What is it with all the aggressive homeless people? (Seattle: gated, place to live)

[DutchessCottonPuff]

Originally Posted by GoBlueInSeattle

Aggresively panhandled? Sure. Seen crazy dudes screaming at the sky and pooping in public? Sure. (that was in SF) Homelessness - sadly - is a part of the American urban fabric. (a consequence of our **** poor social safety net). And yes, most of those young street kids you see are runaways - usually from working class households, and often victims of physical and/or sexual abuse.

^^^ that right there . I purposely look like a crazy b***h, plus I dress like a cross between Stevie Nicks and an old time Fortune Teller and hardly anyone bothers me ever .. except the dude screaming at the sky down on 4th and Pine when I was putting my daughter on the Bolt bus one sunny day . He looked at me and said I am going to build us a beautiful home in a magical place ... and I told him , Right on ... I can't WAIT !! and he went on .

[MargaretBartley]

Originally Posted by Adrian71

The worst I've encountered in Seattle so far are the people holding signs at the intersections, begging for cash.

My favorite, it's been maybe ten years now, was a bum holding a cardboard sign on 6th avenue that said, "Wet Paint".

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Bombard the Seattle times with letters to the editor. Organize a protest event demanding police do something about assaults. That's outrageous! These women should demand the police cite the guy so they can press charges. This is the police aiding and abetting crime through their passivity.

I get the impression that police officers are frustrated by the inability to do anything about the problem. It's not that they don't want to enforce these laws, they can't. They're well aware that even if they arrest and cite "disadvantaged individuals" for breaking the law 1) The charges will be dropped by the city attorney and 2) If they care about career advancement they best not waste their time on crimes the judges and city attorney don't want to prosecute.

As for the Seattle Times, they may as well be The Stranger when it comes to reporting on social issues. Their official editorial stance on crimes committed by disadvantaged individuals is that they basically deserve any break they can get, especially if the victim is a productive member of society. Frankly I don't understand where this permissive attitude among the media and elected officials comes from. It doesn't seem like any normal working people actually living in the city are particularly happy about this. A lot of people see it as a significant detraction to living in the city. But the moment anyone tries to speak up about it they get branded a bigot.

Originally Posted by DutchessCottonPuff

^^^ that right there . I purposely look like a crazy b***h, plus I dress like a cross between Stevie Nicks and an old time Fortune Teller and hardly anyone bothers me ever .. except the dude screaming at the sky down on 4th and Pine when I was putting my daughter on the Bolt bus one sunny day . He looked at me and said I am going to build us a beautiful home in a magical place ... and I told him , Right on ... I can't WAIT !! and he went on .

The judgmental nature of the aggressive panhandlers is kind of ironic. If you are dressed nice, you get hassled. If you are dressed down, they ignore you for the most part.

[peequi]

I heard on the radio that the city of Seattle is currently planning on extending the tent city project. Good or bad, more are coming. This is a very interesting way of handling the homeless situation in the city. I do not know of any other major city doing this, I am sure there are others, I just never heard about it. I think Seattle may be at the forefront of an experiment.

Are we mad scientist or do we have it right?

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by peequi

I heard on the radio that the city of Seattle is currently planning on extending the tent city project. Good or bad, more are coming. This is a very interesting way of handling the homeless situation in the city. I do not know of any other major city doing this, I am sure there are others, I just never heard about it. I think Seattle may be at the forefront of an experiment.

Are we mad scientist or do we have it right?

Not so.

List of tent cities in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tent cities are cheaper to build and operate than shelters, transitional housing, or low-income housing. Their proliferation nationwide is an indictment of long-term underfunding of public and low-income housing programs, as well as mental health and addiction treatment programs. What you're seeing on the streets is completely predictable, and it is only going to get worse, much worse, as long as current policies continue.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by peequi

I heard on the radio that the city of Seattle is currently planning on extending the tent city project. Good or bad, more are coming. This is a very interesting way of handling the homeless situation in the city. I do not know of any other major city doing this, I am sure there are others, I just never heard about it. I think Seattle may be at the forefront of an experiment.

Are we mad scientist or do we have it right?

It's not right. The Share/Wheel tent city ended up losing it's "lease" a few weeks ago when the director was booted out. The story seems to be that the residents wanted to openly use drugs. When they didn't comply with orders to stop using drugs in the tent city, the director removed the porta-potty. However people kept living there and using drugs without a bathroom.

The rather obvious gap here is that there isn't anywhere for homeless addicts to use drugs aside from public parks and in cars and RVs. Even with the tent cities, homeless drug addicts have nowhere to go since the majority of shelter space doesn't allow substance use. This is a major need that isn't being met. The general public doesn't have a whole lot of sympathy for the subset of homeless seen to be engaging in self destructive behavior. Then there's the problem that people who can't afford a place to live probably can't afford drugs either, even though they're addicted. This is a big reason why theft is such a problem in the city and most people are well aware of the connection.

So I don't see what Seattle is doing with the tent cities as all that innovative. They're still not addressing the huge glaring issue of what to do about homeless addicts that have no inclination to stop using. So we have what we have now: Free-range addicts that are largely untouchable by the police (because we don't prosecute that) and have nowhere to go, and no way to buy drugs aside from theft, panhandling and prostitution. Combine a permissive attitude towards public substance use with a huge lack of places to use, and it all spills out into the streets, parks and neighborhoods regardless of how much you spend on services for the sober homeless.

[The Big Lebowski Dude]

Originally Posted by mkarch

The judgmental nature of the aggressive panhandlers is kind of ironic. If you are dressed nice, you get hassled. If you are dressed down, they ignore you for the most part.

Yeah, this happens everywhere. I live in the Southwest, and tend to dress on the business/casual side - and, I'm always asked for money....well, I've got news for these folks - I don't carry cash...

[dubfan]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Not so.

List of tent cities in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tent cities are cheaper to build and operate than shelters, transitional housing, or low-income housing. Their proliferation nationwide is an indictment of long-term underfunding of public and low-income housing programs, as well as mental health and addiction treatment programs. What you're seeing on the streets is completely predictable, and it is only going to get worse, much worse, as long as current policies continue.

This is where we are headed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_miseria

[notfromseattle]

Originally Posted by wlw2009

Seattle does need to do something about this. They ruin downtown Seattle, straight up (the aggressive pandhandlers). Often times drunk and willing to follow you. We need to raise a tax and ship them to California, since no one wants to live there anyway.

Wow. That's your solution? Ship "them" to California. They are human beings too.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by wlw2009

Seattle does need to do something about this. They ruin downtown Seattle, straight up (the aggressive pandhandlers). Often times drunk and willing to follow you. We need to raise a tax and ship them to California, since no one wants to live there anyway.

We could start by shipping them back to Bellevue and environs, in that part of the problem is that the county, and state, for that matter, is perfectly happy to dump the problem on Seattle, for which they are partially responsible.

If things keep going as they are, it won't be long before we start to build concentration camps in the east county to house all the rabble.