While we were attending Saturday’s clean-up event, a concerned neighbor took us on a tour of “the Jungle,” an overgrown strip of land between Ballard Ave. and Shilshole along 22nd Ave. She told us the Jungle is a hotbed of drug use and a popular homeless hangout, especially at night.
We didn’t see any homeless on the property, but bedding and trash littered the area. Ballard District Coordinator Rob Mattson confirmed that some business owners and neighbors have complained about the land in recent weeks.
Much of the property is owned by the Olympic Athletic Club, which operates the parking lot there. The concerned neighbor, who asked us not to use her name, approached a city representative at today’s clean-up event to see if crews could clear out the brush and trash. But because it’s private property, he told her that he needed a signed letter of permission from OAC.
So she ran down Ballard Ave. and spoke to Olympic Athletic Club. Moments later, she returned out of breath, letter in hand. “This is a little unusual,” the city representative said. But within a few minutes, a Department of Corrections work crew with brush-clearing equipment moved in.
By noon, workers had cleared out trash, bedding and heavy brush in the most problematic part of the Jungle (compare this photo to the first one above). “I think the mayor put a tool in our hands today, and we were able to utilize it beyond our expectations,” she told us. “Every little step is an improvement in our attempt to keep our city safe, and we are extremely grateful.”
We’re told the work crew will also be picking up trash under the Ballard Bridge in coming days, another popular homeless hangout.
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
This is one down and one-hundred to go. We must next take on Bergen Place head-on with an enormous mass of people. We gave this ground up easily to the criminals, and they're holding it. Any normal person that tries to hangout there will quickly be intimidate and runoff. This is where all the crack is spreading from. It's the epicenter of the cesspool. Please start calling and complaining to Seattle North Police dept. We need cops on foot and on bikes patrolling Ballard until the streets are cleared of out-in-the-open drug deals and drug use. The Chai House is also harboring these dealers. If you know the owner of the Chai House, please express your concerns.
“This is a little unusual,” lol, yeah, generally that's something we form a committee for, talk about it, get the environmental impact study, talk some more….
Damn nice to see how Ballard rolls…when given the chance, we just get it done. Thank you concerned neighbor, the credit goes to you.
…and thanks for the cooperation from the athletic club too!
Well I had a first today in Ballard. Walking back to my car with the family, a drunk staggers past. Well, that's not a first in Ballard. What was a first is he swings around and starts mumbling, then cussing at me. This is noon. Outside Sams Sushi. Within earshot of my little kids. S***faced bum, waving his arms and cussing at me because I won't give him change.
Now, I'm not easily intimidated, but the kids were scared witless by this ***hole. One nearly bought to tears. The next 100 yards walking past the parade of bums outside the library and park pretty much confirmed what I'm reading here on myballard. We have a serious problem. The occasional wino is fine, almost picturesque, but this is an armada of vagrants that has taken up residence in our neighborhood.
Seriously, merchants of Ballard, I won't expose my kids to these morons, I'll be shopping and dining elsewhere. We're actually closer to Phinney and Fremont so will head there. You need to get the police into the neighborhood and start dragging these ***holes off to jail.
And to all of Ballard's pro-bum residents….when is enough enough? These aren't ne'er do wells down on their luck, these are hard core bums.
Sorry neighbor, and yes, validation of what we are dealing with. Hopefully, you'll have a Ballard that welcomes you, and other families soon.
I vote with my dollars too, seen me spending a dime down at that cesspool? No, just walking a beat, with no money in my pocket.
And ditto to the pro-bum dumbasses.
Whew, what a day you must have had.
The thing that continues to amaze me here in the Northwest is how fast things grow.
It does not take long for an untended patch to become an wilderness.
Thank you for cleaning up one small patch.
U ROC!
I haven't hung out at the Chai House since they changed ownership (about a year ago?) and don't recall it being a harborer of nasties. Is this something new?
I won't spend a penny at The Chai House, Golden City or 7 11 personally. I don't even shop in Ballard any more and prefer downtown or Northgate Mall. Much safer and much more police in case some thing goes wrong. I won't even go near Market Street or Bergen Park any more, because of all the transients the store owners are luring onto the street the last couple years, with the free handouts and pro transient stance. No way. If you chose transients over law abiding people, have a nice time. Also, If you're dumb enough to hang out in Bergen Park, you deserve the beating you are likley to get eventually.
Seems to me OAC ought to be responsible for cleaning up the property they own yet fail to maintain. I sure they weren't too upset with the free help. I think a little pressure on the OAC is in order.
Good post, but please note the tide is turning. We will start hanging out in Bergen Park and the beatings are going to be flipped upside down. Many residents and business owners have had it. If the city doesn't do something right away, we're going to raise money and hire someone who will do something about it. Bring your bat and come on down. What goes around comes around!
A little pressure on all the businesses in downtown Ballard are in order. I still support our local shops……..
Walking quickly, with my head down.
