You are already paying for addicts’ drug habits. Why not treat addiction in a more humane way that reduces crime, defunds drug gangs, better helps the addicts, and saves society money? Lots of people complain about crime, especially property crime. People complain especially on websites such as nextdoor. Likewise, many newspapers and TV news shows […]
Homelessness
How Finland lowered homelessness by 73%: housing first
Source of image: Reports on homelessness in Finland See Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. The reason: The country applies the “Housing First” concept. Those affected by homelessness receive a small apartment and counselling – without any preconditions. 4 out of […]
Two difficult questions about homelessness
Republicans are using the topics of homelessness, drugs, and crime as bludgeons to scare suburban and exurban voters away from the Democratic Party. The tactic is likely to work, to some extent. The film “Seattle is Dying” makes a powerful case that, at least for the minority of low-functioning, high-crime homeless people highlighted in the […]
36th LD Democrats pass resolution denouncing the documentary Seattle Is Dying
Sarajane Siegfriedt reports that the 36th LD Democrats overwhelmingly passed the following resolution, copied from this google doc: RESOLUTION ON “SEATTLE IS DYING” drafted by Evan Clifthorne on 4/1/2019 proposed to the 36th District Democrats on the same adopted on 4/17/2019 by the General Membership In deference to the established moral and philosophical positions of […]
The non sequitur in Seattle is Dying
The KOMO documentary Seattle is Dying is a powerful and angry film, denouncing the city council and courts for allowing homeless camps, tents, filth, and crime to fester. It depicts the low-functioning homeless who are drug addicted, mentally ill, and/or criminal. It condemns the inability or unwillingness of the police, courts, and city council to […]
Bellevue City Council hearing on the proposed homeless shelter
[Edited and extended on June 15, 2018] On Monday, June 11, I went to the Bellevue City Council hearing about the proposed Eastgate homeless shelter. About seventy people had signed up to speak (three minutes each). The first pair of speakers were Betsy Hummer and Stephanie Walter from the East Bellevue Community Council. They reported […]
Report on Bellevue meeting on Homelessness: “The Difference a Home Makes”
On Thursday, May 18 I attended “The Difference a Home Makes: A Dialogue about Homelessness and Housing on the Eastside” at the First Congregational Church in Bellevue. The church donated the use of their attractive facilities for the meeting. (See also Report on the Mercer Island forum on homelessness of May 15, 2018.) The meeting […]
Report on the Mercer Island forum on homelessness of May 15, 2018
On Tuesday night several dozen people attended a homelessness forum at the Jewish Community Center of Mercer Island. The forum was arranged by Clarity Bellevue, which has been involved in the debate about plans to build a low-barrier homeless shelter in the Eastgate area of Bellevue. (Clarity Bellevue is generally opposed to locating the shelter […]
Friday actions for SAFE: protest and press conference
Protest and Press Conference This action is protesting the auction of Marquette Bowman’s family home. This home was left to her by her father who was a victim of a predatory reverse mortgage. We are coupling this protest with a a press conference announcing Barton victory in court over RCO and Quality Loan Services! A […]
King County Sheriff’s Department Arrest Jean Barton and Her Son, Drag Disabled Veteran Byron Barton to The Hospital
Two weeks ago, SAFE activists held a press conference where they asked the question, “Who runs this town?” Today, Sheriff Urquhart, stepping up to the role of corporate goon, answered the question definitively; property developers do. Thanks to a hastily-obtained search warrant, a mother and her son have been handcuffed, stuffed into a cop car, […]