In the third annual Public Safety Survey released today by Seattle University, Ballard appeared near the top of the list of neighborhoods in the “fear of crime” category, especially at night.
The 2017 survey (.pdf) gathered 6,454 responses citywide and split their answers into regions and neighborhoods. Survey categories include such things as police legitimacy, social cohesion and residents’ perception of their fear of crime.
Citywide 37.6% of residents said they’re afraid of crime during the day, 42.7% at night.
For “Ballard North”, 44.6% of residents say they’re afraid of daytime crime, 53.5% at night.
For “Ballard South” (Central Ballard), the numbers are very similar: 44.7% for day, 53.5% at night.
These Ballard numbers are higher than most neighborhoods, including Belltown, Capitol Hill and several South Seattle neighborhoods. Pioneer Square, Highland Park and the University District are among those that scored higher than Ballard.
For Fremont, the numbers are 35% during the day, 43.9% at night.
The most prominent themes of the Ballard survey results are a lack of police capacity, crime (both public safety and property crime) and homelessness. Among specific public safety concerns, residents cited car prowls, residential burglaries and car/RV camping.
How does this stack up over the three-year history of the survey? These “fear of crime” numbers are not substantially different for North Seattle, and it doesn’t break out Ballard specifically.
Also keep in mind, this study was conducted last year, before several high-profile crimes occurred in the Ballard area. And finally, this is a survey of perceptions, not of actual crimes, which are captured in another online report.
Here’s the crime stats for Ballard: https://www.seattle.gov/police/information-and-data/crime-dashboard
[edit: oh, it looks like the url doesn’t retain the filter I applied… just select north and south ballard in the dropdown]
Now what we need are also the population stats, I guess, so we get a look at per capita and then compare that with Seattle overall.
When a hate group like Safe Seattle uses phony online propaganda to incite crime hysteria to the point that they draw police resources away from the parts of the city that have a valid need, it’s not free speech any more. It’s a classic case of shouting fire in a crowded theater. People get hurt as a result of this stuff.
These MyBallard sock puppets and trolls who spread anti-homeless fake news, and spread conspiracy theories about evil developers and evil politicians causing an imaginary crime wave are doing real harm to the rest of the city. The police have real work to do elsewhere, not coming here to take a report from some Ballard crank fretting because a scruffy man walked across his lawn that one time.
It’s not censorship to put a stop to that. That kind of lying in public is not protected by any concept of free speech, and we don’t have to tolerate it.
Where should the police be? According to the stats, so far in 2018 we have more rapes and homicides than all the jurisdictions in Rainier Valley combined and about 10 times the number of home burglaries. If 18% of the cities homicides are in Ballard does it make sense we don’t even have regular police patrols?
Probably because Ballard has about the least property crime? What is it you’re picturing? Cop cars driving up and down streets lookin’ fer rapers? “This rape woudlnt’a never happened if we’d only had more cars cruising up Market! Git more rape patrols out there!”
You loons. Every time you call, the SPD puts you on hold and heads out for lunch. They don’t take your reports because you waste their time with your paranoid delusions.
Tell that to the woman who was visciously raped iby a homeless man in a car dealership bathroom in deep Ballard just last week, Hysteria? No! You are the one spreading g fake news that shit like that isn’t happening.
Yeah, like you cared one bit about any of the rapes that happened this year before that one. The hate groups are just salivating over this one case because it serves their agenda.
You creeps exploit the suffering of others and want to pretend you have any compassion.
Anyway, what exactly would cop cars driving up and down the streets have done to prevent that? You’re just scared Nextdoor paranoids who want to see police theater. The city should hire actors to dress up like cops and put on performances to shut you all up. Parade around and make you feel safe. It wouldn’t cost very much.
Maybe if Scott Morrow did warrant checks for the Ballard Nicklesville we might have learned the scumbag had just moved here from Texas with an outstanding warrant. Pointing out these failings makes Safe Seattle a hate group?
But yeah, you’re probably right. Crime’s not an issue in Ballard. And like your hero Mike O’Brien says, if you’re being threatened with violence or theft, all you need to do is call 911, and the cops will be right there.
