under the pressure of squalid homeless squatter camps, populated largely by openly drug-addled or mentally ill people who befoul the sidewalks with human waste, litter the streets with needles used to shoot Read More ›