News from the Formerly-Livable City of Seattle

 

Once again, the powers that be in Seattle have demonstrated their ability, through their elected governments, to make Seattle a place that people want to leave (well, at least people who are not Social Justice Warriors or socialists).  Today, the Seattle City Council has passed a new ordinance, adding a fee on Uber and Lyft, to “help with Housing and Transit”.  Just like the many new taxes (sales tax, property tax, car-tab tax) we drivers pay to build the Sound Transit Light Rail boondoggle, riders hailing rides from Uber and Lyft will now be paying for modes of transportation that they may not choose!  Uber and Lyft passengers will now be paying an extra $0.51 per ride.  They are calling it “Fare Share!”  Just one more burden on Seattleites.

Next, King County Executive Dow Constantine is doubling down on the Sanctuary County policy, which prevents county officials from coordinating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement when Illegal Aliens who commit crimes are jailed or released in the County.  There have been at least three instances lately where Illegal Aliens formerly in county custody have committed crimes, including murder.  As always, the City and County demonstrate that they support those who are in the country illegally, including murderers, more than they support the Taxpayers who pay their salaries and might just prefer safe streets to harboring criminals.

Published in Domestic Policy
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  1. Al French, Count of Clackamas Moderator
    Al French, Count of Clackamas
    @AlFrench

    Oregon is trying hard to keep up. The Supreme Court recently promulgating a rule forbidding ICE from making arrests without a judicial warrant in or around a courthouse. It’s as if they never heard of the supremacy clause.

    • #1
  2. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    You know, our Aiken Symphony Orchestra could use another violinist . . .

    • #2
  3. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    RushBabe49:

    As always, the City and County demonstrate that they support those who are in the country illegally, including murderers, more than they support the Taxpayers who pay their salaries, and might just prefer safe streets to harboring criminals.

    20 years ago I was living in Seattle (up on Queen Anne, not far from where that photo was taken). The local government was pretty much the looney-left then too, but I always felt safe . . . even while walking home through the WTO riots. But given enough time, Democrats can ruin even the nicest of cities.

    • #3
  4. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    People are getting the government for which they voted or failed to vote, good and hard.

    • #4
  5. The Great Adventure! Inactive
    The Great Adventure!
    @TheGreatAdventure

    Al French, Count of Clackamas (View Comment):

    Oregon is trying hard to keep up. The Supreme Court recently promulgating a rule forbidding ICE from making arrests without a judicial warrant in or around a courthouse. It’s as if they never heard of the supremacy clause.

    I’ve been seeing a $0.50 tax on my Lyft rides home from PDX for several months. Kind of surprised it took Seattle that long to mimic it. 

    • #5
  6. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    People are getting the government for which they voted or failed to vote, good and hard.

    A few months ago there was an article in the Seattle Times by a University of Washington professor, saying he was leaving Seattle.  He cited crime, out of control homeless population, over-taxation, and over-regulation as the reasons.  

    I decided that since he was not a regular writer for the Times, and just a part time professor, he might be just a regular guy who’d respond to me on Facebook.  And I was right.  I told him I’d read his piece in the paper and wanted to ask him a single question.  I gently let him know I was conservative, that I understood all of the reasons he wanted to leave.  But I wondered, in good faith, if he hadn’t begun to associate his voitng patterns with the results he was seeing.  He said that he had, but he said that in Seattle he had only two choices:  crazy liberal, and super crazy liberal.  He said he’d vote moderate Conservative, but none ever ran.  And he knew why they didn’t run:  they’d never get elected.  

    At least he was honest.  

    • #6
  7. Al French, Count of Clackamas Moderator
    Al French, Count of Clackamas
    @AlFrench

    The Great Adventure! (View Comment):

    Al French, Count of Clackamas (View Comment):

    Oregon is trying hard to keep up. The Supreme Court recently promulgating a rule forbidding ICE from making arrests without a judicial warrant in or around a courthouse. It’s as if they never heard of the supremacy clause.

    I’ve been seeing a $0.50 tax on my Lyft rides home from PDX for several months. Kind of surprised it took Seattle that long to mimic it.

    I haven’t heard anything about a transportation tax. I suspect that what you are seeing is Portland’s Green Energy Initiative gross receipt tax. There is some controversy because Safeway and some other stores are adding it as a tax to receipts instead of raising prices.

    • #7
  8. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    When it was initiated, the “sweetened beverage tax” was pushed as a “tax on distributors”, not a tax on users, and the dumbos in the city government swore that consumers would see no effect.  Yeah, right.  Every single retailer within the city limits puts up big signs noting the effect of that tax on every kind of sweetened beverage they sell, and buyers know how much of the new, higher price is the tax.

    However, most Seattle residents never saw a tax they didn’t like, and there has been very little outcry.  Those who drink sweetened drinks just pay more.

    And the City is raking in the dough.  They are making much more than they even planned for off that tax.

    • #8
  9. Pony Convertible Inactive
    Pony Convertible
    @PonyConvertible

    Seattle has been on my list of places to avoid for a good while.  It looks like it will stay on the list for a long time.  

