Ballard’s homelessness quadrupled last year

Geeky Swedes Ballard

As we all know, homelessness is a red hot issue in the neighborhood. The Seattle Times has published an in-depth story on Ballard’s homeless, and there’s one surprising statistic shared by reporter Scott Greenstone:

Ballard is experiencing an influx larger than almost anywhere else in King County. The annual Point In Time count found a fourfold increase in homelessness in central Ballard in just one year, with 214 people tallied there on one night in January.

That tally is for Central Ballard. If you look at West Woodland and the “Frelard” area, the count was 94 people in January, up 147%. A couple other Seattle neighborhoods saw even more growth: the University District and the Georgetown area.

Why Ballard? Greenstone talked to case workers who said several factors are likely involved: avoiding the downtown area, ample RV parking in Ballard’s industrial areas and a network of organizations that help support the homeless.

But don’t just read our summary — go read the story. It brings together a lot of our previous reporting with some nuance that illustrates the complexities of the problem. And if you’d like to leave a comment, please keep it civil and constructive.

(Archive photo from April from KIRO TV)

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

166 thoughts to “Ballard’s homelessness quadrupled last year”

  1. Yet the west part of Ballard is down 31%. The two nearby Magnolia tracts are also down 30+%.

    There’s not more, they’re just consolidating to one area.

    Thanks for spreading fear though!

    2. Caroline, the city has subsidized the homeless and junkie populations for many years. There is no conspiracy against them; if anything, there is a concerted effort to keep suppress the accurate reporting of the damage done to our neighborhoods out of political expediency.

  3. If many, if not most, of the homeless in Seattle have drug/alcohol addictions then doesn’t this mean the city has effectively quadrupled the potential for crime and antisocial behavior in Ballard?

    I’d like to once again thank all the people who prefer to virtue signal their moral superiority over the safety of their actual neighbors and their property. It’s really been an eye opening experience.

    http://komonews.com/news/project-seattle/businesses-seattle-lacks-plan-for-rv-homesteaders-as-rats-garbage-proliferate

    1. People are people. When we compare humans to animals that many people consider inferior (and we don’t speak up) we create a culture of hate and superiority.

      1. Thank you, Cas. And before King or someone else weighs in with “I don’t have to respect them as people because they don’t act like they respect themselves blah blah blah.” Bullshit. Nobody gets to decide that a person is not a person, even if that person is acting like a loon, or a meth head or a drug zombie or whatever the term du jour is. They are people and they are probably so messed up on drugs or mental illness they don’t have the capacity to lives oozing with dignity and respect. We have to get these people off the streets YESTERDAY. The bums who move here to game the welfare teat can GTFO, but nobody’s a pigeon, or a bear or vermin. Just stop it.

      2. Whatever happened to the “give a hand up instead of a handout approach?”
        Plenty of jobs out there. Perhaps the good people at St. Lukes might explore the benefits of a job placement program .

        1. @John Fabatz
          Everyone wants these people to get jobs and get off the streets. We’re as close to “full employment” as we’re ever going to be. The city refuses to confront people who refuse services and force them into rehab and shut down illegal camping. It’s a hands-off approach which, as you can see, just encourages more people to pile in.

          Most of them either simply won’t go thru rehab and get employed. They refuse services, the cops shrug, the mayor tweets, and here we are.

          It’s a nightmare scenario for all involved, and taxes and hugs won’t fix it.

          1. My post was a subtle reminder to well meaning institutions that even Jesus worked as a carpenter and if memory serves sloth is still listed as a capital sin.
            ” feed my sheep” is a wonderful quote, but I don’t think it meant from the womb to the tomb.

          2. Don’t trigger the social justice warriors by reminding them that God is masculine, was a rabbi, a carpenter, and condemns any organized tax revenue scheme involving the exploitation of addicts as an affront to His redemptive power.

            These “churches” that do not also teach these people to repent are merely enabling their vice ridden ways and helping the city to exploit them and exact revenue from citizens. They do not teach redemption through salvation, which is why most of these wayward souls remain fallen and miserable.

  5. Wow great I’m glad the news is now telling me what I know because I see it every day – junkies and hobos taking over community spaces and ruining them for everyone. What’s next for the Seattle Times, reporting that the sky is blue?

    2. “Junkies” and “Hobos” sounds like a respectful way to address those without a home. Disrespecting other humans because of their circumstances is sociopathic behavior. Show a little empathy and I will proudly call you my neighbor.

      2. Oh so them disrespecting me by shitting and pissing all over the sidewalks outside my apartment, having fistfights in the park while I walk by, screaming and yelling at all hours of the night and vandalizing property while committing violent crimes near the grocery store I shop at isn’t disrespectful then? Hm. I think I’ll call them junkies and hobos and possibly worse things too until they earn the respect to be called something else.

    3. They have dog poop bags….lets have humans pick up their own crap……this is getting old…needles everywhere and all city hall wants is $$$$ because criminals need our money to buy heroin.

      1. I’ve felt dehumanized when I’ve stepped in human feces outside my doorstep. So why do hurting people’s feelings only apply to the people who are NOT law abiding citizens? I love how nobody will actually directly answer these questions yet just take a moral highground. Cas, I’ll come shit on your doorstep tomorrow morning and then you better have a hot breakfast waiting for me at your kitchen table, ok? Thanks.

        1. Since you’re begging for a reply, here you go:

          “God Bless America” does not mean “I hate foreigners!”
          “I’ll have fries with that” does not mean “Ban onion rings!”
          “Merry Christmas” does not mean “Have a crappy New Year!”
          “Happy Holidays” does not mean “Hail Satan!”
          “Black lives matter” does not mean “Kill whitey!”
          “Labeling people as junkies is dehumanizing” does not mean “EXCEPT for law abiding citizens, whose feelings don’t count”.

          Also, when you say things like ” I’ll come shit on your doorstep”, it tends to, shall we say, push people away? It’s not considered conversational. Might could be that’s the reason you aren’t getting your questions answered. You were told “show empathy and I’ll proudly call you neighbor” and you replied “I’ll come shit on your doorstep!” Can you see how that might be a problem?

