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Rob La Gatta & Mike Baldwin
Seattle Crime ExaminerRob La Gatta is a Seattle-based writer who covers local crime at Seattle Crime Blog (www.seattlecrimeblog.com) with fellow journalist Mike Baldwin. They can be reached at seattlecrime@gmail.com.
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Showing entries for Category: Politicians
Making Seattle more livable, one homeless encampment at a time
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by Rob La Gatta & Mike Baldwin, Seattle Crime Examiner
Seattle city workers expected to have a greenbelt on the west slope of Queen Anne Hill cleared of homeless encampments within a day. They found more stuff than they expected. [...] Within the first few hours of the city-mandated cleanup on Wednesday, crews filled a garbage truck with 4 ½ tons of debris before starting on a second truck.Combatting homelessness in a city where it is practically encouraged requires an iron fist approach. We may not be taking as many steps in that direction as we could, but the swift action towards eliminating encampments that we've seen recently shows that city is making progress.
Of course, there are complaints...and they aren't just coming from urban idealist Tim Harris:
"Homeless sweeps are not the answer," said the Rev. David Bloom, co-chairman of the local Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness.Having a "place to go" is by no means a guarantee in our country; that's something you have to earn by contributing in one way or another to the greater society (though how long it will take some of us to realize this remains to be seen). And making political decisions based on how "humane" their outcomes are is a surefire way to hinder urban progress.
"There's no place for people to go, and they're just trying to survive," he said. "To wipe out these encampments when people don't have a place to go is ludicrous. It's not humane."
There's a camp out at City Hall on June 8 aimed at protesting Seattle's approach to stopping homelessness. Let's hope some reason-minded folk take it upon themselves to make an appearance and show Mayor Nickels that not everyone in Seattle is ungrateful for the city's attempts to make our community livable. Hell, I may even drop by myself.
Topics: Politicians , Commentary
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