This is what it's like to live in the Seattle-Bellevue metro area (Redmond: homes, neighborhood)

[usernametaken]

Originally Posted by LookinForMayberry

Squashed, but intact and yes I limped my way to the trash.

How perfect of you to ask.

If the poop had splattered out, the "several" people who walked by might have considered you as one of the numerous local homeless or drug addicts to avoid.

The only people I usually find rude in this region (and worldwide) are the ones driving dangerously while on their phones. But I think even Mayberry would become Seattle if the smartphone existed at the time?

Your username will never be resolved until we have self-driving cars.

In any case, I am glad that you are not injured.

[jdhpa]

Originally Posted by LookinForMayberry

I live in an upscale suburb community outside Seattle, north of Kirkland and Bellevue.

The day before Thanksgiving, DH and I decided to take the dogs to Bothell, and after doing a KCLS library exchange, we parked the car in the QFC (a local grocery) parking lot, and walked the dogs into downtown Bothell and then back to do some grocery shopping. Returning to the parking lot, we had a bag of dog poo, so I told my DH I would find a trash receptacle, while he returned to dogs to the car, and we would meet at the QFC entrance.

Walking up to the QFC, scanning the area for a trash receptacle, thinking I was stepping up to the sidewalk running in front of the QFC, my foot caught on the parking "curb" barricade, and I nearly took a face dive into the sidewalk. Thankfully, I was able to put my forearms out to catch my fall, keeping me for a face dive.

Stunned, I lay there momentarily to absorb the mental impact. As I did so, several people walked by the sidewalk. NOT ONE person offered assistance. Thankfully, DH came along quickly and helped me to my feet.

I am a 66+ year old woman. I in no way appear degenerate, yet members of my community thought nothing of walking past me as I lay prone, stunned, and helpless. No one asked if I was okay.

This is what it's like to live in the Seattle-Bellevue metro area.

Years ago I was in San Francisco, and I saw an elderly lady on a busy sidewalk down on her hands and knees trying but unable to get up, cool hipsters streaming past her. I helped her up and to a bench. She told me she has heart problems, and gets dizzy sometimes.

I don't think your experience is unique to Seattle. Most likely people assumed you were homeless and just wanted to get past you (I don't believe the lady above was homeless). I don't know if that makes you feel better (because it isn't just Seattle) or worse (because it's common behavior), but it is reality, at least in urban areas.

I hope you're ok, and that you have a Merry Christmas.

[ndcairngorm]

Oh my. Is it the fun of being anonymous that makes some people so unfeeling in their responses? Whatever, I'm so sorry you had that experience. To have fallen, been knocked temporarily off being able to get up right away, and to have no one even ask if you were ok, is really awful.

I don't care where you were, when we need help it is quite awful not to feel help will be forthcoming. This probably would not have happened 40 years ago - anywhere in the US (well maybe exclude NYC) - but it is a sign of something unsettling now. Are there too many people in the world and we are growing into a trapped rat type of function socially, or are our norms changing by reason of poor parenting or poor examples? That is another subject entirely, but doesn't change anything on a personal level.

I hope you didn't lose any teeth!

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by LittleDolphin

I wonder if this unkindness could have happened elsewhere?

..........

I think this is very typical big city behavior. It's not just Seattle.

[usernametaken]

Originally Posted by ndcairngorm

Oh my. Is it the fun of being anonymous that makes some people so unfeeling in their responses? Whatever, I'm so sorry you had that experience.
I hope you didn't lose any teeth!

So you are blaming the injured lady for unfeelingly stereotyping 3-4 million people because she is anonymous?

Chicken or egg?

BTW, your last teeth sentence with exclam sounds very insensitive and jokelike to me. My mother has numerous teeth issues and it is no laughing matter. But I agree. Very glad the teeth are intact!!

[jdhpa]

Originally Posted by ndcairngorm

Oh my. Is it the fun of being anonymous that makes some people so unfeeling in their responses?

No, it's being inundated with homeless people. The reality is the only thing that can potentially help someone who is that far gone is enforced treatment - detox, mental health evaluation / medication, etc., which the homeless will never agree to voluntarily (=> why it has to be enforced). Only the government can do this, so when people are inundated with the homeless they just walk around anyone they see in distress, because there is literally nothing they can do individually to help the homeless.

I don't expect people to stop and try to help every homeless person they see, there are too many and as I said above, there's nothing individually they can do. I do however expect them to vote for politicians who will implement different policy. I have no objection to trying different approaches to dealing with the homeless, but any such experiment needs to have a priori objective measures of success and failure, and if they fail those policies need to be changed. Only voters can make that happen.

From other posts on this thread, it's clear that voters in Seattle (and other large urban areas) have no interest in finding policies that work. They vote ideology regardless of outcome as long as they personally aren't affected, and mock the victims of their policies.

[hindsight2020]

It's just another way of asking is the seattle freeze moniker warranted. For those who have had the experience to contrast living in other regions of the US, the answer is yes, very much so. The reflexive pivot to whataboutism was predictable however, and it doesn't help their case lol.

Clearly for most who partake, the geography, *climate (*my pop psychology root causal guess as to why they're so socially disaffected west of the cascades), amenities, and most of all, that insufferably exclusionary housing price point, are a draw they're willing to patronize. There's no need to double down on choice-supportive bias to admit to what you like about the region. Just own the fact those might be opportunity costs others might wince at. Like we tell kiddos when they get their hands in the cookie jar, stop looking at your brothers, we're talking about what you did

[mayfair]

I'm so sorry that happened. Seattle used to be more polite 30 years ago, and now with so many homeless people who are drugged out, mentally unstable or erratic (right in the main shopping areas and sidewalks near stores), people are cautious about anyone who might be homeless and used to "looking the other way" at people stumbling. It's very sad to see the changes, and people have gotten numb to it. A tragedy in so many ways.

In the wealthier neighborhoods without so many homeless, people might not get this response. The suburbs near big box stores attract a lot of homeless and people get self-protective around them.

[usernametaken]

If you ever drive in the East Coast, Texas, LA, Chicago etc. you will think that Seattle is the most peaceful and cordial populous place in the US.

If you look at homicides per capita, you will think that Seattle is the Japan or Scandinavia of the US.

[leastprime]

Originally Posted by leastprime

Move to Redmond.
This afternoon, Wife (75) missed the step down at exit Safeway, Redmond. I (72) accepted a gentleman's offer to help DW to the upright stance.
May have broken her wrist. We may get an xray at the ER clinic tomorrow.
YFMV

The only reason for me to go to Bothell is, the Anderson School .

broken joint wrist joint.
surgery tomorrow at Issaquah.