Oh, and a big kudos to the neighbor who sought the chance to bring the issue up, and haul arse to the OAC to take care of the paperwork. :-)
Cooperation from the athletic club? They leave the land unattended, then give permission for concerned citizens to clean it up for free?
Up yours OAC!
“I don't even shop in Ballard any more and prefer downtown or Northgate Mall.”
do you realize what a drug den the northgate area really is?
this is the most out-of-touch statement I've read in a really long time.
funny how every city seems to have some overgrown area with rampant transient population that they call 'the jungle'
if I recall, the one in East St. Louis was much worse. there were actually land mines.
I have never been harrassed for change in Northgate Mall. What people do in that neighborhood outside the mall, is of no concern to me. I have never seen a fight break out in the mall or seen a drug dealer or any person urinate. I do outside the Ballard shops, so I dont support them. Same with inside Westlake Mall.
From a Market st. merchant's perspective there has been a significant decrease in foot traffic. We pay a lot of money for store space on Market (more than you think!), and the bums are scaring away all of our customers! We've had several encounters with bums refusing to leave our store, as well. We've certainly never made them feel welcome. We've called the cops several times, but unless they are brandishing a weapon it seems like SPD could care less. Unfortunately the cost of doing business on Market st. is beginning to outweigh the benefit. I just hope something is done before an area with so much charm, history and character turns into a ghost town.
Have you simply tried talking to these homeless? Invite them in for tea and crumpets? You would be amazed at their wonderful stories! I think it's wonderful they feel so at home in Ballard, it shows we are a compassionate community.
Maybe you weren't at Northgate on Feb 23rd 2008 when a 15 year old kid was shot in the parking lot after a fight that started in the food court.
That's why it doesn't work to generalize based solely on your own experiences.
City Team Ministries closed its doors a few months ago, those who stayed there migrated up to Kinnear Park and with alot of neighbor complaints and increased police patrolling, they were driven off, many to Ballard it seems.
The homeless problem in Seattle in ever increasing and unless and until the City decides to address it, instead of chasing them from neighborhood to neighborhood, it will continue and it will get worse.
These are people in need. Yes, some are criminals, some are mentally ill, some are chronic inebriates, some are just down on thier luck, but their options are limited.
Pressure needs to be put on the city to create more housing options and programs.
Stop whining about your ruined shopping experience, you're not part of the solution.
As opposed to the guy who had to run inside his house for a shotgun to protect himself last weekend in Ballard? Or the list of assaults and petty thefts that have plagued Ballard in the last year? How about the two guys who beat up the SPD officer a month back in Ballard.
There are so many stories of uncivilized behavior in the shopping core of Ballard it is hard to go to a social gathering without hearing one these days.
Ernie, you simply cannot be serious comparing the safety of shopping inside Northgate Mall contrasted by a guy with his kids getting accosted by a crazy person on the street in broad daylight outside of Sam's sushi. Ballard is nowhere near as safe as the inside of Northgate Mall.
Ballard is not as safe as it once was, even a year or two ago. That is simply a fact, not a generalization. I feel much more safe at Northgate mall than I do walking around Ballard.
But, unlike you Sasha, I am not part of the problem by making excuses for them and asking for an increase in services for homeless.
Let us all be clear about one of the major factors involved in the increasing number of hobos and homeless criminals who are migrating to Seattle. It is because other cities and states have stopped giving their troublemakers a free ride, and now they here, looking to suck on the citizens of Seattle's largess.
Therefore, more services for the homeless will just create more homeless in Seattle.
Gosh, sorry to weigh on everyones tender sensibilities, but that is a fact. So the choice is simple. We can be the last chair for every miscreant from everywhere when the music stops, or we can come to the realization that we are being played for suckers by California, Oregon, and Idaho.
I bet to some that this hard truth makes me a jerk, but I have children living here, and I am not pleased that they have roots here, six more years of school, and I have to start thinking about moving to Lynnwood, where the cops actually show up minutes after you call them, and they don't believe in coddling the criminal homeless population.
So cry me a river about your bleeding heart Sasha, I have a solution. It just isn't the one you like.
kudos to the woman who had the mind enough to get the written letter from the oac while the big equipment was there. she should be the mayor…..of ballard at least.
Plenty of Businesses are transient friendly. It just takes one on each block to turn an entire enighborhood into a sewer. Again, the only thing drawing transients to Ballard are The Food Bank and the soup kitchens. End of story. There is nothing else for them here.
alright hippie, that's a bit beyond the sarcasm limit…
but thanks for the laugh…
Agreed, I nominate 'concerned neighbor' for Mayor of Ballard, and oh, yeah, and that other stuff that they call Seattle…
gotta appreciate your point. Sorry for my shortsightedness…
20 hours is too many…good night.
I sat with a book in Bergen Place for an hour and a half the other day. A young couple enjoyed the sunshine next to me. What looked like someone on lunch from a job nearby enjoyed a sandwich.
