Komo TV Seattle is Dying,,,, yep they went there

[the topper]

Final nail in the coffin for death of Downtown Seattle: so parallel to 1960's Downtown Seattle with no life. Very sad.

[pnwguy2]

What the hell are you talking about? Every major US city is experiencing this. Amazon just announced they will hire 100,000 more workers in this downturn. Please leave your anti Seattle rhetoric at the door. You spout nonsense.

[the topper]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

What the hell are you talking about? Every major US city is experiencing this. Amazon just announced they will hire 100,000 more workers in this downturn. Please leave your anti Seattle rhetoric at the door. You spout nonsense.

Hiring nationally

[pnwguy2]

Yes but still a Seattle company. Please understand the downturn is not exclusive to Seattle however much you want to be biased. And your earlier post was indeed just that.

[Botev1912]

Originally Posted by the topper

Final nail in the coffin for death of Downtown Seattle: so parallel to 1960's Downtown Seattle with no life. Very sad.

Most major cities in the world are ghost towns right now including New York City, Milan, Paris. Moderator cut: don't call people names

https://www.businessinsider.com/coro...streets-2020-3

[jertheber]

I haven't heard too much mindless criticism of Seattle from those with more than just air between the ears. Drug addiction is a huge problem in--- Montana, Idaho, Arizona, and yes, even rural New Mexico. Seattle has a relatively mild climate when compared to the likes of Minnesota and Michigan. Drug addicted, or not, most homeless people can figure their chances of survival being better in warmer weather. Blaming liberals is simply part of the mindset of today's polarized low brows who rarely read anything in depth, preferring the crap from Eric Johnson and the Sinclair group of so called news providers.

Growing up in the north Seattle area, I'd have to say that things have changed, but... Most of America has also experienced the weight of modern day problems ranging from the introduction of job eating technologies, super dense expensive housing zoning, a rise in wage disparity, to a new kind of tech worker elite populace. All these changes, and more to come doesn't always bode well for the overall economy, and all too often, simply creates a new economy, one that excludes more than it includes.

I don't see the problem being that our cities are "dying" as much as I see the huge rise in American prosperity as a thing in sharp contrast to those living in tents, and worse, the tens of thousands of people teetering on the brink of homelessness that Johnson's narrative doesn't begin to cover.

The truth is, Eric Johnson and many others preferred the "old Seattle," the city that kept it's worst poverty stricken citizens over the hill and down in the Central Area's slums, back when the homeless were relatively unseen but still just as desperate, when the shooting galleries of Yesler street was out of bounds for most whites, yeah, those were the good o'l days, when poverty knew better than to show it's face and folks like Eric could cruise along the delightful downtown streets unfazed by Seattle's poverty.

I don't always agree with the Seattle political leadership, but that's not the point, especially when we consider that a ton of the local whiners are dead set against any "gubmint innervenshun" except when "they" deem it to be necessary. We need to address the issues surrounding homelessness from a different perspective, seeing it as a national problem needing local solutions. At some point we, the citizenry will need to contribute something positive to the conversation beyond complaining and advocating police intervention, which in turn means filling our jails. Calling compassion the stuff of "Soy Boy" thinking is just what Johnson and the right want, rile the uneducated, prod the violent prone, form your own vigilante groups and Eric will lead you to the "promised land."

To the Shangri La world of perfectly clean streets, gingerbread people, lots of mindless entertainment, and most of all--No problems. Or realistically, we may decide as a society that the temporary restraint of individual civil rights could lead us to a situation wherein we can be of help to the hopelessly drug addicted, taking the positive steps to assist those suffering from a debilitating mental illness, figuring out the complexities of finding meaningful employment in a world determined to exclude millions of human labor tasks from our industries. But we can't ever use those restraints to simply "build the camps," drag the unwashed and unwanted to a fate reminiscent of the Third Reich's "final solution." That kind of "non thinking problem solving" is a very real sign that a society may be in the throes of it's final days and should evoke a fear greater than the homeless ever could..

[pnwguy2]

I think Eric's video-essay on "Seattle is dying" was more a wakeup call about a great city experiencing some dire consequences, despite of its wealth. This isn't about the Seattle economy, (which was very strong going into this downturn), but more about the spirit and ideals the city has always promoted. Yes, he may have harkened back to the "good 'ole days", which really were not, but what I took out of his documentary was the city is too good to have so many problems. I can relate to that as a Seattle native living my first 30 years there, (60's-80's).

When another poster takes this theme out of context, it is deeply incorrect and insulting.

[BobNJ1960]

Very sad, but very well done, gritty, accurate documentary.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by ClassicCarFamily

There is a big problem with the homeless in LA. .

It's all over the west coast.

Cities look like shanty towns. Very sad site.