Gotta love the overall “this is doomed” tone from the conservative Seattle times. Converting buildings is challenging, but this is prime waterfront real estate near the light rail/amtrak. There are likely hundreds of old office buildings that could be converted into thousands of apartments/condos if the will is there, which would help solve real issues in Seattle.
Its a silver bullet if we can get the conversion process streamlined or improved. More housing means more people downtown, which means more business and culture and improved tax revenue for city improvements while retaining all the traffic, climate and employement benefits of work from home. The downtown becomes a place for people, making seattle more walkable and liveable.
This location is not close to the Amtrak station and isn't especially close to the light rail, but it does have some other public transit, mostly buses. And it's not too crazy to walk to the light rail, just not really close.
It's still a good location with lots of amenities, just not super for light rail/train service.
Source: I live here, have been to the area many times using public transit/walking.
That general area is absolutely fantastic for public transit. I used to live in the International District, and the easy access to transit was really fantastic. Everything right there: light rail, streetcar, Amtrak, and for the drivers, I-5 and I-90. Also walkable to a lot of locations. Really great, livable neighborhood overall. Too bad it tends to get neglected.
Is he drunk? Is this really the state of our representation? Wtf is a totalitarian protestor? Are people holding signs on a lawn intimidating to him? How dare they disagree with someone who won an election a couple years ago against some other blowhard? Are we really only supposed to interact with our government once a year quietly in a voting both? These people need their heads screwed back on. What do they think their job is about?
While I agree that Seattle should not cut its own spending on police to pay for housing in Tukwila and this is a county/state issue, her kneejerk reaction does not inspire confidence. These kinds of protests have been common in Seattle politics as far back as I can remember.
As one of her constituents, I hope she learns from her mistakes here.
Pretty much exactly my thoughts. It doesn’t make sense for protestors to demand Seattle fund housing in a different city. But this quote:
“It is not appropriate” for protesters to be disruptive, Moore, a former King County Superior Court judge, continued. “We need to make sure that this does not happen going forward. We are shutting down the operations of a democracy because of a mob action. It is not to be tolerated.”
That just seems intentionally obtuse. The entire point of a protest is to be disruptive so that someone pays attention to their demands. In this case they just seem a little mis-directed. So let them speak then say “I appreciate your concerns, but you’re talking to the wrong people. Here’s what you should do instead…”
A day off without pay? A day off? In a line of work where it’s common to work well beyond full time job amounts of hours per week? That’s a reward not a punishment. They probably couldn’t have got a day off without pay otherwise even if they wanted to.
I’m in CA, so I’m no stranger to seeing encampments. Basically, camp sweeps are about the most pointless exercise in futility you can get up to. They just pop up in the next place, and the next place, and the next place, over and over and over. We’ve been trying this dumbfuck plan of “make the homeless so miserable that they stop existing” for decades now, and the problem has only continued to worsen. I’m kinda starting to think it doesn’t work. What does work, though, is housing, and lots of it.
I don’t think we should be worrying about busting up homeless camps until we can actually put these people up somewhere instead of playing stupid fucking games of “I don’t care where you go but you can’t stay here,” over and over every three weeks. We need to be focusing on building an a large supply of affordable housing, commie blocks even. I am, unironically, down for the Pacific states to just start laying down tracts of commie blocks. If your eyebrows just went up, let me point out that:
Commie blocks are better on every front than just having massive homeless encampments.
Given the choice between homelessness and a commie block apartment, a lot of people would gladly take the apartment. Not to mention a lot of East Europeans will speak fondly of having lived in them.
If you’re worried about the aesthetics of a commie block, maybe really take a moment to ask yourself if that makes any kind of sense, but in particular on an ethical level. What’s your problem with them, exactly? They don’t vibe with the US’ aesthetic pattern of [checks Google street view] building soulless beige-brown concrete and steel cubes? And is it really a worse look than massive homeless camps? And is that more important than getting these people housed?
Or, you know, just start letting people build housing. I’m looking at you, SF. Home owners have been blocking any new housing and the property pieces skyrocketed.
I’m all for building more housing to alleviate the homeless crisis. I don’t think sweeps work.
As with any major project like this, the question is where the funding comes from. I’d like to see a real state income tax in Washington state replace a lot of the other taxes we have, but that will probably never happen.
Biden should have sided with the rail-workers. But instead safety measures were reduced and the rail companies want even more dangerous railways.
That is the same ones that AMTRAK rolls on FYI.
And the dude that wrote that opinion serves on the “Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Freight” which wants those federal dollars on “their” rails.
But whatever. This is all a dog and pony show to get more businesses on board with a new airport that is being pitched for western Washington.
Hours after Seattle’s new law against public drug use and drug possession took effect Friday, police officers swept through two neighborhoods and made about two dozen arrests, police Chief Adrian Diaz said.
Police handed out flyers Friday morning in an effort to educate people about the controversial new law, then returned Friday afternoon to enforce the gross misdemeanor offenses, Diaz said in a news conference at the Seattle Police Department headquarters.
The operations targeted the vicinity of 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street in the Chinatown International District’s Little Saigon neighborhood and Third Avenue and Pine Street in downtown. Both areas have seen prominent public drug use for years.
Ten people were put into jail, mostly on outstanding felony warrants for offenses that included rape, domestic violence and assault, Diaz said. Two of the 10 were jailed on new offenses, including possession of drugs with intent to deliver and possession of a stolen firearm, the chief said. Police “might not have come into contact” with the suspects if not for the new drug law, he said.
An additional 15 people who were arrested were almost immediately referred to case workers, and 13 accepted those referrals, Diaz said. Some people were released directly from an SPD precinct, without going to jail, he said.
Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess later described the arrest and referral numbers that Diaz shared as preliminary and subject to change.
New law is essentially they can now charge possession or public use as a misdemeanor instead of a felony and are targeting people using in public.
I’m no fan of the war on drugs but I will reserve judgment on this for a later time to see how this goes. Leaning towards not having a problem with it.
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