The homeless were there and we greeted one another. They sat and did what they do- hung out, talked, laughed. Same thing you do- in your homes. These guys & gals, regardless of drug use or not, don't have them. That's why they do it there. The seats are free.
Amen! Another free handout for business.
Do you live in a cave? There is a decrease in foot traffic and shopping everywhere. Few if any of the retailers in Ballard offer much of what a person needs and people are only buying what they need right now. It’s called a recession.
If one feels one must be a jerk to be a parent best not to be a parent.
OAC, the Haliburton of Ballard!
“Same thing you do- in your homes.”
Thank you Uber! I always try to remind my family this when I go to the corner of the living room to take a whizz on the wall, lean out my window to scream obscenities at the neighbors and finally smoke a crack pipe in the kitchen before bed.
I don't anyone who is pro-bum like you Sweet Rose, should be judging anyone else's parenting skills.
Often while just trying to walk to Ballard in the afternoon with or without children I've had specific vagrants block my way. They demand money, make lewd comments or give the appearance of looking like they will assault. This is my neighborhood? What happened to having the right to walk around and feel safe by yourself? The Police really need to make a concentrated effort to resolve this situation. Not all bums/vagrants are like this, but the aggressive ones are ruining it for everyone.
Well Rose, if you want to see a perfect, you will just have to0 look in a mirror.
I've never been accosted by a bum. why is that?
I walk all over town and sure see a lot of homeless, yet they leave me alone?
I think they smell your fear and just like f-ing with you.
it's funny that people are returning to that safe haven—THE MALL.
weren't these atrocities invented in the 60's because of all the chickens who were too afraid to shop in town?
if you want your sterile environment, be my guest. I will never abandone my neighborhood businesses just because someone gave me a funny look.
I'm getting a little tired of hearing that enabling people who are addicts or drunks is “part of the solution”. Back in the day when I first started hearing that expression “part of the solution” meant that helping people meant also expecting them to learn accountability which means that they can't enter shelters or meal programs if they are intoxicated and they had to show that they had no outstanding warrants or were dodging registration as sex offenders. Now days there is some sort of weird convoluted-liberal-esque ideal that if we just validate people as being wonderful as they are they will somehow end up that way – without expecting them to take responsibility for themselves. (let me know I don't see this as “liberal” since I consider myself liberal – I see it as naive and out of touch). The problems I see arising in Ballard are not from people who have hit hard times and need help – they are from people with addiction and alcohol problems who thrive on people who are naive enough to buy their crap that they are “oppressed by the man”. I think it is sad. And I'm so incredibly tired of hearing that I don't “live in the solution” because I know it doesn't help people to enable them. That expression now carries as much weight to me as when George W. used to use the word “freedom”.
The problem with Northgate isn't the mall. It's the surrounding areas out there, like the Transit Center. It's a haven for drug dealers.
I would still rather shop here than Northgate Mall. Getting stink eye from the occasional crack head isn't enough to get me into a mall.
Stupid Hippie, that's probably the funniest thing you've ever posted. Another coffee spit take, btw. :-)
Agreed. Never one time have I been accosted or assaulted by anyone in Ballard. Hard to figure. Well not really. Those who think they are, just SAW a homeless person and that set off their Fearful Fanny imagination. Most Americans hate seeing anyone who is poor. It frightens them.
Maybe we should “Free Ballard” again. Why should we pay taxes to the city when the refuse to provide us police? If we were our own town, we could have our own efficient police department and pass our own laws about no vagrancy and no pan handling. With all the property taxes we pay, they wont provide even a single bike patrol by the police and arrest one crack dealer outside 7 11? It may be the only choice.
Having been laid off a couple of months ago, Sweet Rose, I am all too aware any of us could be a paycheck away from being 'homeless.' That's not the problem in Ballard. The problem are the type of homeless and some non-homeless (thugs, drug dealers, meth heads, etc) we have hanging out here.
So it's ok for bums to harass people who get scared easily? Like my 2 year old and her 86 yr old grandmother. My, glad u save your compassion for bums.
Don't confuse bums with the working poor. Typical far left way of condescending to people who work hard to keep a roof over their homes and raise their kids properly: equate them with bums. .
Just called my 89 year old dad and he also has never been accosted or assaulted in Ballard and he lives in the senior home by the skate park and walks every day. He told me he knows of no other resident who has this issue either. Lord I begin to think you people are either weenies or delusional or maybe the perpetrators of the conflict yourselves.
Looking forward to the day you get mugged.
“Pro bum?” lololol I am neither pro or con I just don’t see an issue. Bums exist. So do racists and paranoid fools. I live with them all and do just fine.
What’s funny is that I am looking to move out of Ballard right now, if I can find a good deal. It doesn’t have anything to do with bums though. There is just nothing here much for me anymore. About the only places I frequent are the library and Bartells. I don’t hang in bars and the restaurants are mediocre and ‘trendy.’ The shops sell nothing anyone actually needs. Just a bunch of junk to clutter the space and require a larger roof to cover it all. I have all but given up on the QFC EVER reopening so there is no grocery close. Downtown, Capitol Hill, or Wallingford, and U District all have more to offer in walkability which I want.
uber–
curious….what kind of language did they use? offensive would not be something i would want to picnic around. f this and f that. they seem to use that as either a verb, noun or adjective these days. limited vernacular i'd say.