Let me list what I don’t tolerate.
1- My house being broken into and used as a slum prior to moving in.
2. Drug deals being conducted out of RVs in front of my house with people passes out in the street.
3. Multiple packages stolen from my front porch.
4. People prowling my back yard at 3am.
5. Needles tossed in the pathway.
6. Tents pitched where ever people see fit.
7. Ignorant people who think their experience is the same as everyone else’s. Or people who coddle the idea that these vagrants just need a place to stay and they’ll stop their cycle of abuse.
This is over eight months. Now tell me this isn’t a problem. You’re a joke .
What happens to you isn’t really my problem. What happens to homeless people isn’t my problem either.
Why should I have any compassion for your problems? You’re arguing so forcefully that I should withhold all compassion for this other class of people. If you were to convince me to not care about homeless people, then all you’d have to show for that is me not caring about you either.
You are fixated on this idea that you’re a member of a class that deserves compassion. Always. By default. Because of your race? Property ownership? Because you think you’re the only one who pays taxes? Whatever the reason, I don’t recognize it. As far as I’m concerned, you’re not better than the “homeless”. If you want me to care what happens to you, then I’m going to care just as much about them.
Most of the rapes committed in Seattle were by housed people, not homeless. Would you like me to stereotype all housed people as rapists? That would be silly, right? But you want me to discriminate against that other class you dislike based on anecdotes. Nope. Sorry.
There is a lot of class prejudice around. I’m sure you can recruit a lot of people to join you in your class hatred. You’re successful, but it’s nothing to be proud of.
Triggered
I’m not looking for your compassion. But sticking your head in the sand and pretending everything is okay with the current state of things is insane.
Regardless of socioeconomic background these are experiences no one should have to deal with.
Congratulations to you for tolerating theft , blight, and drug use in the name of ” compassion” or “social justice”. You’re ideology is part of the problem. Not part of the solution.
Individuals looking for help to get off the street and using social safety nets are not the problem. I don’t understand your logic that people are hateful or prejudice due to the fact they don’t want their property stolen or public spaces destroyed.
I have a simple question for you. You continue to use the theme of ” compassion” as a basis for your arguments. What rules do you think should be enforced to exhibit compassion to those less fortunate? Do you believe that allowing these tent villages that are popping up all over town riddled with filth is compassionate?
You’re really making stuff up here. “Tolerating theft”? You’re pulling nonsense out of thin air. There is no evidence that homeless people bring crime to the places they stay. I’m sorry if it pisses you guys off that I don’t believe your online anecdotes, but you’re contradicting a mountain of evidence.
I consider *you* less fortunate. If you’re not lying about your package thefts, break ins, and so on, then you sound like God’s special chosen victim, and I feel sorry for you. Even if you’re lying, I consider you less fortunate if your brain somehow thinks lying about crime is a good life choice. That mental health issue is unfortunate.
In the same way, homeless people who became homeless because of bad luck or because a propensity to make bad life choices are less fortunate than me. I don’t care which it is in your case or theirs. Either one makes you less fortunate than me.
So one group wants my tax dollars to give them more police, and the other wants them to house people. I’m interested in helping both groups. I don’t think you’re special. It’s actually good for you that I reject your unwillingness to help those in need. If I was the kind of person to turn my back on them, I’d also turn my back on you and have no interest in protecting you from all this crime that seems to be specifically targeted at your house for unexplained reasons.
That’s how that works.
I never said I tolerate theft. All I said was that the crime data is probably accurate, since it is consistent with the rising property values everywhere, and the influx of new businesses, and consistent with the 200,000 high-paid tech workers who have moved into Seattle in the last 20 years, driving gentrification. We’d expect a town with a wealthier population to see a lower crime rate.
Perhaps the help you need is police theater, actors dressed up as police. Since the rampant crime thing is imaginary, it would be a mistake to use real police to chase phantom crime. But I still want to do something for you.