        2. White liberal hipsters ruined Ballard, man buns, Ugg boots, avocado’s, brunches, wine & projected feelings will cure everything.

  6. Funny how the authors of this blog use a picture of Whitman Middle School on NW 95th Street which is no where near the Ballard core that saw an increase. In fact the area of this school saw no increase.

    Is this because all homeless people camp in front of schools and spray-paint the trees in front to show it’s there turf?

  7. Apparently if you put feed out for pigeons, all over the neighborhood, everyday, and never shoo them away, you eventually have a pigeon problem and they sh*t all over your property.

    I’m shocked.

  8. Greed in this city is a factor in our homeless crisis. Seattle opened up the gates to apathetic investors and business people who have never set foot in this city. Fix the wage gap!

    1. “Fix the wage gap” you say. By doing what, giving more of my hard earned $$ to politicians to give away to others, so they can get re-elected? Isn’t that part of our current problem pal? Turn off NPR and MSLSD and come back to earth. The greed I see is being done by your very own government, which takes from 1 to give to another, even by using threats.The only thing your government produces IS dependence. Seattle opened the gates to shreds of human debris.

    2. Yes, because heroin addicts and tweakers are valuable potential employees. What planet do you live on? The working people are the ones who have to deal with these losers the most, and many women staff members are now required to be accompanied to their cars at closing time due to the dangers.

  9. A big problem is our lack of willingness to actually take people into custody and put then through a rehab program. This has to be a city-run system. Not outsourced to non profits. We don’t outsource our cops or our fire department. We shouldn’t outsource our social services/rehab programs.

      1. Either way, we already paid for it 100x over. Throwing good money after bad and doubling down on poor strategies isn’t a successful approach for any entity, private or public.

    1. I don’t know how many people got the sarcasm font. That is sarcasm, right? This would NEVER have gotten to be such a mess if Sidran hadn’t gotten slandered. Good guy, great lawyer, would have been an outstanding mayor.

  11. This crisis is all the fault of capitalism, and the seeming invasion of lawless addicts is merely an optical illusion. Did I say crisis? Oops, I mean there IS a crisis that requires your taxes but see it isn’t THAT BAD, is it? C’mon.

    Use your Seattle Logic: a crisis is only a REAL CRISIS if there is no revenue to extract from Nimby’s and nasty people who work with their hands.

    Nobody is digging through your dumpsters and shooting drugs in the alleyways behind your condo or apartment. Nobody is prowling and stealing your cars. Nobody is assaulting and strong-arm robbing people. Nobody is openly dealing drugs in front of the library or harassing staff and children at the community center.

    The city has done a fantastic job. The critics and Nimby’s need to stop seeing with their eyes and start looking with their hearts.

    We should be very optimistic that our tax dollars and resources will continue to be spent wisely. We are in no danger of suffering the same problems as Portland, SF, L.A. and others.
    Go Sounders! Go Reign! Woof!

    1. Hey… do you know “Stranger Editor”? Because he seems to have created his name right after Charles Mudede wrote about Safe Seattle being, um, morons? And… “David Meinert’s Busy Hands”? As soon as Meinert hit the news, a parody account handle was created referencing that. You know what that reminds me of? “St Luke’s the Problem”. Another throwaway name that exists to make a point.

      You know what? You all should hang out with “Socratic method”. And “Thales”. And “Harley Elenchos”. They also seem to have chosen their names in reaction to something or other. Invite ” San Francisco Syndrome” and “Homeless On the Range”, “Ballard Needs Eats”, “Someonewhoac.tullycares”, “Woke William”, “anyone but mike”, “Concerned Ballard Millenial” and so on to your meetup. All those guys who all seem to be saying exactly the same thing, and whose throwaway names were made up five minutes ago as to mock or parody the bad guy you’re obsessed with.

      You guys have SO MUCH in common! Like “separated at birth” am I right? What are the odds?

      1. Say hi to Charles, David, Dow, Ed, and all the other wonderful people who make Seattle great. I’ve heard Dave gives fantastic massages, did he give you one? All I know is I’m glad he kept that evil villain Mark Sidran out of office and later backed Ed Murray and donated $5000 to Dow’s campaign. True heroes, all.

      2. I’m here! elon musky, is that you?
        Seriously though, the city and the citizens talk about it, but nothing’s really being done to alleviate homelessness, and some of us are just fed up with it. Which is sad, because the ones who really end up suffering because of it are the homeless, whom the City loves to talk about, but can’t figure out how to help.

      3. Hey, Elon, we have a writing circle here in Ballard. Glad you enjoy it. Maybe Charles can get us an interview and mention in the very exclusive, humanitarian Stranger. Thanks for enjoying our posts and I hope you have a good time at the Block Party. Hugs and kisses love your dog babies!

  12. My Grandfather told me when you have wild dogs in the neighborhood you must get rid of it ! I think Ballard getting what it deserves….your all weirdos and have mental issues your selves. Leif Ericson left in his Viking ship and not coming back !

    1. I do not think it is fair to say Ballard is getting what it deserves. The police are rerouting homeless from the sweeps to Ballard. Partly because the Ballard industrial area enables legal parking for campers. Is that fair to the residents? The North precinct police seem to think so. I suspect none of them live in Ballard.

    1. Who cares.
      It’s obvious what’s happening in Seattle, so all they can do now is try these weak tactics to somehow argue against everyone’s experiences, the news, and even the mayor herself who said “Seattle is a city under duress”.

    2. My VPN? It’s not mine. George Soros pays the VPN bills. I just follow the instructions written in his chemtrails.

      Here’s an alternate theory: many different MyBallard readers have said they dislike you and your gaggle showing up with an axe to grind. Could it be — now hear me out cause this is gonna sound crazy — that many different people are downvoting you because of the reason that they told you? Is that too simple an explanation? You won’t believe it because there’s no conspiracies or secret cabals or esoteric shenanigans?