So you are saying it's OK to intimidate folks in Ballard if one happens to be homeless? It sounds like you are blaming the victims for not being homeless and applauding those who would act violently (or threaten to act violently) towards them. This attitude promotes an abusive atmosphere, which is exactly what the people here on this forum are saying is not OK.
Oh, yeah. No drugs or crime in the U District…..
When was the last time you were mugged in Ballad? Oh wait in Ballard/Frantic Freddie language mugged means you saw a homeless person or had someone ask you for bus fare.
No Kim that would be what you might hear at Ballard High Shcool.
But Trix I am not worried about crime. I said I am NOT moving due to this issue. geeeeeeez.
The type of homeless some of us have the issue with are not the ones simply asking for bus fare. How often do you walk down Ballard Ave? Some scary folk there.
And before Sweet Rose can accuse me of anything, I am a long time Union Gospel Mission supporter and Real Change supporter.
The people causing the problems are not just 'down on their luck.'
And no, I haven't ever been attacked physically either, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening.
I got followed and harrassed the other night with a date. I seriously thought we were going to get jumped from behind on Market Street. We finally stopped and forced the men to pass because they got so close. When we slowed down, so would they. We had to actually sit on a bench to make the leave us alone and pass by.
Seriously, I am no chicken and a big guy, but these guys were big too and it was obvious they were about to try to take me down from behind. I dont care how tough you are. You can't fight three guys your size after getting punched in the back of the head, or hit with a blunt object. Its impossible.
We were targeted because we are “well dressed Yuppies”. The truth is, we are broke, but just happened to be dressed up, because we wanted to go for a drink at Old Peculiar then walk home. Not suits or anything, but we did not looks like crack heads either, which we are not. Just every day people from Ballard.
Does that make us rich, so therefore we should be targeted and mugged because we got “Rich” off the backs of these transients? It's not true. We walked to the bar because it's all we could really afford to do. Not that I am complaining about the fact that I struggle financially right now. But, these transients see ANYONE who is not filthy and high on drugs as a “yuppie” and fair game as targets for robbery and abuse. I have been here a very long time, but am looking for a safer neighborhood in the long term.
I used to be happy just stopping in a place for a drink, or sitting in a Ballard park. It was a cheap night out. Now, you basically need to take a cab or bus to another neighborhood at night to walk around with a date, because here you could get jumped and have to wait 45 minutes for the cops to respond.
These people are targeting everyone from big guys on a date, to young wives pushing babies in carraiges. But, we get accused of being fascists for even posting about it on this blog.
Todd was almost murdered, and he is a big guy. They will succeed in murdering someone by fall. Mark my words. It will happen.
I love it when the wacky left has to defend the harassment of kids and grannies by bums.
Thank god Obama's leading from the center and has tossed the far left over board, useful idiots that they were.
But trix it isn't happening. Ballard Avenue is basically an area of bars and I dont go to bars.
Asking for change is not harrassment. Nor is being seen on the streets. I find hipsters offensive but they have the right to be on the streets. So do bums.
Swearing while you do it is, and that's what's been reported here. Nice try Sweet.
And you're right, bums do have the right to be on the street. However, we also have the right to not let them into our businesses, onto our property, and to ask police to arrest those that use drugs in public, drink in public, loiter, urinate in public, and swear and threaten shoppers in Ballard.
Now, who do you think the police will listen to, you and the bum-a-philes, or taxpaying home owners? Think real long about this one.
Well sincd I am a tax paying home owner….
Hey OAC, Thanks for letting your neighbors clean up YOUR property!
And a big cheer for the neighbor gal who MADE this happen- you are my hero!
touche. but they have 1/2 formed brains……come to think of it, so do the homeless. theirs are voluntarily pickled tho.
Um, there are also shops and restaurants on Ballard Ave. I go to the bars there, but I also buy my cat's favorite treats there and buy gifts there. And I judge the problem by what I read happening to other people, not by what happens just to me.
Different thread, but I have to leave now so I'll say it here:
Buddhism is a perfectly sound religion. I'm not religious myself, but my father has found great solace in practicing Buddhism.
Trix out.
Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but they didn't name the bum-camp 'Nickelsville' because he was listening to the fringe, bum-vocate element.
Personally I think the Mayor should wear that tag with pride.
Kim, don't know. I wasn't hanging out with them so I wasn't in on the conversation. They weren't being particularly loud or obnoxious, so I didn't hear them.
This is the kind of lame attempt at humor that talk radio deals in, in spades. It ignores the greater issues at work here and you know it.
“I frequent are the library and Bartells”
Geez, and you say you're not pro-bum Maria? The library to Bartells is the Kentucky Derby of tracks for Ballard's bums.
