I am so tired of living in an insane asylum; in a social experiment (Seattle: real estate, rental)

[homesinseattle]

Very sad story. For me, I guess I’ve learned to play the statistics. I don’t take public transportion, tend to drive to and spend more time in neighborhoody places (I like them more anyway) rather than downtown, although I do pop into Pike Place Market and the International District during the day. I do go to Beacon Hill, but during the day and not on public transport. I guess though, I feel the same everywhere. I have recently been in NYC and chose to take Ubers rather than subway/rail. Cost more? Yup, willing to pay to increase my statistics though, whether it’s Mumbai or Miami. Having traveled a lot around the world, I have developed a keen ability to spot and avoid people who appear erratic/dangerous. I think most of us who live in cities have that. Crazy, drugged out people exist in cities, they always have. Ronald Reagan gutted the country’s mental health system years ago. It’s had lasting impacts, here’s a good article: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...tals-san-diego

Before you say that it’s a privileged position to be in, to not have to take public transportation, to own a car, I get that it is and I’m grateful. It’s personal choice though too. I have a good buddy who lives in a studio apartment in NE Seattle and drives a 30 year old car. He feels the same about public transport and neighborhoods/safety.

[Hemlock140]

Working in Belltown I used to drive to the Issaquah Transit center and bus to Westlake for 6 years, and walk to the office 5 days a week. Other than the occasional drug transaction or mentally ill homeless person having a fit, I only had one scary experience. That was in front of McDonalds at 3rd & Pine when a police car rolled up and 2 cops jumped out with guns drawn right in front of me. On the bus it was always peaceful and quiet, with only other early office workers on board. Since the lockdown and return to the office 2 days a week I drive in, because I see so much along the way that makes me uncomfortable about walking anywhere in that area in the dark. Then with the recent news about the drug residue on the light rail and buses, more people will be scared off of public transportation.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by primaltech

So what are you suggesting, specifically?

I agree with the emotional rant of wishing we could get rid of all the mentally ill people in Seattle, and drugs and homelessness, etc. But, how do we actually do that? Since we can't throw everyone into a volcano.

That's the best you can think of: throwing people into a volcano? There used to be residential mental health care facilities for the severely mentally ill. As a movement gained ground to provide less restrictive environments for the severely mentally ill, considered a move toward more humane treatment, those patients were shifted to community mental health clinics. Carter signed a bill to increase funding for community mental health centers to enable that change, training of personnel for those centers, and a broad range of related measures. State mental health facilities were to be maintained for patients deemed needy of a total care environment, at least temporarily.
From Wiki:

The Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 (MHSA) was United States legislation signed by President Jimmy Carter which provided grants to community mental health centers. In 1981 President Ronald Reagan, who had made major efforts during his Governorship to reduce funding and enlistment for California mental institutions, pushed a political effort through the U.S. Congress to repeal most of MHSA.[1] The MHSA was considered landmark legislation in mental health care policy.

History of care of the severely mentally ill in the US, and an examination of the consequences of deinstitutionalization:
https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org...uences/2013-10

Text of the MHSA of 1980:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bil...s1177/text/enr

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

Before you say that it’s a privileged position to be in, to not have to take public transportation, to own a car, I get that it is and I’m grateful. It’s personal choice though too. I have a good buddy who lives in a studio apartment in NE Seattle and drives a 30 year old car. He feels the same about public transport and neighborhoods/safety.

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.

[MechAndy]

Homesinseattle I normally agree with most of your view points
However,
As much as I didn’t care for Ronald Reagan or his policies I don’t think we can still lay the blame on him.
To me that is similar to locking the barn after the horses have left.
Why after all these years is this “barn” still locked?
40 or near 40 years is well long enough to fix this mess that some astrologist probably told him (I mean Nancy/ I mean Mommy ) to do.

[pathrunner]

First of all, the term is "astrologer" not "astrologist."

Did you live in California lifelong, especially when Reagan was governor, like I did? Did you witness and experience what he and his kitchen cabinet (who engineered him into not only the governorship but the Presidency) did? I did, and so did millions of others. That was the beginning of the decline and you cannot deny that. The locomotive ran faster and faster and now look where we are. It's out of control. That was the design. Don't even get me started about what those a-holes did to Jimmy Carter.

We all know politicians, lobbyists and corporations don't care about mentally ill or otherwise homeless, people - let alone those (US) who are deeply affected by them. There is no political will, and there is also no will of the people to insist that tax money be utilized to create effective methods of dealing with this mess.