      Still. It makes a certain kind of sense. It’s a beautifully elegant explanation:

      1.”We don’t like it when you hijack threads with your pissing contents and off- topic junkie hobo obsession.”
      2. Downvotes.

      BOOOOOOM! Mind blown, am I right?

      1. This article IS about the hobo junkie invasion.

        “BOOOOOOM! Mind blown, am I right?”
        Sorry I don’t speak Twitter-ese. Did you also “drop the mic”? Try dropping the lame attempt to convince everyone Ballard isn’t a daily circus of disgusting criminal behavior that we know from first hand experience. Pretty funny. What next, the earth is flat? Ok, Elenchos. Ok. Shall we have a look at today’s menu?

        Beat:B3, ASSAULTS, OTHER at 43XX BLOCK OF WOODLAND PARK AV N reported on 7/22/2018 11:31 AM, Call# 18000269972
        Beat:J3, AUTO THEFT at 71XX BLOCK OF LINDEN AV N reported on 7/22/2018 10:55 AM, Call# 18000270054
        Beat:J3, NARCOTICS, OTHER at N 83 ST / AURORA AV N reported on 7/22/2018 10:04 AM, Call# 18000270028
        Beat:B2, HARASSMENT, THREATS at N 34 ST / FREMONT AV N reported on 7/22/2018 6:28 AM, Call# 18000269951
        Beat:B1, LIQUOR VIOLATION – ADULT at 57XX BLOCK OF 22 AV NW reported on 7/21/2018 11:08 PM, Call# 18000269115
        Beat:B2, BICYCLE THEFT at 14 AV NW / NW 46 ST reported on 7/21/2018 10:53 PM, Call# 18000269551
        Beat:B1, THEFT – CAR PROWL at 24XX BLOCK OF NW MARKET ST reported on 7/21/2018 9:38 PM, Call# 18000269174

        1. Oh, I get it. You think one day you can kick off a thread about a brewery or a flower show or seafood fest with an inappropriate attack on some guy on the internet they haven’t paid attention to and don’t care about (this “elenchos” person, for example) or with an out-of-left-field tantrum complaining about junkie hobo Mike O’Brien zombies come to rape your daughters and tip over your recycle bin. And then five minutes later they’ll FORGIVE YOU and be totally fair and balanced towards you when you aren’t actually disrupting their normal online banter about seafood or flowers or beer?

          Huh. That might actually be what a bot would do. But a human is going to hold a grudge. It’s going to take a while to live it down after you’ve pissed off like 50 readers with your playpen mud throwing. IMHO, they hate you, and they’re gonna hate you for a good long while.

          Hey! Make up a new handle and leave your bad rep behind! Bet you never thought of that, huh?

          1. It’s way past time the normal “flowers and beer” talk turned to solving the crime problem, and that time was 2yrs ago. You seem to want to turn what was a rather charming neighborhood into just another filth-filled urban zone where people are afraid in parks and other public places after dark. When customers feel unsafe, and theft is rampant, businesses is threatened. You know, the businesses that keep us all employed and housed?

            Tell me, have you been to cities that are not filled with junkie criminals? Have you traveled? What kind of work do you do? This issue in Seattle is common to only a few places in the First World, and we certainly have the talent and resources to solve it, but we lack the will and we are impeded by people like you. Feel proud of yourself?

          2. Yep, there goes our good old sock master, changing the subject. Incapable of focusing your mind on one subject. It’s not about me! It never was.

            Thing 1: Many people have TOLD YOU that the flowers and beer talk does NOT need to turn to solving the “crime problem”. Thing 2: Many people are downvoting you.

            Pull your space cadet mind back from wondering about my personal life and experiences, and focus on the subject. You can either choose to put Thing 1 and Thing 2 together, or you can go on living in your delusional bubble.

            If you continue to shove your off-topic BS down people’s throats against their clearly expressed wishes, don’t act like you don’t know why they’re downvoting you. You know why. They TOLD YOU why. Don’t be dense. Take the hint, and the hint, and the hint, and the other hint. And the 5,000 hints before that.

            You are choosing do this and your choice is what is bringing these consequences upon you.

          4. Oy vey – do you ever just, I don’t know, stop???

          5. What field do you work in, Elenchos? I manage several employees at a small business, and fill in at another business downtown. At both locations I regularly encounter junkies making trouble in front or, nearby, and even inside our facilities. The police response is VERY SLOW and they often simply shrug and tell us they can’t do very much.

            If you want to really talk about this issue, stop with the teen nonsense and tell us about your experiences.

          6. I don’t want to talk to you. All you do is repeat the same things, and every time anyone points out facts to you, you change the subject or personally attack them. You’re fixated on this idea that if you could only get ahold of some personal information about me you could turn this all around.

            Nothing you learn about me will change the fact that that there were 43,000 thefts in 1987 when there were only 495,000 people in the city. Won’t change the fact that in 2000, there were 26,000 thefts and 540,000 people. In 2016, there were 26,763 thefts and a population of 686,800. The facts contradict you, and what field I work in doesn’t change those facts.

            You and the other sock puppet handles keep whining and crying about downvotes. I took the time to spell out why people don’t like you guys, and why your bad reputation is going to follow you a long time.

            Turns out, you won’t listen, which comes as a surprise to nobody. You’ll keep barging into every topic to repeat the same BS, and everyone else will downvote you to negative eleventy billion, and you’ll learn nothing.

          7. Shorter Elenchos: crime is down in the USA, ergo, it’s down on your street in Ballard.

          9. Not only is crime down on your street in Ballard because it’s down across the US for 20 years now, it’s also proof your wife wasn’t raped.

          11. “I manage several employees at a small business, ” = $15.25 an hour at 7/11 = angry = projecting his anger on those less fortunate.

          12. @Lambchop
            I love it when liberals “wage shame”. Comedy. When you aren’t signalling your status by preaching about social justice nonsense, you’re telling the “poors” to “move to Kent” etc. True, i do make less than most city paper pushers but enough to travel often enough to see how sh__ty our city is run.