Hopefully once we get the Whole Foods you'll definitely find ballard too expensive. You won't be missed.
Can u take some bums with you?
It is neither a religion in the sense in which that word is commonly understood, for it is not “a system of faith and worship owing any allegiance to a supernatural being.”
Buddhism does not demand blind faith from its adherents. Here mere belief is dethroned and is substituted by confidence based on knowledge, which, in Pali, is known as saddha. The confidence placed by a follower on the Buddha is like that of a sick person in a noted physician, or a student in his teacher. A Buddhist seeks refuge in the Buddha because it was he who discovered the path of deliverance.
A Buddhist does not seek refuge in the Buddha with the hope that he will be saved by his (i.e. the Buddha's own) personal purification. The Buddha gives no such guarantee. It is not within the power of a Buddha to wash away the impurities of others. One could neither purify nor defile another. The Buddha, as teacher, instructs us, but we ourselves are directly responsible for our purification. Although a Buddhist seeks refuge in the Buddha, he does not make any self-surrender. Nor does a Buddhist sacrifice his freedom of thought by becoming a follower of the Buddha. He can exercise his own free will and develop his knowledge even to the extent of becoming a Buddha himself.
Thanks Rose! And if you gals work real hard this time maybe you'll be lucky enough to be reincarnated as dogs and not women next time 'round.
Well I've spent a lot of time in Buddhist monasteries in South East Asia in my youth. Enough forced buggery going on in them with novices to make it sure feel and look like an organized religion.
I spoke with several officers over the past few months about this and each one of them said they can't do anything. They suggested people start complaining to the city council. Some Ballard businesses are already doing this, I think. Unless the police catch people in the act of something they cannot do anything. I'm not exactly sure what the city council can do. You can get “no loitering” laws for outside businesses but I doubt you can do that for parks. Does anyone else have more information regarding what the city council can do? Did anyone who went to the cleanup bring this up to Mayor Nichols????
Try sitting there on Friday night when the crack arrives. Go after nine PM when the sun goes down. The criminals sleep it off during the light of day. I saw it with my own eyes this Friday night. It's one big drug scene, if you know what to look for.
at least the malls have security…and most are on foot.
Why don't we have that?
Oh, yeah…because there isn't any crime in Ballard…just a bunch if 'uptight anti-homeless chicken little feeble minded worry worts'
…or whatever you come up with next…
Wake up, organize, create patrols, and DEMAND beat cops.
Rose, it is happening.
Physically assaulted? When where???
I went last week to my hair salon on Ballard Ave and basically saw no one. No bums, no shoppers, no anyone.
Trix if you judge by second hand knowledge you judge poorly. I have yet to hear that someone has been physically assaulted. If your friends have been physically assaulted I assume they called the police and went to Ballard Emergency?
Again trix, these treads are what is scaring you.
https://www.myballard.com/2009/04/27/police-look…
for starters…right here in Ballard.
https://www.myballard.com/2009/04/23/father-who-…
not in Ballard, but a neighbor community.
And this stuff is all 'imaginary', right Rose?
you found one? WOW a crime wave.
great those who check out books and are Bartell shoppers are bum supporters! lolololol
I just love that.
Go to Bergen Place Park and handout on the weekends after 10:00. Stay until 1:00 or 2:00 AM. You'll be a true believer. This Friday, the crack didn't arrive. Must have been a late shipment, or the big wig dealers got nervous because they knew the cops were going to be all over it. Last Friday night, Ballard had a car-jacking and three strong-armed robberies. These aren't homeless guys. Their too bleary-eyed drunk to do much harm. The worst they do is piss and puke all over our sidewalks. I was glad to hear the hard rain last night. Ballard streets needed a steady pour.
I witnessed an assault right in front of the WaMu on Friday. It happened a little after nine. Three cop cars were there in a matter of minutes. I witnessed people smoking crack and acting extremely aggressive in Bergen Place after 11:00. It's basically one big street party. I'm not talking about the bar people either. They go into bars, party, and most of the time leave. However, they're now potential targets for more crime. Time have changed and changed quickly. Crack and meth are much different than the rec. drugs that many people grew up with. These people are mean, soulless, and violent. Most of them are young men, and they're in groups. They will jump people and beat them, just for the fun of it. They're angry young men without direction. It's all tied together, the tagging, the violence, the drug use, the load-vibrating music that rattles our windows. We all have to get involved and try to bring creative, non-violent ways to help Ballard.
What greater issues? What's important now Uber, is where you lost of your sense of humor! Are you sure a bum maybe didn't steal it from you? Maybe it was that bum I saw outside Bartells this week, rolling on his back, giggling uncontrollably? Something was giving him a s**t eating grin.
Great post!
Sounds like Ballard needs to put out some hobo traps at night.
Man, it sounds like you guys really have it down like clockwork, as in
1.) On sight alone, determining the drug of some bum's choice
2.) What time the “shipments” of crack arrive
3.) Which drugs are being used without getting close (yikes, getting close!)