The kind of urban blight and out of control crime the loons post about online is consistent with declining property values, increasing poverty, unemployment, closing businesses. The kind of situation where people would be reluctant to report crime would be a community with large numbers of undocumented immigrants afraid to contact authorities. That’s not the case in Ballard, yet you guys imagine a widespread reluctance to report crime. Evidence? None. And it is inconsistent with the other facts.
The whole thing fails Occam’s Razor. To explain one thing, you have to add an even more complicated scenario, like a conspiracy by sociologists and criminologists studying homeless people. And the old developers+politicians conspiracy — and the Grand Master of Evil on the city council. Implausible.
You’re angry at me because I accept the simple, obvious and consistent explanation, and I accept the established facts about crime rates and property values and demographics. I reject esoteric theories, such as unfalsifiable claims of unreported crime or unfalsifiable conspiracy theories. I reject prejudice against homeless people, because evidence shows they are not a source of crime.
You should’d be that surprised that nutty ideas like that are rejected. You should expect to not be believed.
I love the victim blaming here 5/5 stars classic social justice tactics
Thanks for the wall of text. But you never answered the question.
I also appreciate the straw man fallacies riddled in your rambling.
You are part of the problem. Spreading just as much ignorance as the other side of the spectrum.
Sell your house, likely for a large profit, and move to where you think the grass is greener. There are people who are paying good money to live in the “desolate wasteland” that you think Ballard has become.
Downvote if you agree.
The classic “if you don’t like it here, don’t try to improve it, just leave” argument.
I don’t think many people in the city are on your side anymore, as the city council job performance is under 30%. Maybe it’s time you move? You’ll probably be triggered when the crackdown starts up (pun intended).
There’s a difference between acknowledging problems and suggesting solutions, and untrue, sensationalist comments about how Ballard is now a desolate wasteland. Mort is either a very unlucky person or is exaggerating his claims.
If Ballard was really as bad as you, Mort, Harley and other hand-wringers make it out to be, they and other people would (and should) be leaving Ballard in droves. But they’re not. Property value in Ballard is at an all-time high, with no sign of reversing course, and people are wanting to move here en masse. So what gives, Mr. Sockpuppet?
Maybe it’s time you move?
Nah, I like it here and think Ballard is a great neighborhood, despite the issues, but I also don’t feel the need to spend all day over exaggerating the issues Ballard faces.
Oh that’s rich coming from the “everybody i don’t like is a nazi” leftist hyperbole factory. Comedy! Tell me have you seen any “trump death squads” when you’re out looking for Sasquatch, the Loch Ness Monster, and the mythical Honest Junkie?
You’re really gone off the deep end, haven’t you Harley?
Trump separation (then possible death) squads are popping up along the border.
This isn’t isolated to my house. It’s happening all over. Go hangout at the 7-11 on Leary/11th after 11pm. Sit down in your car for an hour and enjoy the show. Better yet, go walk around that area during that time.
Again, just because it didn’t happen to you does not mean it’s not happening to others.
The crime data say it’s not happening. The rising property values say it’s not happening. The rush of new construction and new businesses say it’s not happening. The demographic shift of gentrification and lots of upper middle class tech workers moving in say it’s not happening.
The only thing that says it’s happening is unverifiable online anecdotes that rely heavily on complicated, unfalsifiable conspiracy theories.
Elenchos, every person I know has been a victim of property crime, vagrant harassment, and some even downright assaulted AS DEFINED BY SAFE SPACE SJWS: aggressive behavior, insults, bullying etc. Yes I know you only consider it “assault” if it involves somebody getting asked out at the office by a coworker.
You guys are so bonkers that you might as well just get out in the street with the junkie lunatics. Perhaps you’re so much alike you really can’t notice their insanity.
The SPD is bonkers. They are asserting that the crime rate has declined, and Ballard in particular has lower property crime than the rest of the city. Are they part of the conspiracy too?
You continue to insist based on unverifiable anecdotes that crime is rampant, but never explain why the city looks nothing like a city in the throes of a crime wave. it looks nothing like a population under siege by criminals. It looks like a boom town, with cranes everywhere, new retail opening everywhere, people making a fortune selling houses for several times what they paid for them.
