3 ms·

FWIW I lived in Seattle for 4 months in 2019 and was shocked at how abhorrent the downtown has gotten, compared to how it was in 2013. I’ve lived in cities all

FWIW I lived in Seattle for 4 months in 2019 and was shocked at how abhorrent the downtown has gotten, compared to how it was in 2013. I’ve lived in cities all over the east coast, and none of them have compared to the amount of poverty and drug culture I saw in Seattle. I moved to NYC and couldn’t be happier. I’m genuinely of the opinion that Seattle, Portland, SF, etc are broken and any comments which try to downplay that are only making things worse in the long run.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
WeylandYutani 4y ago
Maybe the issue lies with America not Seattle? A harsh unforgiving society coupled with a lack of a social safety net. Throw in easy access to drugs and things go to hell quickly.
- throwayyy479087 4y ago
  These problems don't exist in NEARLY the same magnitude in the rest of the country. Fucking Detroit is a much nicer place to be than Seattle now, because _they're working on fixing their problems_. Seattle just blames Trump and warns against hobophobia, then continues along blindly.
- bradlys 4y ago
  These cities also have a housing affordability issue. They all refuse to build enough housing - especially mixed development. It’s not really a shock as to why homelessness is rising when you literally can’t afford a roof and everything else gets more expensive because of landlords leaching all the money out of the economy.
- RestlessMind 4y ago
  > a lack of a social safety net That is so easy to disprove. SF spends 1.1B on homelessness (more than 50K per homeless person). Federal government spends 6-700B on medicaid (health services for poor). California's 2022-23 spending plan provides over $25 billion from the General Fund for human services programs. Maybe, you can complain that that spending is "inefficient", but that becomes a political barb-trading after that.
- roguecoder 4y ago
  It's replicated all over America, because the zoning policies adopted in the 70s-90s have proven disastrous, but Seattle is absolutely responsible for its part in failing to build enough housing to keep up with growth.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

WeylandYutani 4y ago

Maybe the issue lies with America not Seattle? A harsh unforgiving society coupled with a lack of a social safety net. Throw in easy access to drugs and things go to hell quickly.

throwayyy479087 4y ago
These problems don't exist in NEARLY the same magnitude in the rest of the country. Fucking Detroit is a much nicer place to be than Seattle now, because _they're working on fixing their problems_. Seattle just blames Trump and warns against hobophobia, then continues along blindly.
bradlys 4y ago
These cities also have a housing affordability issue. They all refuse to build enough housing - especially mixed development. It’s not really a shock as to why homelessness is rising when you literally can’t afford a roof and everything else gets more expensive because of landlords leaching all the money out of the economy.
RestlessMind 4y ago
> a lack of a social safety net That is so easy to disprove. SF spends 1.1B on homelessness (more than 50K per homeless person). Federal government spends 6-700B on medicaid (health services for poor). California's 2022-23 spending plan provides over $25 billion from the General Fund for human services programs. Maybe, you can complain that that spending is "inefficient", but that becomes a political barb-trading after that.
roguecoder 4y ago
It's replicated all over America, because the zoning policies adopted in the 70s-90s have proven disastrous, but Seattle is absolutely responsible for its part in failing to build enough housing to keep up with growth.