We Heart Seattle

Happening Now Summer tourism season is underway in downtown Seattle and visitors are being greeted by brand new tents and open-air drug use. What an absolute embarrassment and disgrace for the city right before July 4th festivities. Even the elderly with walkers are struggling to navigate through this urban decay. Seriously, how can Mayor Bruce Harrell and D7 Councilmember Bob Kettle abdicate their responsibilities during one of the most important times of the year? Meanwhile, the drug den in front of controversial housing provider REACH is worse than ever. The only ones trying to save lives right now are outreach workers with We Heart Seattle. And they don’t even have a taxpayer funded city contract. Wild.

3rd & Pine Gets a Makeover Instead of dealing with the root causes of the street crisis in downtown Seattle, Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office is adding sidewalk paintings and pretty lights to the corner of 3rd Ave & Pine St. It’s considered one of the most dangerous street corners in the city. It’s home to McStabby’s and is a favorite spot for drug dealers. We Heart Seattle’s Andrea Suarez spotted the crews putting in the new art Wednesday afternoon. Will it make a difference?

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Saturday afternoon, We Heart Seattle volunteers unleashed a massive clean-up effort outside the Seattle Federal Building after Antifa militants vandalized the property during protests earlier this month. But get this, Homeland Security officers told them to stand down because they did not have permission. Once again, red tape and bureaucracy stifles citizen action. Make it make sense.

Breaking Seattle Police just busted one of the most notorious homeless vandals in the Belltown neighborhood. He’s accused of going on a window smashing spree this week on Cedar Ave. He’s also believed to be a suspect in other vandalism incidents in the area. Neighbors say he’s clearly dealing with drug addiction and mental illness. We Heart Seattle’s Andrea Suarez says she’s seen this guy before and has tried to help. The same group of repeat offenders keep running around the city causing problems.

We Heart Seattle’s “Recovery First” Model is Working Seattle voters say the homeless drug crisis remains a top three issue. But the Harrell administration is still engaged in a game of Whack-a-Mole and has failed to find long-term solutions. That’s because they’re not addressing the drivers of this humanitarian disaster which include drug addiction, mental illness, and broken relationships. Instead, city officials are touting the wrong metrics for success such as the number of tents removed from the streets. Meanwhile, We Heart Seattle’s “recovery first” intervention model is working. And they’re outreach workers have identified some new patterns that are keeping so many people in this vicious cycle. I followed them in this Center on Wealth & Poverty mini-documentary.

Taking on the Homeless Industrial Complex Battlefield Addiction and We Heart Seattle made a huge splash this weekend, raising thousands of dollars for sober living beds in the Seattle area. For drug addicts, that means a place to go for treatment and recovery instead of being given more taxpayer-funded meth pipes and fentanyl foil. This is the start of a powerful partnership to take on the homeless industrial complex and confront lies being peddled by the “harm reduction” lobby in America. Discovery Institute was a proud sponsor of this event.

Our friends at We Heart Seattle are doing incredible work transforming lives. The testimonial below features recovering addict Stephen Dowd, who was found living in a tent before We Heart Seattle helped him get into treatment. We Heart Seattle is modeling what actually works to rescue people from homelessness. “Everybody else is focused on getting somebody housed,” says We Heart Seattle’s Tim Emerson. “I’m more focused on getting somebody better and then housed.”

New For the past few years, all eyes have been on Seattle’s homeless drug crisis. But Kent’s street problems are being compounded by the “nomad class.” These are the people who have tapped out from society and are refusing shelter and services. They want to stay in nature and have taken over prime wetlands and greenbelts, building treehouses to evade enforcement in this South King County city. Beautiful streams are now clogged with trash and the environmental cost to clean this up is easily in the millions. I spent the past week investigating the situation which is spread out across the city. I will be launching the entire series soon. Here is a preview.

New Even after hundreds of millions of dollars poured into “Housing First” and “harm reduction” programs, we are now encountering more senior citizens addicted to fentanyl on the streets of Seattle. How many more Patty’s are out there and falling through the cracks?

New “Housing First” is an utter failure and must be scrapped. The latest data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development proves it. Even the drug addicts say this not an affordable housing issue. In fact some people are now afraid to go into low barrier “permanent support housing” situations because they know drug use and overdose deaths are rampant behind closed doors. They don’t want to die alone in these inhumane conditions. “Housing First” and “harm reduction” policies are fueling this crisis. When will King County and Seattle leaders start course correcting? Liberal Media is Turning This cartoon in the Seattle Times sums up “Housing First” and how it’s been fueling the crisis on the streets. Even Read More ›