Blog | Page 46

New Parts of downtown Seattle and Chinatown-ID are on life support. Drug addicts and criminals have taken over entire street corners. Look at the situation on the ground right now in Little Saigon. It’s devastating this Asian American community. That’s why today, the Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) and Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution (SOAP) ordinances will be in front of the full Council for a final vote. If enforced properly, these could be game changers. Neighbors and business owners hope common sense prevails. And just to be clear, what you are seeing on the streets is NOT an affordable housing issue. This is ALL being fueled by hard-core drug addiction. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Read More ›

Breaking Authorities say a man plowed his car into Dow Constantine’s drug encampment in Burien Saturday morning because he was unhappy it was still up. Campers apparently bear maced the driver and cops came by and arrested him at the scene. This is just the latest problematic incident associated with this camp. Pictures Photos now coming in from eye witnesses who saw the massive police response to Dow Constantine’s drug encampment in Burien Saturday morning after a driver plowed through the fenced off area.

I summarized last week reviews of Matthew Desmond’s Evicted, a book published in 2016 that uses Dickens-like characters and won a Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. Two months ago, the New York Times even put Evicted in 21st place on its list of 100 books of the 21st century. A Chronicle of Higher Education writer called Desmond “sociology’s next great hope.” One problem, though, is that Evicted offers almost no hope. Based on my experience, I’d say that those who talk about personal causes of poverty and those who talk about structural/societal causes are both right: People are poor for both reasons, and the proportion varies from individual to individual, but I’ve never seen it 100% one way or the other Read More ›

The academic who’s gained the biggest rewards for writing about homelessness is Harvard and Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond. An above-average writer, Desmond received in 2015 a MacArthur “genius grant” of $625,000 and, following publication of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, a 2017 Pulitzer Prize. The prize came with this explanation: “For a deeply researched exposé that showed how mass evictions after the 2008 economic crash were less a consequence than a cause of poverty.” Desmond deserves credit for living in two poor areas of Milwaukee as he researched his book, but discredit journalistically because he mentions that “the names of tenants, their children, and their relatives, as well as landlords and their workers, have been changed to Read More ›

New Another violent incident in Seattle’s Little Saigon hood right in front of Hoa Mai Park. Authorities say two men got into an argument Friday afternoon and one of them pulled out a pistol and fired shots into the air. No one was hit but they both took off running. Councilmember Woo Calls for Action Councilmember Tanya Woo issued a statement about Wednesday’s shooting near the corner of 12th Ave & Jackson St in Little Saigon. She says the open-air drug use and crime are devastating Asian American businesses and disrupting life for neighbors. She’s calling for more action by the city. Drug Addicts Take Over Meanwhile, drug addicts have taken over the brand-new Hoa Mai Park in Seattle’s Little Read More ›

Last week I reviewed academic research regarding homelessness and foster care from this century’s first decade. Scholars debated the circumstances within which people develop executive function: planning ahead and giving up immediate rewards for long-term benefits. How do people on long losing streaks avoid “learning helplessness,” the fatalistic sense that, regardless of what we do right, everything goes wrong? The consensus developed during the second decade is that ACEs (“adverse childhood experiences”) go wild: ACEs such as suffering abuse or neglect, witnessing violence in the home or community, or having a family member attempt or die by suicide, undermine senses of safety and stability. Substance use and mental health problems also deal ACEs. Many U.S. adults experience at least one Read More ›

Wishing Him the Best The man who tried to take my head off with a baseball bat in downtown Seattle pleaded guilty to 4th Degree Assault. Jeffrey McMillan served 31 days in jail and is now on probation. He apologized and I shook his hand in court, wishing him nothing but the best. Mental Health Treatment up to Probation Officer McMillan was facing up to a year in jail along with fines before this plea deal. Meanwhile, it appears McMillan will seek work and housing with the controversial Downtown Emergency Service Center. DESC’s failed “Housing First” and “harm reduction” policies attract extremely problematic individuals that could drag McMillan back down into the gutter. I would argue that Mr. McMillan should Read More ›

Unanimous Decision King County Council voted 8-0 to keep the youth jail open, defying Dow Constantine and crippling an agenda pushed by BLM and other far-left activists. Some questionable non-profits also would have profited financially by offering alternatives to prison. Statement from Councilmember Dunn “In addition to keeping the jail open now, we’re also going to try and focus on alternatives to incarceration for our lower-level offenders, those that didn’t commit murder or rape but are a little bit down the spectrum that could benefit from drug and alcohol counseling, for example, mental health treatment,” Councilmember Dunn said. Tuesday’s Hearing Some of the heated testimony on Tuesday.