4.) The rampant harrassment on particular streetcorners of the hundreds of people I see walking every weekend on Market or Ballard Ave
With good info as specific as this, you think you'd be able to have the cops right there when it all happens!
Let's face it; you guys would be awful dissatsified if it were possible the bums could be removed. My money says you'd be going after the nightlife next.
Too many here feel too much. They feel it's all about them. They feel it's not their problem. They feel bad. They feel concerned. They feel feel feel. Anybody thinking out there? I have to LOL when some say it's not a liberal thing when everybody is as left around here as possible. Were there poor people BEFORE Republicans? This IS what we get for electing who we do. This is a repercussion of votes/feelings. Why is Seattle a social proving ground? Is the ACLU to blame here too? Who has more rights here? Why is common sense in da toidy? Who elected chopper 74 as king? Everybody should read the kids book, “The Messy Monster”. It talks about all the animals that make a mess of their park but fail to see it's them that IS the monster. Got blinders?
Correction: there are additional things drawing the scumbags to Ballard.
Free food – check. But also…
1. A hassle-free environment where nobody would dare express anything other than a warm welcome. Keep welcoming thugs, and what a surprise! – the neighborhood turns to a sewer. What a shock!
2. Plenty of places where they can hang out, do drugs, pass out, and all their other favorite activities. These include public places (parks), the sidewalks, and businesses (parking lots, door stoops, etc.), occupied or semi- or fully abandoned structures….the owners simply refuse to deal with the problem.
3. Lack of police. There should be foot patrols and bike patrols throughout Ballard. The lack of these patrols is a huge contributing factor.
4. Complete indifference from elected officials. It could not be more obvious, from observations and from people posting here, that the mayor and city council simply don't give a damn how many of us are robbed, beaten or killed. As ong as the mayor can come for a photo op, everything's great!
Don't really care about the reason. Just happy to know we'll have one less vagrant hugger soon.
Hey, there are lots of good deals for inexpensive housing to be found in your target neighborhoods – and it's a great time to move now, with the combination of the end of school looming and the depressed housing market. Please get cracking on that search for your next apartment.
geeez…Norwegian, I had no idea…King? When was somebody gonna say something? Is there a castle too? Hey, I'd bet a King could get something done around here…
Just saying… do people elect Kings? I think not…but thanks for the vote ;-)
Taking applications for knights, Ladies of the court, and stupid hippie is hereby appointed as the court jester… lol
UberAlles,
You are quick to mock.
Let me address your list:
1.) “On sight alone, determining the drug of some bum's choice”. Well, which drugs cause tooth loss, extreme weight loss, irrational speech, and lots of twitching? Which drugs require the use of a pipe and lots of flame?
2.) “What time the 'shipments' of crack arrive”. Well, any time you see Toby Bjorn, William Roberts, and their pony-tailed friend walking the streets and looking anxiously in all directions, you know the goods are here. Their deliveries are seen by many watchful residents and restaurant workers between 3AM and 4;30AM on Ballard Avenue and in the alley next to Magnum Storage. Sometimes a van delivers, other times it is an older station wagon. Wednesdays and Thursdays are the usual days. After the big delivery, distribution to the consumers usually occurs for the next few days. That's why most people think that Friday is the big day.
3.) ” Which drugs are being used without getting close (yikes, getting close!)”. See my answer to (1.)
4.) “The rampant harassment…etc.”. On what grounds do you base your doubt that people are harassed? If I tell you that my wife and I are taunted on a regular basis, or that I was threatened by a belligerent drunk on Friday night (incident #09-148196 filed by officer Musseau from North Precinct), do you simply choose to think it otherwise?
We have good info, and the cops are slowly coming around. It would be helpful if you would open your eyes and your mind and give us a hand in controlling the crime – not the “bums”, as you put it – but the crime.
Yes, things may have gotten worse in the last year. Unfortnately, Seattle can only support one neighborhood at a time. I think it is Bell Town last year and Georgetown in 09.
The thing is, the bums have not JUST arrived. The hipster businesses that have moved into Ballard replaced the long time brothel then weekly rent hotel above the butcher shop. I remember it. It was very scary. The inside was like being in Trainspotting. It is all cyclical. Belltown got cleaned up but that does not mean that the people that use to jump trains don't still go back to what they knew.
Continue to shop locally. It will get worse if there are more empty storefronts.
he puked his s**t eating grin on market street, that's where you'll find it Uber…
Thank you lc, we need local support to survive. Some of us protect those who dare venture out. The rest, will (and should) go by the way of the dodo bird….
“King Chopper” kinda has a nice ring to it, don't ya think?
I'd rather be Solomon, but alas, I'm just a local dumba**. ;-)
But, I do love my loyal subjects…lol
Wow, what a bum deal!
You're overestimating the intelligence of the people you're dealing with, just so you know.