    • #9
  10. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Pony Convertible (View Comment):

    Seattle has been on my list of places to avoid for a good while. It looks like it will stay on the list for a long time.

    There are still some cool places to go and see in the city and around it.  Just don’t live there…

    • #10
  11. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Spin (View Comment):
    He said he’d vote moderate Conservative, but none ever ran. And he knew why they didn’t run: they’d never get elected.

    This is a problem.  If there are enough voters in Seattle to put in a decent government, they need to be provided with alternatives.  Even a close loss to a Republican challenger might give them a wakeup call – unless they’re already “woke” . . .

    • #11
  12. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    And then, today’s news:

    Man Attacks Multiple People Outside King County Courthouse.

    The streets outside are unsafe.  Stay away.

    • #12
  13. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    And then, today’s news:

    Man Attacks Multiple People Outside King County Courthouse.

    The streets outside are unsafe. Stay away.

    Weird.  We need more fist control . . .

    • #13
  14. Zed11 Inactive
    Zed11
    @Zed11

    Ditto, San Francisco bay area. Mid-peninsula, here, born and raised. Before Silicon Valley was Silicon Valley, or as I like to say, before refrigerators became boxes on desks. (Had an Atari 800 back in the day.)

    Have one eye out the door, for the move. We shall see.

    • #14
  15. drlorentz Member
    drlorentz
    @drlorentz

    RushBabe49: Sound Transit Light Rail boondoggle

    This reminded me of the probably unrelated South Lake Union Trolley, whose (un)fortunate acronym resulted in countless jokes and the official name of the line as South Lake Union Streetcar. It’s said if you miss one, another will be along in a few minutes.

    Now, more than ten years on, how’s it going for the South Lake Union Streetcar? 

    • #15
  16. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    Streetcar is alive but still mostly running nearly empty. 

    • #16
  17. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Why doesn’t someone start a third party.  It can’t be that the entire city is insane.  It’s probably that most folks don’t have the time inclination or interest to take on establishments.  

    • #17
  18. Rightfromthestart Coolidge
    Rightfromthestart
    @Rightfromthestart

    I used to listen to Michael Medved who always waxed ecstatic about Seattle, does anyone know his thoughts on any of this? 
    Has he been attacked by an illegal alien yet? 

    • #18
  19. Larry3435 Inactive
    Larry3435
    @Larry3435

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    People are getting the government for which they voted or failed to vote, good and hard.

    The mystery is why they keep voting for these loony lefties.  Even when they are driven to leave the state, they keep voting for the same loony lefties in their new state.  That is what has happened in Nevada and is happening in Arizona.  People flee California, and then busily go to work turning their new state into California.  Mass insanity.

    • #19
  20. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Zed11 (View Comment):
    Ditto, San Francisco bay area. Mid-peninsula, here, born and raised. Before Silicon Valley was Silicon Valley, or as I like to say, before refrigerators became boxes on desks. (Had an Atari 800 back in the day.)

    Refrigerators?

     

    • #20
  21. Al French, Count of Clackamas Moderator
    Al French, Count of Clackamas
    @AlFrench

    Larry3435 (View Comment):

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    People are getting the government for which they voted or failed to vote, good and hard.

    The mystery is why they keep voting for these loony lefties. Even when they are driven to leave the state, they keep voting for the same loony lefties in their new state. That is what has happened in Nevada and is happening in Arizona. People flee California, and then busily go to work turning their new state into California. Mass insanity.

    Happened in Oregon thirty years ago.

    • #21
  22. Postmodern Hoplite Coolidge
    Postmodern Hoplite
    @PostmodernHoplite

    No way to square this with the American ideal, but I confess to thinking anyone who moves from a deep-blue state to a red one ought to have to post their voting records to their new community. If they ever voted for higher taxes, looney-left initiatives, or Progressive politicians, they ought to be banned from voting for at least ten years (maybe for life…) Want to vote? Move back to where you came from and live with the consequences of your choices.

    • #22
  23. Al Sparks Coolidge
    Al Sparks
    @AlSparks

    I visit Seattle here and there.  Since I live in Alaska, I fly into Sea-Tac a lot on my way to somewhere else.

    I had an exceptionally long layover about 6 months ago and decided to go to a favorite restaurant of mine off of the airport.

    I took a taxi which I was able to hail from the airport.

    The problem was when I was ready to get back to the airport.  I first asked the restaurant to call me a taxi.  Since they serve alcohol I figured that they got those occasional requests from customers who have had a little too much.  Well the taxi never came.  The restaurant didn’t seem to be able to deal with that request.

    So I started trying myself from my cell phone, and they have a convoluted automated system with no human being involved and I couldn’t get it to work.  That’s when I downloaded the Uber app.

    I’m impressed at the app, the fact that it tracks the location of my ride (or gives the illusion that it is) including the giving me of an ETA.

    Now I don’t think I was in Seattle proper for this Excellent Adventure.  But why are the taxis in bigger cities making it so hard to get business?

    • #23
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