Your scenario is inconsistent with several different sets of evidence. It isn’t just the media or just the SPD crime data or just the property values or just the business expansion or just the demographics. It’s EVERYTHING.
To make your story believable, you need an explanation for why it contradicts every other set of facts we have. It’s weird how that doesn’t bother you.
It reminds me of nothing except the stream of lies that Trump uses, the way he contradicts himself every day, and he doesn’t care. His followers don’t care. It was never about that to begin with. Trump’s policy is white supremacy and his followers like that. They care nothing about everything else he says being a lie, because he delivers white supremacy.
I don’t think you guys care how obvious it is that your crime wave nonsense is a lie. You’re doing this for other reasons.
You need to know more people. I know NO ONE who has been a victim of crime in Ballard and I have lived in Ballard for 60 years.
in 10 years my household has had 1 pair of sunglasses stolen out of our unlocked car. That’s it. Ballard feels perfectly safe to me and my family.
@wordone
Spend any time on Market Street or 22nd? Try Frelard after dark.
I dunno. In the last year there have been two murders within 3 blocks of my home. Now that it’s summer, it’s camping free-for-all in my Frelard neighborhood and nothing short of criminal looking activity in the 7-11 parking lot on Leary. Six tents on the tiny plot of park off Leary on 9th Ave NW. Along with the parade of summer RVs. I don’t need any conspiracy theories. I see it with my own eyes.
I don’t know…. Maybe because O’ Brien told the police in his district to stand down and we’ve seen a huge spike in crime since?
BTW – Thanks Mike for looking out for the safety of your constituents. That should be your primary focus above and beyond everything else-
Mike O’Brien isn’t even on the public safety committee, and wasn’t on it during any of his previous terms. His influence over the place would rank behind the Mayor, the Chief, the chair of public safety, the other members of the public safety committee, and four other council members.
But yeah, the police take orders from Mike O’Brien. Brilliant.
Ironically Mike O’Brien is the only white male who isn’t considered “toxic” and blamed for everything like the rest us. Good ol’ SJW’s dancing around the facts and flipping the script as always.
Just post under your real name, Harley. You’re not fooling anybody.
2 days ago my vehicle was broken into in my secure gated garage on 14th.. hundreds of dollars of locksmith costs and stolen property. One cop showed up 2 hours later, nicely told me “sorry, it’s like this in Ballard, nothing we can do and “a thief needs to be caught 25 times for auto break in before they’ll see jail” I’m definitely afraid now even in my expensive building and will be voting for whoever proposes to do something about the skid row we’re surrounded by in what should be lovely Ballard. I lived in different areas of L.A. for 11 years before moving here, and the rest of my life in New Orleans, with zero burglaries.
…and will be voting for whoever proposes to do something about the skid row we’re surrounded by in what should be lovely Ballard.
Whoever tells you they can fix the problem is selling you snake oil and you’re a fool to vote for them. The problem is going to take money and willpower at the state and national level, not some greasy politician telling you whatever will get your vote. If someone like this actually gets elected, that’s when we’ll see Ballard actually decline.
Luckily, the vast majority of us realize that Ballard is actually a nice place to live and will vote with our brain and the candidates that promise they can wiggle their noses to solve the problem will get filtered out in the primaries.
Here is Truth and Elenchos defending the scumbag addict criminals and their enablers in City Hall. Pathetic. Lousy neighbors! Can’t wait to vote your narcissistic pals out of office. Maybe Durkan should just move to Mexico and make pals with the cartels directly. VERY PROGRESSIVE
Hey Harley, wait your turn. The adults are talking.
This is Seattle. Proper etiquette and manners, like civility, hygiene, safety and acceptable standards are “hate crimes invented by nazis” so no I won’t wait my turn. I will instead defecate in the park, buy drugs at the library, steal from the grocery store, assault the clerks and break into your car. Fascist.
Then start your own comment thread to complain and falsely accuse people of randomly bizarre things that no one on this article has even come close to doing or saying.
