Seattle is Dying
Bordered by beautiful mountain ranges and gleaming waters, Seattle is one of the most desirable spots to live in the United States. According to Seattle is Dying, a documentary produced by the local KOMO news outlet, the appeal of the city is giving way to rampant crime, homelessness and disgrace.
After tackling issues related to homelessness and drug addiction in previous documentaries, the outlet decided to focus on how these elements impact the quality of life for residents and what can be done to curb the tide of despair that has gripped their beloved city.
The scope of the problem is distressing, and its visual evidence can be seen on nearly every corner. Junkyards hiding under overpasses, tents set up on the side of highways, disturbed members of the homeless community shouting obscenities on downtown streets.
The city has spent large amounts of money to battle the epidemic in their communities, but these philanthropic efforts have had little effect. The film illustrates a profound disconnect between the reality on the streets and the courses of action taken by the city's government agencies.
That disconnect is the central focus of the film as the filmmakers attempt to devise a strategy for restoring order to the region. They receive input from several whistleblower police officers who wish to remain anonymous. The conditions on the street are nearly post-apocalyptic, they claim, and the criminal justice system limits their ability to effectively enforce the law.
In a random list of 100 repeat offenders, the filmmakers find that every subject is homeless and drug-addicted. Most of those tested are afflicted with mental illness. But the majority of them have repeatedly been thrown back into society without a conviction or additional follow-up of any kind.
Seattle is Dying isn't afraid to examine the stark realities behind these issues. It does not intend to demonize the vulnerable. To the contrary, it questions why the city hasn't been able to do more for them. Ultimately, the film endorses more virulent enforcement, and advocates for increased access to recovery services for the city's population of prisoners and other at-risk individuals.
We moved last month from Seattle to Nevada for all of the reasons that this documentary goes into, and so much more. A Socialist and Marxist leaning City Council that refuses to support it's police department. A corrupt, inept justice system, lawlessness and policies designed to handicap, bleed & exploit businesses are all part & parcel with why the Emerald city is no longer a desirable place to live. San Francisco is worse, which is why housing prices are temporarily buoyed in Seattle. The influx of Californians will end, & yet smart Seattlites will continue to exit on mass. Most business owners & friends we know are quietly planning to leave. It is easy to understand why, as Seattle is just another failed liberal city that is self destructing. It's too bad, it once was so beautiful, vibrant & vital. We are sad to see it dying due to socialist policies, policy makers & a general moral decline. What kind of city supports Antifa, but not it's police department? Clearly Seattle is a city that sadly, actually, deserves to die.
I must be the oldest person posting here. I remember when LBJ started the Great Society. We have been on the sam socialist path since then. Each drug has its own story. Why it's here, what made it possible. The people to start on it? Sometimes they are dealing with depression, bored, around the wrong people, made a bad choice, didn't have a father around ... in the end it was pressures of socialism and socialism's desire to break down the family unit. Remove a community's natural safety nets - replace them with people who don't know who you are and don't care - this is what happens.
Seattle isn't the first city to see this. San Fran, LA, San Diego, Portland - it's all up and down the coast. Chicago, NYC, Atlanta, Miami, (recent addition) Denver, Tucson, and welcome to the club Antonio. What's in common? Socialism. Every single one of these cities have followed the same path.
Don't arrest for personal use amounts. Don't arrest for nuisance offenses. Have homeless projects that count the number of people they serve as a measure of success rather than how few they have left to help as a measure. Court/Justice systems that look more at home as a revolving door, a fixture rather than having a function.
But let me touch on the Great Society ... this country use to have hospitals for the mentally ill. Use to. The country shut them all down and kicked them to the curb. "We can do this on an out patient basis," we said. Now the question is how many self medicate and how many people at the fringes fall into the mentally ill category because of one of many reason such as those I stated above?
In the end, community is not government and when government attempts to take over the rolls of the community they remove accountability in the process. The promise of socialism is a fools dream.
Seattle's answer: abolish the police.
SMH...if the incompetent, woke, marxist ideologues running Seattle think they can just turn to the federal government for a bailout, know other American will not pay for your social experiments and mis-management. You destroyed it, you can fix it.
Everything this documentary points to is 110% truth. I won’t bring my family near Seattle anymore... it’s post apocalyptic.
Not enough political competition. Seattle has a one party political monopoly, and the voters are unwilling to kick the bums out and give the opposition party a chance. That is why there is no change.
I am apparently the last remaining conservative in Seattle...living in Ballard (!). I believe there IS political competition....between far left "Social Democrats" on the one hand, and extreme far left fascistic Communists on the other hand. :-)
Seattle, you need to spend more money on the homeless. Raise taxes, and make Seattle a magnet for MORE homeless. Works in SF, LA and San Diego!
They need to incinerate the garbage and place the bad ones in hospitals. The not so bad homeless need housing.
These are symptoms of the system, we must focus on the causes. It has little to do with political affiations.
What an eye-opener! Coming to a city near you if you elect liberal city leaders.
One of the best documentaries I have seen. I am American living overseas in Asia. It is a shame to watch the U.S. implode and nothing is being done about it. It was good to see the problem explained so clearly and a solution portrayed at the end. Hats off to those in Rhode Island.