I watched an OPB video documentary yesterday. It was about Bayocean, Oregon and how the master plan for it failed for several reasons. The mastermind saw his laudable vision crumble. He lost everything after trying to hang on for years. He ended up in Oregon State Mental Hospital for the remainder of his days.

Do any of you think someone like him would be in any mental hospital these days? No. He would be roaming the streets. That's how it is now.

I'll bet there are many people who would like to drop hundreds of thousands of dangerous homeless people (and those homeless who are not dangerous) into a volcano. I support getting these people off the streets and sooner rather than later. All sides of the political aisle feel that way. But we are stalemated, just like with so many other issues.

The problem will have to become SO BAD that something will HAVE to be done. And it won't be pretty. Not for anyone.

[southking500]

Mental hospitals are a small part of the solution. The bigger part is correctional facilities which now have many empty cells in WA thanks to 10+ years of a coordinated national decarceration campaign. The prison population in WA is 5K less than 10 years ago despite large population gains in the state and increased crime.
That's 5K + criminals on the streets.
I'd be willing to bet that when the Beacon Hill hammer attacker is found, we will learn that he has been arrested multiple times and released by soft on crime judges.
That was the case with Cordell Goosby who randomly shot and killed a pregnant woman in Belltown earlier this year.
These types of violent attacks are happening on a daily basis in Seattle. We only hear about the more sensational ones.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by pathrunner

The problem will have to become SO BAD that something will HAVE to be done. And it won't be pretty. Not for anyone.

Hoping that day comes sooner than later, honestly. I hope that day comes while I'm here.

Short of some kind of purifying firestorm/ purge/ apocalypse/ selective Thanos type event/ throw everyone I don't like into a volcano (probably not politically viable, but we can workshop it), I don't know how we solve these social issues, that only ever seem to be getting worse by the day.

Every time I walk to the QFC on Broadway, there's some kind of security incident going on. Every single time, and I walk there often. On my way there I get asked for change by 15 people on the sidewalk, I see people smoking fentanyl out in the open in the broad daylight, I get the usual nice whiff of urine/feces, I'm stepping over bodies, all the usual madness going on from the usual crowd we all know.

It's just a daily existence. And then you go home and hear on the news about all the crime and violence happening around the city. Random acts of murder and assault. Wondering why we're all paying this ridiculously high rent, why the most humble condos start at half a million and up, and wondering if I can pay even more rent to live in a safer/less crazy area.

I was always a liberal when I lived in Georgia, now on the west coast I'm very moderate, to dare I say even starting to lean conservative. I want Republicans to take over the city, not because I'm a Republican (I hate Trump and all that), but because whoever's in charge now doesn't seem to be doing anything.

The focus is on, trans indigenous people, or whatever the woke thing going on this week, and all the real issues in the city are just ignored. Not saying Seattle is responsible for the underlying situations that led to all this. No local city or county or even state in the US is responsible for that, and the housing situation is pretty much just how capitalism works.

BUT, it seems to me that Seattle does have a responsibility to keep law and order and all that, on the ground within their city limits. All we seem to ever hear are excuses when it comes to that concept.

I dunno, you all tell me. I've only been here about 4 years. There's a lot I like, but these issues are...

[pathrunner]

Originally Posted by southking500

Mental hospitals are a small part of the solution. The bigger part is correctional facilities which now have many empty cells in WA thanks to 10+ years of a coordinated national decarceration campaign. The prison population in WA is 5K less than 10 years ago despite large population gains in the state and increased crime.
That's 5K + criminals on the streets.
I'd be willing to bet that when the Beacon Hill hammer attacker is found, we will learn that he has been arrested multiple times and released by soft on crime judges.
That was the case with Cordell Goosby who randomly shot and killed a pregnant woman in Belltown earlier this year.
These types of violent attacks are happening on a daily basis in Seattle. We only hear about the more sensational ones.

I'm not up on the subject but I thought the prison industrial complex wants to keep prisons full, including people who don't belong there (first time non-violent offenders, for example).

I'm not going to give my actual opinion at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but I don't think it is surprising that these attacks are being allowed to continue. That's all I will say. For now.

[southking500]

Originally Posted by pathrunner

I'm not up on the subject but I thought the prison industrial complex wants to keep prisons full, including people who don't belong there (first time non-violent offenders, for example).

I'm not going to give my actual opinion at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but I don't think it is surprising that these attacks are being allowed to continue. That's all I will say. For now.

https://mynorthwest.com/3903171/wash...rison-closure/