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I've seen homeless in Bellevue believe it or not. Not sure about Sammamish though. One wise words about the situation: You can run, but you can't hide. I can go on and on about this topic but I try not to start flame war so I'll just leave it here.
That's not unbelievable at all. I see homeless in Bellevue every day.
The Forbes "friendliest city in the country" may soon be welcoming a homeless camp for 3 months, at a church right across from Skyline High School and nearly next door to the Library and skateboard park. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by seattlenextyear
That's not unbelievable at all. I see homeless in Bellevue every day.
I had a business in Bellevue and we had homeless people sleeping in the doorways and in the berry bushes around Lake Bellevue as far back as 1998. One was sleeping on the sidewalk on NE 8th at
about 124th until someone on the city council complained and the police took him to Seattle and dropped him off. He was mentally ill, and it took 5 of them to get him into the car. Now there are panhandlers on the off ramps, but from what I heard they take the bus in from Seattle for the more
generous Bellevue handouts. Those are not the people that are in the tent city, though. If they do come
you will find families with kids and some that work but don't make enough to afford housing.
Ok let's get the important stuff out of the way first. I am founder and lead singer of the homeless babysitters, and my mom and dad gave me the name Ira. There may only be 500 of us but I'm proud to be number 1.
I'm not talking about applying for a job and giving references. I'm talking resource pooling and community organizing. I get that this is easy hot air for me to blow across the lake, but my goal is to highlight the opportunity in what may seem like a problem.
I'm no expert but I think lots of of women with children are homeless, I think they just have more shelter options. And anyway, the whole idea is to build an organized group for sharing across whatever social boundaries, so everyone can contribute what they're good at.
Yes, Marx is dead. But we've been social animals since day one. (even before day 500 for those keeping track.)
I would be furious if they set up a tent city near my home. I pay a lot of money to live in the 'burbs, and getting away from crime/homelessness is one of those reasons. It may not be a popular opinion, but at least I'm being honest.
I have NEVER seen any place in the world with the homeless population/homelessness problems that Seattle has. I have lived in many places, including a large city in a 3rd world country, and have never seen homelessness like I do here. When you have whole parks being overtaken by the homeless, when you have businesses complaining about urination and defecation in open places, this is a situation that is NOT normal, and should NOT be tolerated.
Seattle is a city with a big heart, but it appears all their attempts to "aid" the homeless has just succeeded in attracting them. The bulk of the homeless I've seen here are mentally ill and/or addicted to drugs and alcohol. We do not "best serve their needs" by giving them some food and shelter, and hoping they'll get better. These people have real problems that need addressing. Sticking them in a tent city is not it.
I would not feel comfortable letting my kids play outside if I knew there was a tent city nearby. Knowing that most of these people are struggling with untreated mental health/addiction issues, I would not feel safe. I know that makes me un-PC by Seattle standards, but so be it. I lived in Columbus, OH and Raleigh (and then Charlotte, NC) for 20+ years, and never once saw tent cities, mentally ill homeless people stabbing and killing people, or people peeing/crapping out in public, or public parks overtaken by the homeless. Seattle needs to wake up and realize that their "solutions" to the problem are not working, if anything it is attracting the homeless here like moths to a flame. What homeless person wouldn't want free food/shelter/lax attitude towards them?
I would be furious if they set up a tent city near my home. I pay a lot of money to live in the 'burbs, and getting away from crime/homelessness is one of those reasons. It may not be a popular opinion, but at least I'm being honest.
I have NEVER seen any place in the world with the homeless population/homelessness problems that Seattle has. I have lived in many places, including a large city in a 3rd world country, and have never seen homelessness like I do here. When you have whole parks being overtaken by the homeless, when you have businesses complaining about urination and defecation in open places, this is a situation that is NOT normal, and should NOT be tolerated.
Seattle is a city with a big heart, but it appears all their attempts to "aid" the homeless has just succeeded in attracting them. The bulk of the homeless I've seen here are mentally ill and/or addicted to drugs and alcohol. We do not "best serve their needs" by giving them some food and shelter, and hoping they'll get better. These people have real problems that need addressing. Sticking them in a tent city is not it.
I would not feel comfortable letting my kids play outside if I knew there was a tent city nearby. Knowing that most of these people are struggling with untreated mental health/addiction issues, I would not feel safe. I know that makes me un-PC by Seattle standards, but so be it. I lived in Columbus, OH and Raleigh (and then Charlotte, NC) for 20+ years, and never once saw tent cities, mentally ill homeless people stabbing and killing people, or people peeing/crapping out in public, or public parks overtaken by the homeless. Seattle needs to wake up and realize that their "solutions" to the problem are not working, if anything it is attracting the homeless here like moths to a flame. What homeless person wouldn't want free food/shelter/lax attitude towards them?