No one cares about legal fun. It's the drugs and excessive alcohol abuse that's killing people, Brother. I just got a call from Cincinnati that a very good friend of mine's brother died of what could be an overdose after attending a concert in Chicago. This is yet more tragic news for me. For some reason, it keeps coming my way with people that I know. The nightlife business owners should be the ones leading the charge for a carefree Ballard after the bars close. It used to be that way in all of America. I had cops pull us over as kids, ask us to leave the car on the side of the road for the night, and take us home. All we got was a slap on the ass, and a “Ya boys stay out of trouble…” Those of us that are mature, adults now love to watch the kids have a good time. And believe me, we envy the fun and would love to join in. However, it's sad to see middle-aged men acting like twenty somethings. When you turn thirty, my experience tells me, it's time to grow up. Nothing is more rewarding than to be a mature adult and to contribute to your community, in which ever way you can. Many of us in Ballard are raising innocent children. If you don't have a child, you'll never understand how this changes you. Luckily, for our survival, there's something wired in our DNA to put our children before all else. From I what I've seen in my own family, (I have several addicts) only drugs and alcohol abuse impedes taking care of a child.
lc said: Continue to shop locally. It will get worse if there are more empty storefronts.
Right on!
But water there is just nothing in Ballard to shop for. I am not scared to go out in Ballard there is just nothing out there except bars and overpriced stuff I don’t need .
Then move to Kent Maria, some of us can afford it just fine.
Well that would be great to make bums learn what is and isn't appropriate but a large majority of bums have mental issues. This is why they are bums in the first place. It's not like these bums are out there thinking “Hey let's be bums! That will be great. Let's not be able to hold down jobs or be able to afford food! Yahooo!”
I think you all need to have a little more compassion for these people who can't fit into main stream for a variety reasons. The solution is having safe, clean places for homeless people to go but that isn't going to alleviate the issue completely. There still will be homeless people who will choose to be on drugs and alcohol no matter what kind of help you try to give them. Short of involuntary institutionalization nothing is going to get rid of bums.
So either be mad about a problem that is never going to fully go away or embrace the bums and occasionally give them a dollar bill as you get off the Ballard bridge :)
“Voluntarily pickled?” Wow, what a thoughtless comment. Maybe you should actually find something out about homeless people before you assume things like that.
But Bark there is nothing anyone needs to shop for on any kind of regular basis in these shops regardless of price. I mean geeeez what exactly do you actually buy in Ballard? Do you just shop for shopping's sake?
“what exactly do you actually buy in Ballard? “
Let's see: nice designer clothes, nice shoes, nice furniture, nice antiques (got a lovely credenza from Collectables last year for $2K), good coffee, good food (French, Italian, Thai, Vietnamese etc.), movies, nice children's toys, pets toys, books, frames, nice kitchen shops, great bakeries (croissants at Besalu!), a couple of good wine shopsd….the list goes on.
I can get virtually everything I need in Ballard except high end electronics which I order from New York to avoid WA state sales taxes.
Everything else (you know, toilet paper) I can get on a quarterly run to Costco.
Boy Maria, you should would hate living in a large European city with all their expensive designer boutiques.
Oh, and grocery shopping at Ballard Market/Trader Joes and soon to be open Whole Foods although that's not really in Ballard but on the way to and from work downtown so will be easy to stop in to.
Did I mention I can get sushi in Ballard? Oh, and great bars. And a farmers market. Who would have thought it would be such a great place just by looking at a map!
Maria, if you hate Ballard so much, move down to White Center, i hear all the shopping is very practical.
Now I realize Ballard is missing a few things:
1. a good cheese shop selling really funky, stinky cheese.
2. Good sidewalk cafes
3. A decent Chinese restaurant
4. A Canlis Restaurant, even though I keep asking those sweet Canlis boys to expand over here in Ballard!
For high end electronics – audio, at least – try Resolution next door to Chai House.
And let's not forget all the great construction resources for the homes and businesses, such as Limback's Lumber (Doug Fir studs & millwork!), Ballard Hardware, Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel, dozens of metalwork shops and woodworking shops, Nielsen Bros. Flooring, door and window stores, etc.
The Farmer's Market, alone, is reason enough to shop in Ballard. It was recently rated second only to Pike Place Market in Seattle.
Apparently Maria has no interest in yummy $4 heirloom tomatoes, $3 strudel and $10 ravioli. That's just eating for eating's sake.
Buying at the farmers market does not sell anything in the shops.
I occasionally go to the farmers market but I seldom buy much. I can get salmon from the natives that is cheap and better. The flowers are not as fresh as I can get at the Market. I grow my own tomatoes. I am happy to see the new bakery but it is not too convenient to downtown Ballard.
The food is fine but the shops sell little of value.