I will instead defecate in the park, buy drugs at the library, steal from the grocery store, assault the clerks and break into your car.
Well Harley, you keep falsely claiming that Ballard has become a desolate, lawless wasteland. It wouldn’t surprise any of us that you are actively trying to make it a wasteland to match your sensationalist commentary.
Are these people really Harvey or is he a just a boogeyman for those who disagree with you?
No, Truth is a bonkers leftist (redundant) who calls everyone “sockpuppet” or “Harley Lever”.
@Jeff: This one is Harley. You can tell by his writing style, both the wording and the complete lack of substance or reality.
Geeky Swedes and anyone else reading here. — The link to the “Crime Dashboard” EXCLUDES PROPERTY CRIMES UNDER $250. So does the crime report that SPD sends to city council every year. It lists a group of options to choose what type of crime, but any property damage that occurs, which is under $250 is considered 3rd degree malicious mischief, or RCW 9A.48.090 see the link here for the law: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9A.48.090 If you notice, none of the selections is “mischief” on the online tool.
What does this mean? If you call in the police because you had your window of your car broken and nothing stolen, it DOES NOT SHOW UP on the crime dashboard. A few years ago when this happened to me, I decided to check the crime dashboard, and didn’t see our reported incident. So I called, and got the run around from SPD several times, but finally got someone to explain to me that the online report shows only the crimes that fit the categories selected. Also, if you look at the footnotes in the crime report SPD sends to city council, there is a vague footnote stating that the crime statistics reported include all violent crime, but may exclude other minor infractions.
1) Hire more cops to bust drug dealers (I work in Belltown and can identify no less than 8 individuals who deal– If I know who the drug dealers are, the cops should too – and bust them). Drug addicts are the reason for the increase in small-time theft. Elenchos Nachos – ask an officer if they believe this is true – you will get a 100% affirmative response rate.
2) Make the 72 hour parking rule in light industrial areas only for vehicles with commercial permits (which is the reason we have that parking law in the first place)
3) Require any organization that receives city funding to ID those receiving services. Anyone with an arrest warrant for violent crime would not be allowed in. Anyone who is a registered sex offender could only stay there if the location of the shelter follows all of the sex offender/pedophile laws. (for example: the “wet” camp on Aurora is 1 block from a middle school and elementary school. They do not ID. It is illegal for a previously convicted pedophile to live within 1/4 mile from an elementary school.) Let everyone else in regardless what their background is. How can anyone argue that not picking up violent crime offenders or letting pedophiles live next to schools is OK (elenchos nachos – take a crack at it)
The crime dashboard also doesn’t take into account the fact that people are giving up on reporting so much of the crime. I mean, other than to show trouble spots in your neighborhood, what’s the point? Cops generally don’t come unless there’s someone actually in your house and threatening you that the time you call 911. And homeowners and renters insurers charge deductibles and raise rates.
We had a little bit of a crime spree on our street about 4 years ago. 15 of the 22 houses on the street either had their car broken into, and a few houses were burglarized. When all the neighbors met I was amazed that over half of the people who had their car window smashed didn’t call SPD. I actually had the cops show up (eventually the next day) to take down the incident. Maybe because in the same 24 hour period, there were 5 cars broken into that they came. More recently I had someone sleeping in my yard, and the cops came in like 6 minutes – so can’t complain about the response time (though the cops just told the guy to go to Fred Meyer, as there were no shelters who could come pick him up just then, and that one of the shelters would try to find him at Fred Meyer the next day). No ticket, guy didn’t respond to any of their questions, but did walk off into the night. They guy could have been wanted on 12 murder charges, but SPD would never have known. SPD even told me that he was high or drunk, but they didn’t think he was a threat (I also witnessed the guy moving real slow – but still a little disturbing that someone who is high or drunk can be trespassing on your property, and the cops come, ask a few questions then direct the guy to a grocery store – my guess is he just snuck into another yard for the rest of the night.) The guy sleeping in my yard did make it into the crime dashboard though!
