No. of Recommendations: 0
I'm not sure what the Netherlands are doing different from Seattle, but they have legalized hard drugs and no real problem with crime and homelessness. Somehow they have a handle on it. Maybe they have better services to handle those issues? In which case, Seattle isn't "wrong"; they're just incomplete in their addressing of the issue.
I was in Seattle last month. Yes, there is a visible problem in the area around Pike Street, near the rail stop. A few blocks of vagrants and obvious druggies. They didn't pay any attention to us as we walked by. I also noted a large police presence near the rail stop (I forget the name of the other rail stop nearby...College?). Though at one point walking to the Starbucks with the huge vats (not Pike Street), I did hear a gunshot. Some woman standing waiting for the light asked "what was that". I said "sounded like a gunshot". "You're kidding." "Nope".
The problem spills out into the neighborhoods. I live near the Seattle ship canal. The homeless camp we had there (there were actually two of them) was one of the milder ones and it still was a pain in the rear. They don't just live there, they bring drugs and all manner of crime. In that particular camp there were random people running around with axes and one guy got high enough he decided to try and cut down some trees with it (not to mention threatening joggers). A poor kid from Seattle Pacific U was stabbed for just jogging by on the public trail. Then there was the bike chop shop they were running (with all the attendant thefts), shopping carts they would steal and leave in the road (nice high speed obstacle to encounter, btw), trash, needles, name it.
Most citizens here are fed up. The primary for city council is going to be very interesting.
The problem that Seattle has is that the progressives that run the place are incapable of applying sticks as well as carrots: you HAVE to have some level of accountability baked into whatever services you're providing else you just get more of the same.