I'm from NC and having moved here after my marriage, I can completely agree with everything you are saying. I am appalled at the way Washington in general just turns a blind eye on the issues the homeless cause in Seattle and think a "tent city" is just fine and dandy anywhere much less in a suburban neighborhood with families and schools within walking distance. I believe such tent cities should be allowed on the driveways/streets of every politician who thinks this is okay and we'll see how long it lasts.
My first weekend visiting Seattle in 09 I had a homeless man near Pike Place Market grab my arm and demand I give him money because he needed something and I "looked like I had cash to spare". I very politely pulled him off me and told him if he assaulted me again I would call the police and protect myself as I see fit. His response? "And what are they gonna do, fine me? move along then if you arent going to give me anything". and he's right. The police here do nothing.
This area is so passive aggressively non confrontational and would rather tell you to cross to the other side of the street than deal with someone drunkenly sleeping/urinating/shooting up drugs/aggressively panhandling on the sidewalk. Its a bad economy all over the country but I will tell you right now, Seattle lets the homeless/transients make the rules. Its probably a west coast thing as Portland is just as bad but it doesn't have to be this way. People will do just about as much as you let them get away with and in most areas on the East Coast doing far less well than Seattle economically, none of this would be tolerated.
I would be furious if they set up a tent city near my home. I pay a lot of money to live in the 'burbs, and getting away from crime/homelessness is one of those reasons. It may not be a popular opinion, but at least I'm being honest.
So, you pay $3K/month for housing? Welcome to the party. I can't believe people think they can buy their way out of this problem because they pay slightly above average rent. It would be nice if that were true, but you really need to price out exactly what it costs to truly isolate yourself from the problem. It's not going to be that affordable.
I think that what scares me the most about many homeless people is the mental illness and uncertainty of violence that goes with it. I have certainly changed my habits since the horrible stabbing death of the professor and his girlfriend walking back into Pioneer Square from a Sounders match last month! And if I am being honest, it shifted something inside of me in relation to my feelings about homelessness and the homeless population in general. As many have pointed out, Seattle's homeless problem and many west coast cities homeless problems are in our face and hard to escape.
When tent city was near my daughters school I went on the website to see what qualifies one to live there. It seemed that all that mattered was that you weren't actively using drugs or alcohol. No criminal background checks, no checks for sex offenders...just that you were sober and while that is great it is not enough in my opinion. Unsettling!
All that being said, what do we as a society do since it is affecting all of us no matter where we live? They have no where to go and so many shelters have closed because they couldn't afford to run any longer. Where do they live and how do they get the help that they need?
I think that what scares me the most about many homeless people is the mental illness and uncertainty of violence that goes with it. I have certainly changed my habits since the horrible stabbing death of the professor and his girlfriend walking back into Pioneer Square from a Sounders match last month! And if I am being honest, it shifted something inside of me in relation to my feelings about homelessness and the homeless population in general. As many have pointed out, Seattle's homeless problem and many west coast cities homeless problems are in our face and hard to escape.
When tent city was near my daughters school I went on the website to see what qualifies one to live there. It seemed that all that mattered was that you weren't actively using drugs or alcohol. No criminal background checks, no checks for sex offenders...just that you were sober and while that is great it is not enough in my opinion. Unsettling!
All that being said, what do we as a society do since it is affecting all of us no matter where we live? They have no where to go and so many shelters have closed because they couldn't afford to run any longer. Where do they live and how do they get the help that they need?
The tent cities are far more organized and controlled than the any of the other 'rough camps' that pop up around the area. I'm personally far more concerned with the random car campers and other people living completely off the grid. Unlike the tent cities these people may not be tracked in any capacity. At least with the tent cities there is some checking about who is in the camps and whether they have warrants, etc.
The no drugs and alcohol requirement is more important than you might think. Outreach programs that do not screen for substance abuse are actually hurting the people they're purporting to help by enabling their addictions. For people struggling to support a severe drug habit, giving them any kind of support - even if it's just food or shelter - actually makes it possible for them to continue using. There's no easy way around that. Any kind of support that doesn't directly interfere with their drug consumption does in fact make it worse. Abstaining from drugs alone doesn't deal with the underlying psychological problems but for many people it may keep them from spiraling out of control.
To me, the real question is what do we do about the ones that don't want help? As things stand, they're free to do as they please until they get caught for a serious crime.
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Agree COMPLETELY