It’s not a fact. Normal people still report crime. “Unreported crime” is a lame excuse for the obvious fact that anti-homeless hate groups lie and lie and lie about crime.
The paranoid loons at Safe Seattle are reaping the consequences of crying wolf. After you send the cops on enough wild goose chases, they remember who you are, and start blowing you off.
Safe Seattle did that to themselves.
The police see you. You guys conspire on Nextdoor to make false police reports to trick them into sending police to harass someone whose looks you don’t like. You guys post that stuff on the Internet. They’re on to you.
Taking into account Ballard’s rapid growth, the crime rate is down: it’s below HALF what it was 10 years ago. In the dense areas where population has grown more than 50%, the crime rate is a THIRD of what it was a decade ago.
Safe Seattle and their ilk are liars. They have been caught red handed. The proof is right in front of us.
The crackdown on the criminals is coming. The City Council is terrified right now.
Sure, if online sockpuppets could vote.
Elenchos I’m kinda surprised you aren’t outraged at the thefts suffered by the food trucks. Huh.
I’d say anyone with a 20-30% job performance rating would be nervous they’re going to lose their job.
First off, Harley, you’re quoting a rating from MyNorthwest, which in turn quoted a vaguely worded Stranger article, which is in turn based on unsubstantiated hearsay. Neither of those are legitimate news sources, although the Stranger’s credibility does beat out MNW, which is the trashiest of garbage sites (yes, I know how much you love MNW). I have no doubt that the Council is not well liked at the moment, but how can you throw around numbers that don’t actually exist? Oh right, because it fits your argument!
Second, US Congress’ rating has been under 30% for almost 15 years, yet the same people keep getting elected. Just because their rating is low, doesn’t mean that people like the alternate any better. Expect the 2019 elections to not change the makeup of the council, despite what the sockpuppets might claim.
Keep your head in the sand
Truth only approves of Buzzfeed articles and Carlos Slim’s NYBetaTimes
No, really. GET OFF MY LAWN
Won’t someone please think of the children?
lol elenchos is becoming unglued. what a crap troll…
To me this is like taking out the garbage or clearing out a vermin infestation.
There will always be these rabid nuts out there banging away at one scapegoat or another. There’s anti-semites blaming everything on Jews. You can ignore them for a while, but at some point you have to stop and point out all the reasons why they’re crazy and wrong. These anti-homeless hate groups are not much different. If you ignore them and let them run their mouths too long, they begin to be taken seriously. The start to cause real harm if you don’t do something.
Listen to these kooks here. They sound exactly like Donald Trump changing his story every day to explain why he’s locking up kids in cages. They never let go of the basic, hateful, cruel idea. They throw one falsehood after another at you, and you have to shoot them down one after another. Or smash them down, like whackamole.
It’s not really very enlightening, but then neither is taking out the garbage. But it ain’t going to take itself out.
huh. one person’s vermin infestation is another’s bum infestation. knock yourself out…
Bikur Cholim Cemetery is now infested with junkies and crime, so your bizarro “anti semitism” social justice tactic is utterly pathetic. Trump’s daughter is jewish, and the border policies (close to home for u, Amiga?) were the same under Obama. We’re “vermin” for wanting a a safe, clean city not run like a carnival of crooked policies and photo ops? Perhaps you should relocate somewhere south of the border.
Nonwhite and jewish conservatives exist, including a not insignificant number of blacks and latinos.
Get help and stop trying these ridiculous Stranger Blog tactics. Fail.
“border policies (close to home for u, Amiga?) were the same under Obama”
And there it is. The Safe Seattle hate groups that push this phony crime wave tale are Trumpers. Safe Seattle is MAGA Seattle. They think Trump’s lies are working, and so they do it too.
For the record, Trump ordered Sessions to change policy, which he did on April 6, 2018, in his order titled “Zero-Tolerance for Offenses Under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a)”. This act by Trump and his loyal servants Sessions. Nielsen, and the rest of them, is what caused the family separation atrocities that followed that date, April 6, 2018. Makeshift detention centers, the ones with those inhumane cages, had to be constructed to hold the new influx of more than 2,500 children who had not been in custody prior to that.
