I really like your last point -- Seattle is pretty "homeless friendly" in the big picture (rumors of other cities buying bus passes for their homeless to send t

I really like your last point -- Seattle is pretty "homeless friendly" in the big picture (rumors of other cities buying bus passes for their homeless to send them here have circulated for years). But there was a big debate when the county eliminated the "ride free" bus zone in downtown, which was a major transportation benefit for the homeless to catch rides to social services. When the county got rid of the ride free service, they stepped up with a transportation van that would loop once an hour between areas where the homeless congregated and loop around to the shelters, food banks, the Urban Rest Stop (free showers and laundry, no questions asked -- http://www.urbanreststop.org/ http://www.urbanreststop.org/), etc, still offering the homeless ease of access to these services, but also sort of "classifying" them on this bus as being very specifically in need. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on the psychology of class designation, but I'd much prefer the homeless rode with the rest of the people in our city. I think it raises social awareness when you avoid segregation like this.