I am so tired of living in an insane asylum; in a social experiment (Seattle: insuring, mobile home)

[pathrunner]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

Why thank you for that lesson in spelling.
How thoughtful of you .

Yes I was here in 1966.
We lived between here and West Germany every other year when I was growing up.
My parents are/were German engineers and saw things from a different perspective than most of my friends parents.
I still don’t think Reagan was great at much other than being an orator and I don’t take back anything I said.
My thoughts are and remain that we are long over due to fix this and it’s not going to be easy.
When I see countless people taking the easy path with most things in life and expecting more I am in a loss of faith.

MechAndy, it's not "spelling." There is no such thing as an "astrologist." That's a somewhat common misnomer that gets spread around because newscasters and narrators sometimes use it.

It was not meant as a slam against you.

Of course we are overdue to correct this. Any solutions? Instead of vilifying (albeit benignly) those who find themselves in that situation?

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Wow. I lived in NE Seattle for over 10 years, up until I left in the early 2000's, didn't have a car, and had no problem with public transit, except wishing it were more frequent. Most of my travel on transit was to the U District, with occasional trips downtown. No issues at all. I even hosted small, international groups, and we all took transit almost daily. Things must have changed radically since then in NE Seattle and elsewhere. I used to walk to N'gate Mall in the evenings, and to restaurants around the neighborhood.

Ruth, most of the time I’m sure it’s fine. I just don’t like to play the odds if I don’t have to. I still do take light rail from my office at Green Lake (walk over to Roosevelt) when there are sporting events. When there are lots of riders around, doesn’t worry me one bit. The light rail in general feels okay, just use common sense.

[CrazyDonkey]

Incidents such as this will inevitably lead to requiring "tapping" in with an Orca Card or purchasing a ticket to gain access to subway or elevated stations. Let's just hope we don't have a multiple fatality incident in the meantime. It won't be that they weren't forewarned. Any "engineer" worth his salt can figure out how to do it, although the "solutions" won't come cheap.

I'd be in favor of providing free Orca Cards (with $20 on them to be replenished every month) to the homeless who care to register to receive them. Crazies and addicts probably wouldn't. They could also have their cards cancelled if they violate the TOS. Not being able to access subway or elevated stations (although this wouldn't keep them off the buses) would "encourage" ordinary fare-evaders to get Orca Cards and start paying.

As to crazies and addicts, I don't see anyway around it other than fully funding mental health therapies and addiction treatments commensurate to the need for them, which we are very, very far from doing.

[BjorntheCold]

Originally Posted by primaltech

So what are you suggesting, specifically?

Poor farms for the sane, modern versions of asylums for the insane. I'm suggesting a form of 'light' incarceration for those who can be reconditioned and gotten back on their feet (basically compulsory homing coupled with oversight and low-paid labor [maybe 4-5 hours a day]), and true padded-cell incarceration for the completely broken. Is that too harsh? Not when the alternative is the hellscape we're living in, no.

Don't tell me we can't afford that. We're spending HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS to buy ratty hotels and turn them into the equivalent of unmonitored mental/drug wards, as well as set up tiny home communities, all of which can - at best - house a fraction of the homeless population.

[southking500]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Incidents such as this will inevitably lead to requiring "tapping" in with an Orca Card or purchasing a ticket to gain access to subway or elevated stations. Let's just hope we don't have a multiple fatality incident in the meantime. It won't be that they weren't forewarned. Any "engineer" worth his salt can figure out how to do it, although the "solutions" won't come cheap.

I'd be in favor of providing free Orca Cards (with $20 on them to be replenished every month) to the homeless who care to register to receive them. Crazies and addicts probably wouldn't. They could also have their cards cancelled if they violate the TOS. Not being able to access subway or elevated stations (although this wouldn't keep them off the buses) would "encourage" ordinary fare-evaders to get Orca Cards and start paying.

As to crazies and addicts, I don't see anyway around it other than fully funding mental health therapies and addiction treatments commensurate to the need for them, which we are very, very far from doing.