There was nothing like this at any time under Obama, or even under Trump until he made this policy change. Trump did that, and lied about it for days. Nobody ever claimed Obama’s immigration polices were all that great, or even Trump’s old polices until this new outrage. This thing is a whole new level of Trump crime. He outdid himself.
Then one day he caved to the pressure and retreated, with a new version of the same policy, in which he claims he will try to illegally hold families and children together. Instead of baby prisons he will have concentration camps. Trump told a whole new pack of lies to pretend he hadn’t caved, and Safe Seattle swallowed those lies. That’s the kind of people who make up this hate group.
Old Ballard has always been a hot bed of racists.
El Enchos — I appreciate you sharing your frustration with the inhumane treatment of children by the trump administration.
However, this whole comment section is about how actual real crime is rising in Ballard. I have lived in my house for 14 years. My next door neighbor for 38. She said that there was some type of property crime on our street about once a decade until 5 or 6 years ago, now its rampant.
We see needles or other drug paraphernalia in the park a block away about once every 2 weeks. I now bring rubber gloves with me to the park when I take my kids there to clean up. My wife won’t go there with the kids by herself there anymore. We have had a few run ins as a family with homeless people experiencing a mental crisis (at or on our way to the park) and also frequently see people passed out high/drunk. Another 2 blocks away there is frequently the stench of human feces or urine near the multiple RV’s / vans / tents that are there. None of this was there 5/6 years ago. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
I understand out neighborhood is probably a little worse than others, as we are one block over from where it is mixed light industrial, but its there.
Go spend an evening walking around Leary and Market between around Fred Meyer. You will see some people who need mental health support. Many others who are hard core drug addicts.
I get your point that some people feel uncomfortable when they see a homeless, person, so they want to blame all of societies woe’s on them, when they are the ones who are most vulnerable and need the most help. Someone needing help can also be the same person who is unsafe to others and a thief. The two sides of our homeless debate seem to want to think of these folks as one or another, which just isn’t reality.
I’m not frustrated. I’m simply swatting away bullshitters and loons who repeatedly trot out myths and misconceptions and prejudiced falsehoods. I’ve said it’s like taking out the garbage: it’s natural that this junk will pile up and somebody has to deal with it.
You fail to appreciate anything I’ve said. You have not answered any of my arguments.
To repeat: the crime stats say there is no crime wave in Ballard. The property values corroborate that. The demographic data corroborates that. The behavior of entrepreneurs corroborates that. The research on homeless people corroborates that.
You guys contradict it, but cite no evidence whatsoever. You only cite — anonymously under an online handle — the anonymous online posts of people in forums. You offer no plausible explanation for how this contraction of all this data could happen. The explanation is an elaborate conspiracy theory that is laughable. “Developers and politicians want more crime”.
NO, they don’t. Politicians want to show decreasing crime to get reelected. Rising crime is BAD for politicians. Property developers want a safe, stable, low-crime environment. You don’t sell square footage in an urban wasteland. Crime and drugs are BAD for developers. OBVIOUSLY.
You guys take a 100% contrarian attitude, and cite no proof for why anyone should buy it.
Also, you have rabid MAGA Trumpers on your side. People who watch Fox News and listen do Dori Monson and Jason Rantz. All bright red flags of dishonesty, propaganda, paranoia and delusional fake news.
THAT’S what I’m saying.
Do you have any evidence that contradicts the crime stats, property values, business growth, population changes, and research on homelessness? Cite it.
Yep, no refutation of any facts, just social justice insults. People like Obama were SAINTS to you guys while in office despite the unprecedented amount of bombing conducted during his stint.
Haha and now you guys LOVE Bush for some reason because he isn’t Trump, but of course Bush was “hitler” nonstop back in the day. The ongoing immigration nightmare – and RESULTING FLOOD OF HEROIN – is the result of decades of moronic. short sighted policies by California-style liberals who only want to buy Democrat votes and increase the numbers on entitlement programs. Housing shortages? Lack of lower wage jobs? Too bad, the liberal boomers need to stick it to the “evil republicans”! Pathetic. Hmm I wonder how nice the Mexican Police would be to me if I smuggled in children and hard drugs while waving the American flag around?