          13. It is always the lowest on the work food chain who perceive that someone ls getting a better deal. That’s why they love Trump. He s good at vilifying others. Travel often = I drink beer in Portland.

      2. Which is why you understood my posting and what it meant. But I guess it must be one of those overweight leftist Ballard womyn, who drives around in her Prius, Bernie and COEXIST bumper stickers and hen-pecked husband in the passenger seat.

        Oh wait, that’s you in the passenger seat, while she works the VPN.

  14. We are leaving next year. In the past 10 years this area has gone from a nice sleepy midle class area to a disgusting trash bin. You can’t go 50ft without seeing a guy pooping in a park or the smell of dystopia.

    2. That was the idea. UPZONE! Ed Murray! Down Constantine! Durkan! UPZONE! WORLD PEACE! $$$$$TAXES Ballard should be just like 2nd and Yesler! UPZONE

  15. “Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.”

    High Rise, J.G. Ballard

  16. Because of the idiots who hand them money while they panhandle. Stop giving them money and they’ll go back downtown. Besides the fact that you’re killing them by buying the next fix that they might od on.

    1. I have the sinking suspicion that many sheltered upscale Seattleites think that the rail-skinny junkies are “hungry” so they give them food not realizing that they are strung out. The lack of street smarts and sense of reality among the “activists” around here is just depressing.

      1. A progressive income tax would sure give those upscale weenies the wake up call they need! High fives!

        I have the suspicion you hate Seattle and everything to do with Seattle, especially the people here. You’re not on our side.

        1. Who is “our side” Elenchos?

          A city is comprised of individuals pursuing their own happiness(es). I obey the law and pay my taxes, and as such, I expect the laws to be enforced and social norms to be *mostly* adhered to by others who agree to what used to be called the “social contract”.
          There is no “People’s Republic of Seattle” and if there were, the homeless would not be fed and complaining, they would be hustling in a dog-eat-dog grey/black/illegal market economy where community is about collecting favors and gossip to leverage into extra gas rations or meat. Grow up.

          1. Objective research contradicts most of your assumptions about homelessness. They are mostly from here, and had jobs here, and homes here, before they lost those things here. Your claims about drug addiction are pure conjecture, folk wisdom. Research contradicts you. You conveniently ignore the high rates of substance abuse among those with a roof over their heads.

            You rail against everyone who takes facts and research at face value, and expect all of us to believe your unfounded, unproven, self-serving ideological theories about the causes of homelessness. You find the sight of poor people intolerable and you make stuff up to get us to sweep them elsewhere.

            Why should the city listen to you? No data. No facts. No research. You call us — the vast majority of Seattle — “idiots” because we don’t buy your made up reality.

            You’re never going to be happy among us. You’re not one of us.

          2. I’m pretty happy to “not be one of us”, Cupcake. I can recognize decay, crime, corruption, stupidity and groupthink without needing cues from Twitter or Hollywood “programming”. Tell me more about the Seattle success stories in transportation, public utility, and of course the feed-the-junkie programs.
            Give my regards to your friends over at the Stranger. I hear David Meinert was tight with Ed Murray and Dow Constantine. NICE PEOPLE

          3. THANK you.

            You are not one of us. You don’t like Seattle, and you don’t respect Seattle. You see a failed city, failing at everything. When you think of who best represents the city, you come up with the villains of salacious sex news.

            We are “decay, crime, corruption, stupidity and groupthink”. And Hollywood — you guys usually put three parentheses around “Hollywood”, right? Whatever, it doesn’t matter.

            We’re in complete agreement. You hate my city, and you think we — the very people of this city — are incapable of running it. What is even the point of this? The only reason you’re speaking at all is to fling poop at me and my city and those of us who happen to like it here.

            I’ve been trying to get you to admit you hate us for a while. Thanks for finally coming clean.

          6. ele nachos – you perfectly described the city at it’s current state “decay, crime, corruption, stupidity and groupthink”. Thankfully your days “running” the city are numbered.

          1. What does the macho act mean here? You think I’m AFRAID to put it on the ballot? What? It’s just weird.

            Normal people don’t just, like, PUT things on the ballot. Paul Allen did that once — bought his way onto the ballot — to pay for his football stadium. I’m not Paul Allen. Tim Eyeman does his whole grifter thing to get money from rich marks and pays creepers to get signatures any way he can. I’m not Tim Eyeman.

            But yeah, um. Good idea. I’d love to put income tax on a state ballot to fix the law, change the state constitution whatever it takes, to put an end to Seattle being the most regressively taxed city in the most regressievely taxed state in the county. Love to put it to a vote! If I could.

            Ever think maybe that extraordinarily bad tax structure might have something to to with the extraordinary homelessness situation? Or just a coincidence?

          2. Yes, the bums just need a tax break.

            Come on big boy, put it to a vote. I1098 went down faster than your wife on hobo under Ballard Bridge at 2am.

          3. You definitely believe my ability to put constitutional amendments on the Washington state ballot is a determined by my masculinity. That’s an actual thought in your head. Kind of says it all.

            Maybe the upside down tax structure is why you won’t leave, even though you obviously hate it here. You’re in a hell of your own choosing. I’m not though. I love my city, and I’ve always been grateful that I live here.

            Sad for you. Happy for me.

          4. I love WA state too. Low taxes, concealed carry, legal pot, good wine and everyone I know in Ballard, mostly newbies, knows the difference between bums, junkies, professional hobos and the homeless.

            I look forward to voting down the next income tax measure. Lost by 30 points last time! Still LMAO on that one.

            Be sure to give Mrs. elenchos a big wet kiss on the lips when she gets home about 245am.

          5. *Professional* hobos. Sure. That’s a thing.

            In Umberto Eco’s “Ur-Fascism”, he explains that the The People “must feel humiliated by the ostentatious wealth and force of their enemies”. The People are superior, yet also under existential threat by enemies who are both external and internal. Like fear of the Jews, who were both international and local, Seattle’s podunk fascists perceive “professional” hobos as both from the outside and infiltrated among us. Fascist propaganda works by “continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”

            You despise them as inferior, defective, crazy… yet at the same time, they are “professional”, they are a powerful threat. Garbage people who are somehow organized into a dangerous grand conspiracy against the “frustrated middle class”. Too strong, AND too weak. A good fascist believes both at once.