Sound Transit used to have fare checkers who regularly patrolled the trains and buses. I was checked about once a week in my commuting days.
Then the Seattle Times in typical fashion did an "investigative report" finding a racial imbalance, a higher than average percentage of fare beaters given tickets were black.
Never mind that the fare checkers checked everyone on the train and everyone was given at least one warning before being ticketed.
Per the Seattle Times and the activists they contacted for quotes (who they have on speed dial) any number higher than the exact percent of the population can only be attributed to racism. End of story. Sound Transit apologized and discontinued fare checking.
The same thing has happened here with bicycle helmet laws, library fines, public marijuana smoking, school discipline etc. etc.
It's the Seattle way.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by BjorntheCold

Poor farms for the sane, modern versions of asylums for the insane. I'm suggesting a form of 'light' incarceration for those who can be reconditioned and gotten back on their feet (basically forced, compulsory homing coupled with oversight and low-paid labor [maybe 4-5 hours a day]), and true padded-cell incarceration for the completely broken. Is that too harsh? Not when the alternative is the hellscape we're living in, no.

Not at all. You'd be doing most of these miserable people a favor, even if they don't realize it at first.

I'd vote for you. But of course you'd lose the election in compassionate Seattle, to a 21 year old with pink hair who just says 'equity' a bunch of times.

I'd make you look good by being the even more fringe candidate, running on a "Elect me your dictator. I will take a flamethrower to every corner of these god-forsaken streets. All must be cleansed and purified by the flame. The time of reckoning has come. 3rd Avenue will be made cleaner than Windsor Castle.", platform.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by southking500

Sound Transit used to have fare checkers who regularly patrolled the trains and buses. I was checked about once a week in my commuting days.
Then the Seattle Times in typical fashion did an "investigative report" finding a racial imbalance, a higher than average percentage of fare beaters given tickets were black.
Never mind that the fare checkers checked everyone on the train and everyone was given at least one warning before being ticketed.
Per the Seattle Times and the activists they contacted for quotes (who they have on speed dial) any number higher than the exact percent of the population can only be attributed to racism. End of story. Sound Transit apologized and discontinued fare checking.
The same thing has happened here with bicycle helmet laws, library fines, public marijuana smoking, school discipline etc. etc.
It's the Seattle way.

Requiring a tap-in or purchase of a ticket to gain access to subway or elevated stations would be color/gender blind, so no discretion would be involved. Fare checking, itself, was a product of open entry. I believe it went away with Covid-19, in that fare payment endangered drivers.

[southking500]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Requiring a tap-in or purchase of a ticket to gain access to subway or elevated stations would be color/gender blind, so no discretion would be involved. Fare checking, itself, was a product of open entry. I believe it went away with Covid-19, in that fare payment endangered drivers.

NYC has subway turnstiles which can easily be jumped over. A fence/gate/door type entry creates safety and liability problems which is why it is not already used.
Bottom line is the prevailing culture in King County does not allow for tried and true methods for increasing order and safety on transit and elsewhere.

[601halfdozen0theother]

I'm just here because I used to live in Seattle and am saddened by it's current condition downtown (though most neighborhoods seem fine still.)

There is a huge mental health facility in the town near where I live, and they CAN'T GET STAFF. No one wants to work there, because the patients are dangerous and many who have worked there have gotten hurt. The pay also isn't all that great.

I do think a new form of asylums might be at least part of the solution, but HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET THEM STAFFED??? If you say "higher pay" - I don't think that alone will do it.

[CalWorth]

Reagan was the one who truly got the ball rolling on closing the state mental hospitals in California, that was what began the release of gravely mentally ill people entering the general population. It was a fiscal decision, not a humanitarian one. Other states followed suit.

Many people on this forum weren’t even born yet when that happened. I interviewed for a position at one of the state hospitals in SoCal, which I wisely turned down. I remember going through 4 sets of locked doors to get to the unit where I interviewed. The kinds of patients on those units behind those locked doors are who are living on the streets today. Instead of being medicated with psychotropics, they self-medicate with meth, tranq, fentanyl & who knows what else.

These attacks happen everywhere. I had a relative in Boulder, CO tell me that there was recently a hammer attack on a person in their 60’s walking in a park there. I mentioned in my previous posts seeing a guy with a machete, & another guy with a long handled ax, just strolling around Port Angeles like it was just the most normal thing to do.

There have always been mentally ill people, since time began. It is genetic for most of them. There is no cure for paranoid schizophrenia. They were locked up. There is no other way.