11 thoughts to “What a gorgeous day!”

  1. Yes, great day. Went to Salmon Bay park with the kids and had a drunken hobo threaten to kill me and my kids.

    Called 911, cops never showed up, went home. Beautiful day indeed in Ballard and my kids are afraid to go to the park now. God forbid Seattle's homeless have their rights infringed.

  2. Beautiful day, indeed. You can't beat the mountain view in this town. This weather is amazing.

    But I have to agree (and sympathize) with Salmon Bay Dad:

    Ballard is a trash-heap of RV campers and violent vagrants. It's really quite sad. SPD really needs to up their presence in the area, and the city needs to pass new laws regarding illegal camping in vehicles, parks and city property. These are unwelcome, non-contributing neighbors. They are a burdon on society, and the vast majority of them take advantage of everyone and everything. They use our lawns for toilets and steal our property at night. For every decent, law-abiding, down-on-his-luck bum (they exist!), there are twenty drug-addled, violent crazy people, just waiting to stab you with a screwdriver for the $5 in your pocket. Unfortunately, Ballard has the latter in spades.

    Here are a few (perhaps, futile) suggestions:
    1) Report their vehicles to be towed whenever you spot them.
    2) Ignore their pleas for handouts (they stick around for a reason — stop giving them a dollar).
    3) Call 911 when they threaten you (from a safe distance, of course).

    Sorry to hear it, Salmon Bay Dad. You're not the only person in Ballard who feels this way. It's hard to be optimistic when you deal with this stuff on a daily basis. But hopefully, if we all work towards fixing the problem, we can improve the neighborhood.

    Stay safe, and don't be a victim.

  3. jon, appreciate the suggestions, but there are two issues:
    1. vehicles cannot be towed unless they haven't moved in 72 hours, a rarity with these folks since they all know the laws and how to skirt them. there has been some discussion in the forums about other ways to report them (expired tabs, etc.)
    2. I see these guys all the time when I walk through Gilman playground, near the library, Ballard Commons park, near the Ballard Market, etc., they are as rude as all get out, but have never once asked me for any money, that's more the downtown/Westlake/Pike Place homeless thing to do.

    I have seen teenage kids walk up to groups of the “Ballard Bums” and walk away with one of them to purchase alcohol–perhaps telling the high schoolers in the area not to use their “services” would help. Calling the cops on them sure didn't.

  4. I had a great day and wasn't accosted by anyone.

    I truly don't believe this 'problem' is anywhere near as bad as as many make it out to be; I'm sad that once again such insecurity fills the comments of an unrelated story.

  5. You must not spend a lot of time near Ballard Market or Safeway, then. Plugging your ears and humming does not make the problem go away. And how is it unrelated, when a father and his children can't even enjoy a nice day out, without being accosted?

    Most of the RV campers in that area are extremely rude criminals. I've caught them: shooting up; taking a dump / piss; illegally dumping trash (including used condoms); car-prowling; buying and selling drugs; following women to their cars as they pack groceries, and harassing them for money; drinking in public with exposed containers — all of this on private property. It's one thing to be a waste of life on your own time, in your own crappy home. You want to sit around and kill yourself, because you've got a chip on your shoulder, and feel like society has let you down? Go for it. It's another thing when you leave your dirty hypodermic needles, condoms and piles of human waste on the ground, for people to step on.

    The last time I confronted one of these scumbags by asking him to please stop trespassing on our property (emphasis on being polite), he threatened me and asked me to hand over my wallet. Charming, no?

    Just because you don't have to deal with it on a daily basis, does not mean that it isn't a problem.

  6. Well, they don't really 'ask' for change — they're more likely to demand your wallet. :P

    I agree, our hands are tied. It sucks. Hopefully, we can get some legislation that forbids RV parking on city streets, all-together. I doubt these guys have driveways in which to store their junky vehicles, just as much as I doubt there are many normal, functioning members of society with RVs parked on the street. At the very least, we should make it illegal to park overnight.

  7. Yes, what a gorgeous day. Looks like today (Sunday) is another. Beautiful vistas of the olympics and cascades on my morning walk. Snowy peaks. Plums and cherries in bloom. Crocuses up, and the daffodils are blooming already. Please tell me this early spring is payback for last winter.

  8. I would think that a sharp slap across the face would be the acceptable reponse to such behavior.
    Of course, if you were to do such a thing, the SPD response would be immediate, and you'd likely loose your house to the bum.
    Is this a great country, or what?

  9. Ah, yes, another beautiful day in Ballard. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and an innocuous post about our wonderful weather has turned into a totally unrelated b*tchfest.

    It's good to know in this crazy, ever-changing world some things always stay the same.

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