            These macho taunts are making you seem really desperate. The obsession with a “real man’s” duty to protect “his” women is one of the ways you give away that you’re one guy with 20 fake handles. Get help, man.

  17. In a city where even the housed and “successful” make a big sideshow out of blaming everyone else for their problems, maybe this little thought experiment will prove enlightening:

    Imagine two people…

    Person A lives by the motto: “Solve your own problems.”

    Person B lives by an ideology of entitlement and blames other people for all his/her problems.

    Who do you think will be more successful?

    1. Like I always say: conservatives believe life is fair. It always comes down to that one basic fact.

      They deny it because it’s embarrassing to admit you’re like a baby who hasn’t learned that life is not fair. But just consider this example right here. Give lip service to a trite slogan and success is yours! Only someone who thinks life is fair would say that.

      1. It’s too bad you probably burned all the books written by “evil white men”, Elenchos.
        Even commies like Sartre knew that “Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.
        It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.”

        My thought experiment is about the proper mindset in an unfair, sometimes hostile world. A person given help will not succeed if they are not in the proper frame of mind to do so, no matter how much is spent. Your grievance industry creates despair.
        I’ll take your juvenile response as a snapshot of your mentality.
        Tell me again, what do you do for a living?

        1. I tell right wingers their problem is they need to grow up and realize life is not fair. Laugh if you want but it pays the bills.

          How do you know all those people without homes have then wrong attitude? How do you know their frame of mind? How do you know the frame of mind of all the housed people you see? Have you read all their minds?

          You don’t know. You began with the premise “life is fair”, then looked at how much or little stuff each person had, and worked backwards based on only that information to conclude that the defect must lie with those who have less stuff.

          Your dogma is that life is fair. You’ll do any gymnastics necessary to make up a narrative that fits that dogma.

          1. “You tell right wingers” What do you tell them? To their faces? I really doubt that, cupcake. You’re not even making any sense.

  18. I live in North Ballard (on 89th street) and have noticed a decrease in the homeless lately. I imagine it’s they are flocking to Ballard for the free meals/drugs/beds.

  19. More fun in sun thanks to O’Brien and all the other enablers. Let’s look at the menu today:

    Beat:J3, NARCOTICS ACTIVITY REPORT at 84XX BLOCK OF LINDEN AV N reported on 7/23/2018 2:08 PM, Call# 18000271464
    Beat:B1, CASUALTY – DRUG RELATED (OVERDOSE, OTHER) at 56XX BLOCK OF 22 AV NW reported on 7/23/2018 2:03 PM, Call# 18000271194
    Beat:B1, TRESPASS at 22XX BLOCK OF NW MARKET ST reported on 7/23/2018 2:02 PM, Call# 18000271252
    Beat:B1, MISCHIEF, NUISANCE COMPLAINTS at 52XX BLOCK OF RUSSELL AV NW reported on 7/23/2018 12:44 PM, Call# 18000271520
    Beat:B3, THEFT – CAR PROWL at 36XX BLOCK OF WHITMAN AV N reported on 7/23/2018 12:43 PM, Call# 18000271148
    Beat:J1, BICYCLE THEFT at 92XX BLOCK OF 11 AV NW reported on 7/23/2018 12:25 PM, Call# 18000271141
    Beat:B2, LEWD CONDUCT at 8 AV NW / NW 64 ST reported on 7/23/2018 12:24 PM, Call# 18000271476
    Beat:J2, AUTO RECOVERY at NW 80 ST / DIBBLE AV NW reported on 7/23/2018 12:10 PM, Call# 18000271541
    Beat:J2, PROWLER at 65XX BLOCK OF 10 AV NW reported on 7/23/2018 11:52 AM, Call# 18000271083
    Beat:B1, TRESPASS at 57XX BLOCK OF 22 AV NW reported on 7/23/2018 11:47 AM, Call# 18000271206
    Beat:B2, HARASSMENT, THREATS at 8XX BLOCK OF NW 64 ST reported on 7/23/2018 11:17 AM, Call#
    Beat:J1, PERSON WITH A GUN at 1 AV NW / NW 90 ST reported on 7/23/2018 8:57 AM, Call# 1800027108718000271127
    Beat:B3, AUTO THEFT at 41XX BLOCK OF MIDVALE AV N reported on 7/23/2018 5:51 AM, Call# 18000270736

    1. I would also like to highlight to everyone here, if you go to the SPD website and look at the crime map – the “Mischief” report WILL NOT APPEAR. It is not one of the categories that is selectable on the crime map. What is “Mischief” you might wonder? It is property crime under $250 that is not theft. So if someone comes and damages your fence – “Mischief”. Someone steals anything regardless of value, it is under one of the “theft” categories.

        1. What’s wrong with pointing out that “Stranger Editor”, “Ballard Resident” and “Urban Decay” (to name a few) are all sock puppets of one person, who is trying to fool those not paying close attention? You are a lonely, unpopular guy and you use this cheap sock trick to puff yourself up. Just like the “Thales”, “Socratic method”, “Harley—” socks.

          If drawing attention to your sock puppetry annoys you, try this: stop pretending to be more than one person.

          As far as the “facts”? So what? It’s a handful of reports from the police blotter. It’s one arbitrary day. If you’re going to try to prove anything with that, you have to COMPARE it with something. If you’re trying to claim crime is rising out of control, obviously you would compare today with a day in the past. Not a cherry picked day, one would hope.

          Or better yet, just look at the crime database. It proves there is no crime wave.

          1. Elenchos – As we discussed yesterday, you are at least wrong about me. In fact, after our discussion yesterday, which was so specific as to make it clear I was a specific person, your shameful – and equally ad hominem, I might add – response speaks for itself. Your behavior – certainly concerning me, and given your attitude, I suspect others – make you look like the ignorant clowns you so desperately wish to attack.

