Transit Riders Union

I went to the Ballard homeless encampment that has been dominating Seattle headlines, and what I found there was not clarity or compassion colliding with cruelty, but a system quietly failing almost everyone involved. Business owners and nearby residents are frustrated and exhausted. They’ve watched the encampment grow while public spaces deteriorate and safety concerns mount. On the other side, homeless advocates are fiercely defending the right of people to remain where they are, arguing that sweeps only deepen trauma and solve nothing. Caught in the middle is a city trying to signal change under new leadership, while offering very little evidence that real change is actually happening. This encampment was scheduled to be swept, but Mayor Katie Wilson halted Read More ›

Same Ol’ Same Ol’ Start the sweeps Seattle! Even after Mayor Katie Wilson promised to handle the homeless drug crisis differently, the city is quietly clearing out drug encampments and it’s still a game of Whack-a-mole. The vast majority of people at Wednesday morning’s sweep along Martin Luther King Jr Way rejected shelter options and headed right down the block to set up tents. That’s because they wanted to do their drugs. Difference is, far-left activist group Stop The Sweeps Seattle is surprisingly quiet about the encampment removals under the mayor. Double Standard? Wilson used to lead the Transit Riders Union. This activist group is heavily aligned with Stop the Sweeps. Which is likely why they are going easy on Read More ›

Exclusive Over the weekend, I confronted Seattle mayoral candidate Katie Wilson about her Transit Riders Union’s ties to controversial far-left activist group Stop The Sweeps Seattle. They’ve been a thorn in the side of Mayor Bruce Harrell since the beginning of his administration. The groups were making so-called “harm reduction” kits for homeless drug addicts which usually includes meth pipes and fentanyl foil. Some critics call these “suicide kits” and believe it enables drug addiction and death. I also asked Wilson if she would use sweeps to clear drug encampments in the city. Wilson Believes in Harm Reduction It’s unclear if Wilson attended this volunteer event. But she has stated in the past that she believes in the “harm reduction” Read More ›