For the past five years, like many of its West Coast counterparts, Seattle has endured a steady expansion of homelessness, addiction, mental illness, crime, and street disorder.
Last month, veteran Seattle reporter Eric Johnson of KOMO violated that taboo with a shocking, hour-long documentary called Seattle is Dying, which revealed how the city has allowed a small subset of the homeless population-drug-addicted and mentally-ill criminals-to wreak havoc.
Johnson's portrait is backed up by evidence from King County homelessness data, by city attorney candidate Scott Lindsay's "Prolific offender" report on 100 homeless individuals responsible for more than 3,500 criminal cases, and by my own reporting on the homelessness crisis.
The report has clearly resonated with anxious, fearful, and increasingly angry Seattle residents.
According to leaked documents, the City of Seattle has hired a crisis-communications firm to discredit Johnson and insist, notwithstanding all evidence to the contrary, that "Seattle is making progress to end homelessness, and proven solutions are working." It's quite a strategy: Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan is using taxpayer money to attack a respected local journalist and convince taxpayers that they shouldn't trust their own experience.
Catherine Hinrichsen, director of the Project on Family Homelessness at Seattle University, accused Johnson of "Hate-mongering" and spreading "Fear."
In Seattle, a reckoning on homelessness may not be far off.
https://www.city-journal.org/seattle-residents-rebelling-homelessness
Last month, veteran Seattle reporter Eric Johnson of KOMO violated that taboo with a shocking, hour-long documentary called Seattle is Dying, which revealed how the city has allowed a small subset of the homeless population-drug-addicted and mentally-ill criminals-to wreak havoc.
Johnson's portrait is backed up by evidence from King County homelessness data, by city attorney candidate Scott Lindsay's "Prolific offender" report on 100 homeless individuals responsible for more than 3,500 criminal cases, and by my own reporting on the homelessness crisis.
The report has clearly resonated with anxious, fearful, and increasingly angry Seattle residents.
According to leaked documents, the City of Seattle has hired a crisis-communications firm to discredit Johnson and insist, notwithstanding all evidence to the contrary, that "Seattle is making progress to end homelessness, and proven solutions are working." It's quite a strategy: Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan is using taxpayer money to attack a respected local journalist and convince taxpayers that they shouldn't trust their own experience.
Catherine Hinrichsen, director of the Project on Family Homelessness at Seattle University, accused Johnson of "Hate-mongering" and spreading "Fear."
In Seattle, a reckoning on homelessness may not be far off.
https://www.city-journal.org/seattle-residents-rebelling-homelessness
No comments:
Post a Comment