    1. I just witnessed a crazy bum chase a poor runner from Walgreens to Safeway on 15th yelling at him. Thankfully the police just got him. I’ve heard drugs and the heat do not mix and I just saw it firsthand!

      I seriously am starting to worry about my grandkids currently slated to go to Ballard hs (unless magnolia kicks them out). We need some sort of protection!

      1. I wouldn’t worry about the high school thing. I don’t put much faith in children growing up in Ballard not becoming junkies. You become what you see everyday.

        1. We try our best to keep the bum influence at a minimum. We usually don’t let the kids out by themselves after school and also take them far away from the city during the weekends. My daughter is a great mamma bear who watches her kids 24/7!

          1. Your poor kids. Second generation wimps. I bet you demand participation trophies also. lol

          4. I’ve lived here my entire life (over 60 years for those who don’t know me). We aren’t ones to give up on the neighborhood and move away. That’s why we remain!!!!!!

          6. But by hiding in fear you HAVE given up. Your’s is the same argument used in Appalachia as to why they don’t move where jobs are more plentiful. Expand you horizons.

          7. Thanks, Jeff.
            These losers are doing their best to shout down respectable residents and normalize this insanity. You’re a “coward” if you leave, but of course if you stand your ground and fight back then you’re an “unsafe violent reactionary” like the guy who defended his house in Loyal Heights.

            There is no reasoning with these fools.

  21. I’m guessing the majority of the downlikes and posts here are the junkies, hobos, or activists themselves. Stop calling them homeless, they are street people and need to be removed, compassion has run out. Great to see all the geniuses citing statistics without citing sources, proves the clown show is alive and well here in ballard.

    1. You have to admire their work ethic though. The respectable taxpayers are, I’m told by the respectable taxpayers themselves, too lazy to even report their own stuff being stolen. Can’t even be bothered to click a button. Lazy! Low energy!

      It’s NOT that there are only 7 of you posting under 25 fake names. There are THOUSANDS of you. Thousands! It’s only that all of you are too lazy to help yourselves. Too lazy to vote one of your own into even one city office. It’s vote by mail! Yeah, THAT lazy.

      Not our heroic junkie comrades! Our leader Kommisar Soros gathered us in the basement of Comet Pizza and gave us a job. Honest pay for honest work!

      1. Downvote paranoid Nextdoor grandpa
      2. ???
      3. World domination!!!!

    2. But seriously, you want sources? You don’t believe the crime rate was three times higher 30 years ago? Or that it hasn’t changed much in 15-20 years? I can help you see those stats with your own eyes. But don’t waste my time if you’re just going to make up some kooky excuse for denying it. The facts are there for you, if you honestly care about facts.

      If you don’t, well… like I said. Low energy. Lazy.

      1. Elenchos, take your cardboard sign and stand out front of the store instead of hassling the Ballard residents here. It would probably pay much better. You never did mention your line of work, so I’ll assume you’ve got your “hand” held out in one way or another.

        1. George Soros pays me to tell wingnuts to wake up and realize life is not fair. It’s honest work, no matter what you say. You don’t see me at your job telling you how to push your broom, do you?

          I think the reason socky mcsockmaster is whining and squealing every day for my job and personal info is so he can crank up the old harassment machine. It’s not for nothing Harley’s bff David Preston has restraining orders against him for targeting critics of SS. Thugs.

          1. >loves workers, hates capitalism
            >bashes manual laborers

            Here we have the “progressive” in all zher glory. Behold the brilliance!

          2. I have no idea what you’re referring to, broom pusher. Did you go to broom technology vocational school for 18 months or something? Maybe your a Master Broom Pusher. Fine, respect. Respect for the highly trained floor sweeper or whatever you are.

            Maybe I’m not a progressive? When did I even mention capitalism? Are you a broom pusher capitalist entrepreneur or something? You make no sense.

            Are you even replying to the right person? Maybe you meant to say this to someone else who said they were a “progressive” who hates capitalism? Some other thread perhaps? I don’t know. Good luck sorting that out.

          4. “Master Broom Pusher”
            Well, Elenchos, somebody has to clean up after all the junkies, bums, degenerates, and the messes left behind by all people like you.

            The city of Everett offered to PAY THE HOMELESS to clean up after themselves. Guess what? They passed.

      2. ele nachos, actually, I really don’t care crime is down over 30 years, that was before I was born and is irrelevant to health crisis we are currently experiencing . I do care that the current crime rate is unacceptable and the majority in my neighborhood, west woodland, is caused by the hobos, junkies, and bums. overall, you seem a bit intellectually stalled, everyone that disagrees with you is Harley, all people who realize there is a crime problem are old paranoid grandpas, and working people are lazy because they don’t have all day to cite doctored statistics. you mention not to waste your time, really? you spend all day spewing ignorance on a class c website and your worried about your time? unbelievable.

        BTW, cite your source, you just proved again you are part of the clown show.

        1. Looks like moderation blocked my post for having too many URLs. Here’s part 1:

          In reply to Junkies and Hobos Everywhere.

          There were 46.6 larceny-thefts per 1,000 people in 2000. There were 38.97 per 1,000 people in 2016. The rate of theft is basically flat, or has declined some. Aggravated assaults over the same period went from 4.86 to 3.16 per 1,000. The burglary rate is almost exactly the same now as in 2000. The homicide rate is only 1/3 what it was in 2000. Yet the homeless population has shot up everywhere in Seattle, and by as much as a factor of 4 in Ballard. This evidence proves that homeless people to not bring crime.

          Here, check it for yourself:
          https://www.seattle.gov/police/information-and-data/public-data-sets

          1. Part 2:

            Click on:
            * Historical Crime Data 2008-2014 – UCR reported crimes by Police Beat
            * Historical Crime Data 1997-2000 – UCR reported crimes by Census Tracts

            I grabbed everything from the crime dashboard for the post-2014 stuff.
            https://www.seattle.gov/police/information-and-data/crime-dashboard

            If you don’t want to wrangle databases, go to the Seattle Times and read Gene Balk’s columns. Says the same thing. Nextdoor and Facebook, combined with right wing talk radio and Fox News, create false crime hysteria. The truth is right there for you to see for yourself.

