Seattle people despair that our leaders are doing nothing about crime. And the Seattle Times adds “that leaders can no longer ignore.” But almost all of them are ignoring the mess. There has been a small turnaround - Seattle elected a Republican prosecutor and a “moderate” defeated a hyper-leftist for city council. That is good, but those two women are surrounded by the elected officials who allowed the mess. And continue to.
But since the Seattle Times can say the problem is so bad that the leaders have to notice that is a sign that a change is taking place:
By a decisive margin, Seattle residents continue to view the city’s leadership as failing at public safety and homelessness, according to new poll numbers to be unveiled Monday. City leaders, especially long-tenured incumbents directly responsible for the rot of voter distrust, must answer the broad demand to do better with decisive, course-correcting action.
In its second round, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce-sponsored citywide poll interviewed 100 registered voters in each of Seattle’s seven council districts. The results are stark: About 73% of residents said their neighborhoods are less safe than two years ago. Two-thirds of voters said they’ve considered leaving the city. Almost three-fourths say they don’t feel safe going downtown at night. In every slice of poll respondents — by age, party or section of the city — more than 60% of every group distrusted the way the city spends its money.
These findings should be a cold-water shock to any political leader still deluded that the city’s degeneration has escaped voters’ ire. The poll adds to evidence that people aren’t looking away from the persistent tent encampments under Interstate 5 and in Woodland Park, the closure of Little Saigon fixture Seven Stars Pepper Szechwan Restaurant or the drug-centric lawlessness plaguing grimy downtown streets.
Question:
When city bus drivers report being distressingly familiar with the smell of passengers smoking narcotics — described by King County Metro driver Erik Christensen as “burnt peanut butter, mixed with brake fluid” — must the red flag be any bigger?
A: Yes; it must be much bigger. County Exec Dow Constantine and half the Seattle city council continue to ignore crime
