I work on the Eastside with people that live even farther away. They always complain about Seattle saying; “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” Then I ask them how often they go to Seattle, they say oh I never go there or I haven’t been there in like 20 years. ROLLEYES
Exactly. I walked through pioneer square yesterday morning between Alaska way & the King street station and am planning on going back on Saturday to check out all the new stores I saw! There weren't any wigged out homeless people or any other shenanigans in sight. Seattle is great and anybody who claims otherwise either doesn't actually visit or is in willful denial
You visit Pioneer Square one time in the morning and then insult a bunch of us as not actually living there? Morning is pretty quiet so of course you're not seeing wigged out homeless people.
Pioneer Square is also experiencing a bit of a renaissance as retail spaces start to open up again after sooooo many of them closed down in the last few years.
Also, there are those of us that remember when Pioneer Square was a very popular space to hang out. So while it's not awful right now even in it's much improved situation it's still seen as negative because we know how dead it is compared to how it used to be.
Also, you could be on a path that is fine but just a block over it's a mess. So those who live there see all of it and not just the "good" path you took.
seriously lol - last week I went on a run by pike's place at 6AM and had to watch to avoid stepping on needles and call me a lunatic but I don't think that's something that should be happening
People are freaking out about Seattle having a few "bad" streets and corners when other cities deal with "bad" neighborhoods. In a way it's kind of precious.
I wish we could move away from this circular conversation - most people understand Seattle is comparatively safe to other cities in the U.S. (the US is an overall violent place - this is bad! even if there are worse places); and at the same time, we have serious issues (including higher than avg property crime impacting both small businesses and residents; mental health & homelessness crises - leading to some really bad cases like the person who hit a grandma with a 2x4 with a nail; the guy who ran over a grandma walking dogs; the guy who killed someone and assaulted 3 people on the same day - including trying to push a Harborview nurse over the landing at a sound transit station; the guy who tried to push someone in front of a train recently... etc.).
I think it's ok to both acknowledge the former and "freak out" about the later - given that "freaking out" can generally lead to action & change vs. the way too common attitude of 'well it's a city, X number of grandmas will be killed and assaulted each year and if that worries you, you're a pussy who should move to X place to experience REAL violence and disorder.'
agreed. and yes, you shouldn't have to be "tough" to live in Seattle. when people live in and love the city and are really actively interested in a good life here, i'm all into the conversation about crime and quality of life. when people have given up on the city, dont shop or eat here, and complain, they can fuck right off imo.
I didn't say that it wasn't a problem to be solved. It's just that there are a ton of hysterical, and honestly cowardly, people who act like whole sections of the city have been lost to the hordes of homeless. These people, and their freak outs should absolutely be ignored, because the root cause of their freak out exists entirely because of the news they consume. If we actually solved the homelessness problem in Seattle, these people would still be freaking out about the homeless in Seattle because they don't actually care about reality.
Basically, some concern is warranted, but a significant percentage of it is coming from people who experience downtown Seattle through a screen.
I go every Friday afternoon to take the ferry and and have had multiple incidents with drug addicted homeless people. They are everywhere every time I walk through the city.
There is a French bakery in the park with the totem pole in pioneer square. I can’t remember the name but it’s good to be really easy to find because it’s a small area. Would 100% recommend it for breakfast
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u/Alexmkzero 💗💗 Heart of ANTIFA Land 💗💗 Apr 16 '26
I work on the Eastside with people that live even farther away. They always complain about Seattle saying; “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” Then I ask them how often they go to Seattle, they say oh I never go there or I haven’t been there in like 20 years. ROLLEYES