I guess I have too much of that stuff already and have no need to buy more. They are getting to know me at Goodwill from all the stuff I drop off. I buy books from Amazon. I do occasionally buy a book at Abraxus but they don’t have much that I read. The other used place has nothing but paperback trash anymore. How many frames do you buy a week? I never buy movies and only use Netflix. I have never seen a single person in Kitchen and Things in the last 10 years. Everything they sell can be found cheaper elsewhere. I have a few favorite shops for clothing downtown and in U Village but buy very little.
Vagrant I am glad you like to buy lots of stuff but eventually you will find it gets very tiresome. I don’t know maybe you just need a lot. I guess I just don’t find shopping and gathering stuff to be recreation.
Sorry had a call. I have laughed at ’designer’ clothing since the Jordache jeans era. (GOD those were hideous) I don’t drink much at all but I do buy wine at Trader Joes when I do want wine . I like to cook so I don’t eat out much and don’t need gadgets in order to cook. ( most good cooks don’t) I think left that ‘antique’ credenza on the street last winter hoping someone would take it.
I suppose I am just not a shopper but I think I am not alone. As I said, last time I went to Ballard to get a haircut you could have shot a cannon down Ballard Avenue and hit nothing. Oh and I do use the library for most books. It’s always pretty busy in there.
Maria, did it occur to you that when the world doesn't cater to you needs, it may be YOU who is irrelevant?
Wow, Mr. Sweet Rose must have been crushed after divorcing such a killjoy.
Well, Sweet Rose, Ballard does not appear to be a good fit for your particular lifestyle.
Suzy, what’s relative is that you can shoot a cannon down Ballard Ave these days.
That may be but I can sell and move and may do so but that will not help what ails Ballard.
I want a walkable city close neighborhood that offers what is needed on a daily and weekly basis.
You find joy in shopping? I find joy in living and my kids. Shopping is a necessity is all.
We are happy to see them clearing out ‘the Jungle’. Maybe a few monkeys will hit the road.
Sweet Rose…why don't you try speaking for yourself instead of everyone else? I have been accosted twice in Ballard in the past 6-8 months and I have lived in the area since I was 13…with a brief college respite. I am not afraid of poor or homeless people and I don't have a “Fearful Fanny” imagination. (Really, did you just make that one up?)
I can take care of myself seeing as I've been living on my own since I was 16 years old…and I generally give off a “don't f*** with me” attitude when walking around. But even I am not immune to being accosted, nor am I completely ignorant of danger. You thinking this way is just plain foolhardy. I hope nothing ever happens to you, but it's best to be prepared for the worst and expect the best, don't you think?
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say…if you don't like it here, if you don' t have reason to shop here, if you've not noticed an upswing in crime, if you can't recognize that non-violent crime can actually breed violent crime, Maria…then MOVE.
Personally, I am sick and tired of hearing you say that “it never happened” when I have experienced the very things you say haven't occurred. It's tantamount to being called a liar, and that I am not. So really? Don't let the door hitcha.
Additionally…how can you notice anything going on in Ballard or say “it hasn't happened” when you (self-admittedly) don't go out and shop here or hang out here, because it's “all bars” or overpriced things you don't want and can't afford. Or are you going off of what other people are saying…which is what you are accusing Trix of doing? Pot, kettle, black.
Janice do you think the only reason people go to Ballard is to drink or shop? I am in Ballard every day. Can you think of a reason why?
Different strokes for different folks. Just because you don't see the joy/need in someone else's activities doesn't mean you should crap on them.
To rain on everyone's parade?
To pee in the pickle barrel?
To salt wounds?
That's three reasons!
yeah, good question, bad assumptions.
Believe it or not, rose, there's lots of reasons to be here.
You, apparently, don't get it.
but you are not alone…
Good bye…
…and talk about too much time,
shouldn't you be packing?
My, my…aren't YOU the brainiac? :) Since when did my name go from Angela (as in my screenname “Angelatini”) to Janice? That's quite the leap.
I can certainly think of many reasons why you would be in Ballard, as I am not a moron. But you seem to insinuate everyone, save you, *must* be.
The crux of the issue here is: do I care?
Answer: Nope.
Sounds like you should be living in Belltown.
Like my best friend says…there are just people who enjoy being the poop in your punchbowl.
Apparently they also enjoy being condescending (the refuge of imbeciles and bullies), in addition to not understanding the context of comments that rebuke them. Is it me or has Maria not been posting about shopping and bars non-stop in this thread? I have reading comprehension skills, at the very least.
Chopper…I was referring to all Sweet Rose's previous statements that were linked to shopping and bars in Ballard. I was merely using her statements to illustrate my point. Obviously that's not all there is to Ballard, or I wouldn't have lived here for the majority of my life. :)
Ooh! Let's help her pack!! I mean, isn't that what good neighbors do? ;)
I think the topic was cleaning up old Ballard for public safety and health.
I was just wondering how Sweet Rose can grow tomatoes all year?
ive lived in ballard since aug 98. never had a problem and i walk all over the place at night too. this isnt to say things arent happening, and i do think we should collectivly punish by way of boycotting dives like golden city et al that act as hives for monkey business. what about hobo traps with poison crack?!