This is why you guys lose debate after debate when all the passive aggressive censorship and commie tactics are removed.
There’s classic Harley! Facts that refute his false statements are put in front of him and the readers to see and he STILL ignores them and keeps spouting falsehoods.
I’m not sure if it’s ironic or funny that your (failed) mayoral candidacy and Safe Seattle profile list you as a “homeless advocate”. You have to know that nobody believes that, even for a hot second. So why keep blatantly lying?
I guess it matches your commenting style.
Another one of Harley Lever’s tells is his use of 4chan/stormfront/breitbart type lingo, such as “snowflake” or “virtue signaling”. He will bring that in out of left field, apropos of nothing. Or take the phrase ” social justice latte liberals” (below). This is copy-paste rightwing boilerplate. Harley Lever posted that. “Smells Like Elenchos” one of his sock puppets.
Harley likes to make up user names that attack others. He has user names that attack Mike O’Brien. Anybody who crosses him will find a new handle appear out of thin air that is a slur on their own name. Harley thinks this is sophisticated satire. He thinks that is what winning looks like.
And then there is his rabid misogyny. You’ll see Harley try to belittle you by comparing you to a woman, or describe your actions or words as feminine, “girly”, etc. Harley thinks he’s really dunked on you if he can make you seem female. The guy REALLY despises women.
He also is, you know, racist, so if he can suggest you might be a minority, well, he considers that a total burn.
Harley is a very blunt instrument. Not subtle. Pay attention and you can smell him coming a mile away. That’s one reason why I keep saying he might as well post under his real name. Everybody knows it’s him anyway. Why bother hiding it?
Elenchos is right in not caring more about his (her?…the way it screeches reminds me of a banshee) neighbors who complain about the homeless junkies more than he/she cares about the homeless. Neither group garners much thought to Elenchos. Elenchos just wants to spout the current temper of the city, which is liberal and caring.
And that’s fine. Nothing wrong with caring. After all, each junkie is someone’s son or daughter.
However, does that mean we should help them? I say no. Why bother? In life, you’ve got winners, and you’ve got losers. When you start doing hard drugs and make that your lifestyle…you guessed it, you’re a loser. Sure, a lot of them have mental problems. Do they deserve our help? Eh…I don’t care about them either.
It’s real easy to not care about their plight. I have my own stuff to worry about. If one steps in my path, I’d just as soon pepper spray them rather than listen to their insane rantings.
If we stop trying to help them (which is all the city wants to do), and think of them as devoid of the human rights and privileges you and I take for granted, they’ll OD faster and we can be rid of them.
No junkie is worth my time and effort. Fewer junkies make for a nice city. Since we won’t jail them/deport them, let’s start injecting them on an hourly basis until they all croak.
OUR civil rights don’t matter. The social justice latte liberals need to adopt every loser (at a distance via govt taxation of workers of course, not in their own homes) in the world and then shame anyone who is victimized by them. Notice they are outraged by gun violence (and hey some of that is valid) BUT ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT even talk about the dysfunctional family environments that produce violent criminals because they don’t want to admit that 60’s hedonism is a giant failure that ultimately destroyed families and positive masculinity.
To them, crime is always caused by poverty. It never occurs to them that this misguided commie view wrongly implies that all the poor are already criminals, and that poorer people are somehow incapable of moral behavior even while they vacation in poor countries filled with upright people and healthy families. The irony never ends. These lowered standards of behavior are sadly in full view in public everywhere .
In other words, Homeless Fiasco, they really don’t like you anyway, so too bad if you want to enjoy a safe home in a safe neighborhood that you worked hard to pay for.
It’s church for them since they only believe in Beyonce or some has-been actors. Once you notice this it become obvious that they really don’t care about how much their good neighbors suffer at the hands of criminals.