Blog | Page 66

Overdose After Overdose This past weekend, I personally saw three people overdosing on drugs and then being revived by first responders in downtown #Seattle. I always check on people if they are doing the “fentanyl fold” or just slumped over. This woman was totally knocked out near @PiroshkyBakery. But once @SeattleFire arrived, they got her up without NARCAN. Drug overdoses happen multiple times a day in this American city. Why are we allowing this? When it comes to drug over dose deaths, Councilmember Sara Nelson (@cmsaranelson) says #Seattle has seen “a death toll rivaling that of Covid-19.” So where is the government intervention? Where are the mandates? Lockdowns? Just wondering. I think we need to continue this conversation. Drug Bill Read More ›

Total Disaster It keeps getting worse on 3rd Ave & Cherry St in downtown #Seattle, just one block from City Hall. More “trap tents” have been set up by the same folks this weekend. Many are DESC (@DESCSeattle) residents who just spill out into the street and hang out, smoking fentanyl and conducting illicit activity. This drug den continues to draw all kinds of bad actors to the area. Even though city sweeps are happening weekly, it just keeps on coming back! On occasion folks like Mac Larkin will accidentally wander on to this notorious intersection. He immediately regretted it. Watch this interview. It pretty much sums up the state of the Emerald City. Once again, some random homie recognized Read More ›

You can see, and smell, the gasoline staining the black top at Wallingford, Seattle’s United States Postal Service (USPS) station. But these aren’t your usual spills. John Pierce is a supervisor at the Wallingford station and says for the past few years, several homeless men have been siphoning gas from his delivery trucks in the parking lot. The men even go underneath the vehicles to cut fuel lines. “Every day’s a challenge,” says Pierce who tells me that the men “collect [gas] with a bucket” and siphon it out of their trucks with hoses. One of the postal service’s most prolific offenders comes by in broad daylight to steal fuel. The man has removed the license plates from his blue Ford Read More ›

By Marvin Olasky and Covenant College students Emma Fallmezger, Jacob Sonke, Elysse Carrillo, Anna McDonald, Charity Chaney, and Lydia Dorman. Los Angeles has been the poster child of homelessness. The first official act of new mayor Karen Bass was to place the city in a “state of emergency.” The Los Angeles Business Council scrutinized LA public opinion on homelessness and found almost unanimous agreement that the problem is serious, with 73 percent saying “very serious.” Most saw a lack of inexpensive housing as the prime reason for homelessness. National attitudes are different. Yes, a recent Rasmussen poll showed 92 percent of American adults saying homelessness is a serious national problem in America — and 65 percent said “very serious.” That Read More ›

Crisis Management Time The King County Regional Homelessness Authority (@KingCoRHA) just dropped this slick promo video featuring embattled CEO Marc Dones who rarely takes questions from the media. This comes at a time when his agency is being accused of incompetence and mismanagement. Dones is dealing with complaints from service providers about late payments, elected officials continue to scoff at his $12 billion dollar homelessnesss plan, and there have been numerous communication missteps this past year. Remember when Dones incorrectly cited state law and insisted no one could be removed from encampments unless a “permanent housing solution” was offered? Even Gov. Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) had to correct Dones. And King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn (@KCCReaganDunn) still wants KCRHA to be Read More ›

Fire Fire Fire Just making my rounds Wednesday afternoon in SODO when I spotted this character. Dude was wearing a blonde wig, torching a pile of plastic, and then threatened to kill me. “Blow your f****** head off N****. ” He started off by calling me the N-word but eventually corrected course and went with Jackie Chan. LOL. Just another day in #Seattle. This is your district Tammy Morales (@CMTammyMorales.) Hey, at least 3rd Ave & Holgate St. remains clear of RV’s. Gotta take the W’s when you can. @MayorofSeattle @GovInslee @kcexec @seattlecouncil @KCCouncil @CMSaraNelson @CMTMosqueda @KingCoRHA @DiscoveryCWP

Encampment Shooter on the Loose Monday morning, I got tipped off about a shooting in #Chinatown-ID. But once I got there, law enforcement officers were swarming a homeless encampment off Dearborn St. under I-5 on Washington State Department of Transportation (@WSDOT) property. It’s finally being cleared later this week. One person was shot in the ankle. The circumstances remain unclear. Shooter is still on the run. I returned later in the evening and bumped into some fentanyl addicts who were clueless about what happened. More crime and drug related problems in Councilmember Tammy Morales’ (@CMTammyMorales) district. Lets see how she votes on the proposed bill to make open air drug use a misdemeanor. #Seattle @GovInslee @MayorofSeattle @kcexec @SeattleCouncil @KCCouncil @KingCoRHA Read More ›

(The Center Square) – The 2023 point-in-time count numbers show a significant increase for individuals and families without a permanent abode in Spokane, though a large encampment had been drawing down at the time. According to the 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress released earlier this year, “homelessness in Washington state increased 10% overall from 2020 to 2022,” and the Spokane Regional numbers over that same time period are a significant increase on that percentage. The 2023 data, presented during Thursday’s Spokane City Council Study Session, shows 2,390 people from 2,136 households were counted as homeless this year. This is a significant increase compared to the 2022 numbers showing 1,757 people from 1,513 households, a rise of 36% and 41% for Read More ›

(The Center Square) – The One Seattle Homelessness Action Plan’s first count of 2023 reveals the verified homeless tent count is down 42% from the end of last year. The latest count conducted in March by the city found 414 tents within the city limits. That is down from 712 counted in December 2022. The SODO District had the most tents and RVs counted with 158 combined. The city attributes the drop in tent numbers to its recently-launched Unified Care Team, alongside its partnership with the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. According to the city, its Unified Care Team facilitated 1,831 referrals to shelters and tiny house villages last year, with the help of the authority and 30 outreach providers.  The city Read More ›

Downtown Madness Continues The warm weather is fueling a crush of illicit activity in the downtown #Seattle core this weekend. Dealers are out peddling fentanyl for as little as one dollar a pill. Once again there were multiple drug overdoses and the black market of stolen goods is flourishing. I was out late Saturday night into the early Sunday morning hours, focused primarily on 3rd Ave and #Chinatown-ID. The moment the sun sets, it gets absolutely wild. Even the classical music crowd exiting Benaroya Hall (@benaroyahall) got a taste of the “fetty” and meth fumes. Not enough police officers to keep up. There is no denying the severity of what’s happening to Coucilmember Andrew Lewis’ (@CMAndrewJLewis) district. Like I said, Read More ›