          2. I do read Gene’s columns and am surprised that you would cite that as confirmation that crime is going down in Ballard. I went back and took a look and the increased crime rate is clearly shown on the handy map in his July 5th column. Ballard south has an increased violent crime rate of 34% since the 2008-2010 baseline. Ballard north is 20% increase from same baseline. While property crime doesn’t have the dramatic increases like violent crime, there is still a increase. Yeah sure, crime has gone down significantly in neighborhoods that have experienced intense gentrification recently like the central district and columbia city but anyone who has an objective eye sees the craziness that has become ballard, and your claimed source backs that up.

            I personally witnessed multiple thefts and watched the thieves walk back to their RVs parked by my home. And in my opinion, this property crime has increased just in the last year. I’m almost positive my neighbor and there two children to my right didn’t steal my cooler out of my back yard. I’m almost certain as well that the neighbor and their 3 children to my left didn’t steal my car registration and work boots out of my car. But hey, to be fair I will add them to the suspected persons list.

            Source:
            Balk, Gene. “Crime Rates down in Most Seattle Neighborhoods — but There’s a Big Divide between North and South.” Seattle Times, 5 July 2018

          3. I’ve tried a couple times to reply to this, but the comments get stuck in moderation because they have a table of stats in them. There is nothing magical about 2008. It just happens that that’s the year that instead of talking about census blocks 32, 47, and 48, the SPD started calling those “Ballard South”. If you want a more comprehensive view, you have to download two different data sets, the one up to 2007, and the other one 2008 and later. It takes some work to blend them and so you can compare crime in “Ballard south” with the equivalent census blocks or tracts from previous years.

            If you do that, you find out that in 2016, the crime rate was only 2.4% higher than in 2000. But in 2001, there were the same number of violent crimes as in 2016, so that year so a big spike int he crime rate. But the following year it went back down by 2003. Violent crimes are relatively rare, and there’s fewer than 30,000 people living in this area, so you’re going to see large swings from year to year. In 2003, 87 violent crimes, but in 2010 only 47, then then in the 50s and 60s, up to 110 again like in 2001.

            It’s normal year-to-year variation. If you really wanted to spread hysteria, here, I’ll give you this for free: violent crime shot up 91% from 2010 to 2016! WOW! Or you could shout that violent crime PLUMMETED 45.8% from 2001 to 2014. It’s easy to pick years that make your case.

            Look at the year to year fluctuations. It’s meaningless noise. To smooth out the noise and see the underlying trends, look at the city as a whole. Either way, there is no crime wave.

  22. I’m sure those present during this “occupied burglaries” are really enjoying the new neighbors. Good thing City Hall is fighting so hard to keep them disarmed.

    Beat:B3, BURGLARY – UNOCCUPIED STRUCTURE ON RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY at 36XX BLOCK OF STONE WY N reported on 7/25/2018 9:16 AM, Call# 18000274004
    Beat:J3, BURGLARY – RESIDENTIAL, OCCUPIED at 4XX BLOCK OF NE 72 ST reported on 7/25/2018 8:32 AM, Call# 18000274078
    Beat:B3, AUTO RECOVERY at 3XX BLOCK OF NE 45 ST reported on 7/25/2018 4:36 AM, Call# 18000273954
    Beat:B2, BURGLARY – COMMERCIAL at 1XX BLOCK OF N 36 ST reported on 7/25/2018 4:23 AM, Call# 18000273789
    Beat:J3, HARASSMENT, THREATS at 5XX BLOCK OF NE 70 ST reported on 7/25/2018 3:26 AM, Call# 18000273614
    Beat:B2, PERSON WITH A GUN at 36XX BLOCK OF LINDEN AV N reported on 7/25/2018 1:47 AM, Call# 18000273662
    Beat:J2, BURGLARY – RESIDENTIAL, OCCUPIED at 70XX BLOCK OF SYCAMORE AV NW reported on 7/25/2018 1:41 AM, Call# 18000273753
    Beat:B3, FORGERY, BAD CHECKS at 1XX BLOCK OF NE 45 ST reported on 7/25/2018 1:13 AM, Call# 18000273553
    Beat:J1, ASSAULTS, OTHER at 90XX BLOCK OF HOLMAN RD NW reported on 7/25/2018 12:59 AM, Call# 18000273888
    Beat:B2, BICYCLE THEFT at 34XX BLOCK OF PHINNEY AV N reported on 7/24/2018 11:43 PM, Call# 18000273807
    Beat:J3, STRONG ARM ROBBERY at 72XX BLOCK OF AURORA AV N reported on 7/24/2018 11:39 PM, Call# 18000273742

    1. What does this tell us? How many incidents do we expect to see here? You show us only one day of blotter reports. Show us the same day 10 years ago. And 20. The SPD says the crime rate has hardly changed in 20 years.

      The blotter incidents hide the crime rate. The population has grown by 20% in 2 decades, so even if you compared the blotter from the past, you’d be deceived without taking population change into account.

      We also know that at Safe Seattle on Nextdoor, users encourage falsely exaggerated 911 calls. So the report of a person with a gun, for example, will often turn out to be an entitled taxpayer crying wolf to target someone whom they think doesn’t loook like they belong. All of these reports could turn out to be snipe hunts once investigated.

      Also: how come you need a new fake name to copy-paste the blotter? What’s with Urban Decay? Or the sock before that? We know there’s only one of you.

  23. Call it what it is: a JUNKIE problem. There is a homeless industry making millions off of the programs: City employees, contracts to entities that are studying the problems, etc. We spend more per capita on “homeless” than any other City in the US. It’s not a problem with the working poor as much as it is a problem with the junkies, drug industries, and the homeless industries feeding off it. (Yes, I do know there is a problem with the working poor and with the disabled and with low income folks, and regular income folks in Seattle. They are not the ones shooting up under the Ballard Bridge and defecating everywhere.)

