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The Condition of Seattle Today
The KOMO-Seattle website has a heartbreaking story about what the City of Seattle has become, after a year of pandemic lockdowns and months of rioting and destruction in the downtown core. Here are some quotes from the story, any bolding and italics are mine.
On the ground and in the streets there is a different feel. Businesses sit boarded up. For lease signs dot windows. The COVID-19 pandemic, along with crime, is reshaping the city.
…
Shops that are still open, like Simple Life Clothing, are still struggling. “I try to do my best to keep my good mood, be positive,” said Pamela Morales, owner of Simple Life Clothing. Morales, a native of Peru, said her sales are down 70 percent. On top of the virus – her store was vandalized and looted last summer. “If I decide to stop, I don’t know what will be my other job in the future,” Morales said.
…
In downtown at least 155 businesses have permanently closed their doors. Office vacancy is at roughly 11.6 percent and it’s expected to stay like that for the next few years. In all there’s more than 12 million square feet of office space sitting empty. “We have got some tough challenges to face,” said Jon Scholes, president of the Downtown Seattle Association.
So, what is missing from all these tales of woe in Seattle? Not one business owner or resident even mentions that the government was the source of all the “pandemic shutdowns,” and that Antifa and Black Lives Matter were the “organizations” causing all the looting and vandalism. This indicates that the residents and business owners cannot speak out about the source of all their troubles, and they have absolutely no idea how to solve their problems. All they can do is complain, with no suggested solutions. The DSA director mentions “public safety”, but not a word about the Seattle City Council de-funding that Public Safety, the Police. No one even thinks about replacing the dysfunctional City Council, who are all Leftist Radicals who hate America. Not a word about Dictator Jay Inslee ruling by decree, causing all the business destruction all over the state. They will be content to wait, and mope, and complain until they give up and leave the city. Then what?
[originally posted at RushBabe49.com]
Published in Domestic Policy
Seattle and Portland are the canaries in the coal mine. It seems to me that more and more governors in the sane states of the formerly United States have recognized this.
They might be waiting in hopes of being bailed out by the deplorables.
… and Detroit is just about to turn the corner.
I think it will be more than the next few years.
That’s the comparison that came to mind for me as well. Seattle, however, is a port. Detroit had nothing but auto manufacturing.
Seattle was home port for at least four cruise lines, on the Alaska run. Those cruises are now canceled until next February, costing Seattle millions of tourist dollars, and basically ruining the Alaska cities where those cruise ships stopped. Now, there have been stories for years of cruise-ship passengers being revolted by the state of Seattle’s downtown area, and this year is worse than previous years, saving those tourists their dollars and sensibilities.
Perhaps they mentioned the government but KOMO edited it out.
There will be more than 12 million square feet of vacant office space in the coming months as many current tenants will choose not to renew their leases. Their employees don’t want to live, work, or commute to such a dangerous and depressing environment.
Only the Left can take a vibrant city like Seattle and turn it into a Third World dystopia in such a short period of time.
Also as more companies recognize that their employees want to continue to work from home they won’t need large offices in a central location anymore. There just isn’t a requirement when people can work from anywhere. With Google and Amazon both going work remotely as their primary mode, thousands of their bay area employees are moving out of state. This change in demographics away from urban centers will be interesting and offer many opportunities to people and companies to innovate new ways of living and working. One example is how Microsoft has their new HoloLens 2 offering the ability to interact with others in a holopresence mode that looks a lot like the Jedi Council meetings from Star Wars.
Did you really expect KOMO and other news outlets to mention government and radical groups as the real culprits?
Only if they can spin it on Trump and White Supremacists.
If the real estate market is any indication, Seattle’s is the second hottest in the country with people standing in line to buy. The riots were in certain downtown sections, not all over the entire city.
The Seattle teachers union has just refused to return to the classroom. Seattle Public Schools quality started to deteriorate in the 1960s and just keeps falling.
Just posted at RushBabe49.com:
https://rushbabe49.com/2021/03/04/teachers-unions-killing-american-children/
What happened to Seattle is bad. I just can’t get over how people excused nightly riots but then want to go crazy about the Capitol riot. I know I should get over it but what Congress is doing with the razorwire and National Guard and the way the FBI is just putting up peoples’ faces on twitter is maybe one of the most cynical things I’ve ever seen. Had they been 1/3 as motivated to stop rioters in any large city we may not have had the Capitol. Can’t excuse nightly riots for a month then be outraged that someone thinks rioting is a viable strategy.
It is often said, you get the government you deserve. No city is more deserving of the government they now possess than Seattle.
I try to avoid saying what people deserve but I’ll agree that our political system is responsive enough that you’ll get fairly close to the government you vote for and this is what they voted for. It didn’t happen by accident or sabotage.
GWW, I bet the Eastside, Snohomish, and Pierce County are hotter than Seattle proper.
They probably are as working from home coupled with the downtown deterioration has created a market for a larger, safer place to live.
Today there is a new story on the proliferation of graffiti downtown. The reasons are quite predictable. Defunding of police helps.