Where I live the streets are spotless, trains are clean, and I do not encounter what I have seen in the movie. I am not saying there are no problems here (there are) however the problems shown about Seattle (which also exist in my hometown of San Francisco) are devastating.
I fear the U.S. will need to get much worse before anything gets better. It seems neither of the political parties have a viable solution (in my opinion).
Again....I tip my hat to those workers in Rhode Island.
@Dave, it is not out of control everywhere in the US. It is only where "woke culture" prevails in local politics.
I live in Redding. A northern California town. We are on the same level as Seattle but no where near the scale. Seattle really does look like sh*t from what I have seen in this film. Medication cant substitute self respect; it can give an individual enough time to learn it.
Put them in concentration camps.
fantastic. There is a way to help.
I look forward to the day when all the "Progressive " bastions collapse under there collective bureaucratic weight. Exactly as the USSR and other failed Socialist states
and like ideologies that came before them.
Spot on! Use Seattle as an example of what not to do.
The drug problem, with all of its attendant crime and filth, is a symptom of leftist policies. It's that simple, folks.
So very true
Just back from Seattle. I live in the North East. I've visited Seattle dozen of times throughout the decades, and used to love to hang in the once great city. Pikes Market, ferry landing, downtown. I no longer feel safe, as the city gets dirtier and filled with grossness from the wacked out druggies. Meth is a much bigger problem on the west coast vs east. Heroin for both, is bad news. Homeless is the general category given to this DRUG problem. The city is dying because their is no plan in place to address this problem. The film offers one possibility that is being used in Providence, RI.
The anti police comments here are close minded, and offer no possible solutions. Perhaps some of these police hater people should walk the streets of some of these west coast cities and be challenged by some of these crazies, as I have. Feel what it's like to have your child our wife with you on these walks.
Could we learn from the R.I. rehab program?
This documentary speaks the truth. Plain and simple.
The big unspoken truth here is that Seattle along with San Francisco are lead by liberals so open minded their brains fell out. There would be similar dire consequences if just conservatives governed a city or region. There has to be a balance of both sides politically. When one side is shut out then the checks and balances, put in place, whither and die.
The answer is evident for those with a mind. Enforce the laws for the safety of the citizens whilst mandating drug treatment as a condition of release back into society. The financial burden would soon be equaled and surpassed by the savings of reduced crime and all that comes with it.
You speak of empowering cops to punish the homeless, sick, and insane. This is the kind of thing cops most love to do because it doesn't place them in danger. Mostly they worry about missing out on their early retirement. My advice to you, if you are wond -ering what to do with your life? Take a couple criminal justice classes so you can be a c op. It's easy money, especially if you happen to be a woman.
Yep..blame a cop.
Absurd comment. Bet you don't take your life in your hands on a daily basis.
"Let's give police more power because seeing the homeless poor hurts my feelings."
- the whole point of this documentary
JMFD - You had better watch this documentary again. You completely missed the point.
That's how I interpreted most of the doc as well. Wealthy people feeling entitled to something they can't see a real path towards. They don't see that inequality, and their status in a high class is part of the scale that tips the "problematic" people and lifestyles into poverty and wretchedness. P.S. I don't think you need to watch the doc again.. you seem to get the bigger picture.
Agreed, this attitude is counter productive and toxic. I'd recommend taking these issues to your doctor not your fiduciary.
Ahhh my dear friends and gentle readers, a voice from Portland/Vancouver: I'm from Portland and was in fact born here while many aren't as it's become a popular place to live. I went to school in Bellingham and have visited so many times and love Seattle- It was always a bigger and less personal Portland but held the same special allure to a certain type... What's the point? You know what I have found? I have done it all btw. That in Portland and Seattle it's just like San Francisco in that the druggie vagrants are virtually 100% not from there! Each place in the world has a stratification of social elements. And usually this is in equilibrium. Just like the documentary said: Out of work people don't do this. People that lose homes or housing don't do this. It's just the vagrant druggies that migrate around the country that do this. 100% are on drugs! Trust me. And they are horrible people as they will and do rape, rob and kill each other! They are all nuts in one way or another, trust me! To blame their condition on someone else or this imaginary "force of the elites" or some other charge that shifts the blame without any proof or study is total garbage made by people without a clue! As was said you missed the whole point. GO LIVE OUT THERE FOR A WEEK and come back to us! Inject some METH or heroin! If you haven't done these things you cannot be a proper advocate or voice! Society is the victim of these people: People that do not care about anyone or anything else but their momentary fix. Do they care about the environment? Do they care about social issues of any kind? Do they vote? What do they do? Drugs! Intervention! If any of these people was a family member that is exactly what you would do. Another part of the problem is that a younger, clueless, generation doesn't understand that unscrupulous people will play upon these "pop-issues" to get elected to positions of power/government and then exacerbate/prolong the problem to stay elected! If there is no "homeless" problem then no one cares about a "homeless" platform and we can actually spend our money on things that matter: Kids, schools, infrastructure... These vagrant druggies migrated to your city! Ask yourself why! Remember these facts: they are not from your communities, they moved in; they are on drugs and choose that above everything else: above you, them, your children, the environment... on and on. You must have an intervention. Yes you'll have to forcibly do it. Yes you'll have to shift money to places and people that facilitate it all. Sensible love is the best answer.