    START ARRESTING PEOPLE FOR HEROIN SALES & USE. Get the City Council off the back of police and get the police to enforce the laws they’re paid to enforce. We are at war in Ballard and we are losing.

    1. Safe Seattle pretends they want to help but they have never supported any solution. They have worked to block or sabotage every conceivable approach that in any way tries to address homelessness or addiction or poverty. They don’t want anything to work.

      The only thing the SS fascists really want is to never set eyes on any person they label an outsider. Sweeps and violent police harassment in a the hopes of pushing unsightly human beings into somebody else’s back yard. Once out of sight, out of mind.

      1. Sweeps are the only thing keeping Seattle from becoming a third world country. It’s the only way to keep Seattle from being submerged in trash/needles/feces.

        Maybe if some people learned to clean up after themselves they wouldn’t be necessary.

        1. All the other nimbys want sweeps just as much. Every nimbyhood, sweeping problems into the next door nimbyhood, all moaning that nothing seems to get better. Why? Why? The answer is closer than you think.

          1. Start with teaching people to clean up after themselves, then maybe people wouldn’t want to get rid of them so badly.

            Use to have sympathy for them, but it’s clear now that they just want a free ride through life.

          2. Yeah, teaching. Sure. Like Safe Seattle would want to pay for teaching. The only thing the nimbys want is violence under color of authority.

          3. Funny you agree that adults (who are victims through no fault of their own) need to be taught how to function in a society.

          5. “Yeah, teaching. Sure. Like Safe Seattle would want to pay for teaching.”

            Seems to admit that they do need teaching, but some group wouldn’t support it. Maybe we could do a gofundme to teach degenerates to function in society?

            Or maybe we could just let the police do the instruction?

          6. Ah, you can read, but English idiom is beyond you. “Yeah… sure…” isn’t a phrase everyone in the Russian troll farm knows.

            “Or maybe we could just let the police do the instruction?” Yes. You only want state-sponsored violence. You want sweeps which involve cops terrorizing everyone who looks like they “aren’t from here”. That’s what I said and you proceeded to sealion me as if you thought otherwise.

            You don’t. You don’t want to pay for anything. You want cops to be more violent. Like I said. Why are you still here?

          7. “You want sweeps which involve cops terrorizing everyone who looks like they “aren’t from here”.”

            Lol

            I want sweeps on those who are trespassing, obstructing right of ways, causing danger for those on the interstate, and other things the entitled class things they have the right to do.

          8. But when a different class of people cheats on their taxes or builds a deck without a permit or doesn’t pay the nanny’s social security, you DON’T want cops cracking skulls with nightsticks.

            You want unrestrained police violence enforcing civil infractions and misdemeanors targeting one class while looking the other way when a different class flouts the law.

            Sorry, bud, but from where I sit the “taxpaying homeowner” class are not paragons of law and order. Housed people are most definitely the ones consuming the lions share of illegal drugs. And abusing the legal ones too. The main reason you all order so much crap online, howling about package theft when you garbled the address, is to illegally avoid paying your sales tax.

            Breaking the law per se doesn’t bother you that much. It’s *who* breaks the law that matters.

            But ignore all that. What we can all agree on is that when Harley Lever tells the Seattle Times that Safe Seattle *really* cares about helping people in need, it’s a lie. Nobody from SS wants to help. They want maximum enforcement, the violent kind, that creates fear.

          9. Ok you just post your normal rant. Care to respond to the actual things I posted?

            Either you want people crossing the interstate on foot or you don’t.

          10. What exactly is the question you’re pestering me to answer?

            You guys don’t want to help people experiencing homelessness or addiction or anything. You. Don’t. Want. To. Help. Them.

            We all agree on that. You only want sweeps. It’s a really important point because tomorrow you’ll be attacking the details of some program to help people without admitting upfront that you are opposed to ALL programs to help people. There doesn’t exist any hypothetical or concrete program to help anyone that you guys will get behind.

            You WANT to see them punished just for existing. I wish we didn’t have to keep pulling that truth out of the Safe Seattle mob. You waste a lot of everyone’s time when you pretend you’re critiquing the merits of programs to help people.

            Now what’s your dumb question, anyway? Spit it out.

          11. Can’t help people that refuse help.

            Also what’s your plan? To spend 300k/apartment to house 12k people (and the additional ones that move here so they can live the good life)? Also you can demand nothing from them or your a fascist.

            Your logic is: give us all your money so the city can squander it and do not complain about anything.

          12. What a lot of hyperbole! Any evidence I ever said any of that? But you’re changing the subject…

            You keep spouting rationalizations for your refusal to attempt to help anyone, as if I’m trying to change your mind. I’m not.

            I’m pleased with you. It’s laudable that you’re admitting it in this instance. If only David Preston and Harley Lever and their SS crowd could always play it straight. Pretending they want anyone’s needs met is a slimy tactic they use when it suits them.

            Maybe you’re the one to convince the rest to be honest about your intentions going forward.

  24. Okay. I’m a little late to the discussion, but I live in Frelard,Ballard’s “light industrial area.” I’m sick to death of my neighborhood being viewed by the city as an okay place for numerous RVs, tents, and persons of debatable motivations. Not everyone is a sad and sorry case who parks or camps here.

    We do not have the political clout here as does a Phinney Ridge, a Laurelhurst, or a Magnolia. But my property taxes are steadily rising and what do we get for it here? Public health issues of all kinds, frequently needing to reroute walks, the waft of human excrement, tent camping, and unresponsive police. And endless squatting in empty houses awaiting demolition.

    This is a residential neighborhood boundaries by some businesses. If you try to talk to Mike O’Brien about it, you get nowhere.

  25. What is going on in the 2500-2600 block of Market Street? I moved to Ballard 2 months ago and there was 1 tent at bus stop. A few weeks ago there were 3. And yesterday there were 6??!! Why is this allowed? I am losing my patience and compassion with this mess.

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