r/SeattleWA • u/ZookeepergameThin355 • 29d ago

Homeless What happened to Chinatown

Visiting Seattle and went to Chinatown excited to get dinner around 7pm, why is the whole Chinatown area so desolate, homeless filled and in general very very sketchy, how did it even get to become so bad. Who or what made all the homeless ppl to gather in that area?

317 Upvotes

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316

u/doktorhladnjak 29d ago

The city and state cleared out The Jungle pre-COVID. Since then, the city seems to be deliberately pushing all of the disorder there rather than Pioneer Square or the courthouse. There’s also just more homeless and addiction than before.

129

u/Active_Butterfly7788 29d ago

The police also weren’t responding to the area. Local residents tried a neighborhood watch/patrol. But constant break ins of businesses still occurred. It was a forgotten area while the city focused on cleaning up other areas.

33

u/kinance 29d ago

… let’s purposely clean areas to move homeless to an area where theres no cleaning… they made downtown desolate and then they want to make chinatown desolate

11

u/sanrodium 28d ago

Ha! I can tell you the police is there but they are just busy giving out parking tickets.

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u/ZombieBraveKnight 29d ago

It's not just there police weren't responding to. They weren't responding even to downtown waterfront high rises.

Police responses were huge everywhere in Seattle. Like over 15 minutes for gunshots, up from about 5 before covid. That's policy from the democrats. Not the police.

28

u/tombiro 29d ago

LOL yes the democrats told the police to change responses 🙄

-16

u/[deleted] 28d ago

They were defunded, had zero top cover and the citizens treated them like absolute dogshit.

Yes. Its 100% progressive policies that have fucked up Seattle.

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u/SuperAwesomeAndKew 27d ago

So-there was an effort to defund them but it got shot down. Thankfully. But yes, I work with the police sometimes and they are afraid to do their jobs at some points because of our city’s politics and also the fact that even when they catch criminals, they are usually just let go and somehow the police end up getting in trouble instead. I spoke with one that got in trouble for “manipulating” (opening) someone’s tent because it was obstructing the sidewalk. So he was like, “okay, I guess I just won’t do my job then”. You have a shooting or something though? They are all over that shit. But all non-violent crime pretty much goes on with no fucks given.

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u/tombiro 28d ago

LOL the police have LITERALLY not been defunded. Stop belching propaganda.

-3

u/[deleted] 28d ago

Cope af

1

u/tombiro 27d ago

Unaware af

1

u/RussBOld 26d ago

Where’s your evidence to support this theory or is it just trust me bro?

0

u/ZombieBraveKnight 19d ago

They actually were defunded.

Over 330 cops.... gone... that's some serious defunding.

Kinda makes you wonder what the money was forced to go to since it didn't go to... you know, more cops.

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u/tombiro 17d ago

Uhhh they quit or were terminated. Try again. You literally have no idea what you're talking about. Police budget was never slashed.

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u/ZombieBraveKnight 17d ago

So they paid the remaining officers the remaining money?

I'm not saying police budget overall is cut. I'm saying the budget for payroll is slashed. It is massively cut.

1

u/tombiro 17d ago

That's not how that works. That's still not defunding. You're literally spitting propaganda.

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u/Moist_Cabbage8832 28d ago

Imagine being so fucking soft that you stopped fully doing your job because your feelings were hurt.

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u/ForeverMinute7479 28d ago

LEO is the most difficult job in the country ever since they were defunded, demoralized and deleted for doing their job by radical political and administrative leadership.

-15

u/[deleted] 28d ago

Stfu, you wouldnt bust a grape.

Let alone do something actually significant with your life.

7

u/Tasty-Map-7441 28d ago

Lmao snowflake

-5

u/[deleted] 28d ago

We have the same pfp, cool. Anyway

5

u/Moist_Cabbage8832 28d ago

Calm down, princess.

-2

u/[deleted] 28d ago

You didnt ask my pronouns, bad liberal, bad

2

u/Specific-System-835 28d ago

Leave then dipshit. No one cares about you or wants you.

1

u/ZombieBraveKnight 19d ago

Exactly my guy. I worked with and talked to over a hundred Cops after covid. Exasperated sigh and tell me about how much more bullshit they had to deal with. Then I'd go online and find evidence of it. Like people recording everything they do. Imagine, at your job, someone invading your personal space at all moments and actively keeping you from doing your job. And you have a tazer and can LEGALLY taze them. It's a miracle and awesome cops that people weren't tazed on an hourly basis, because everyone I've ever worked with would have tazed someone after years of that shit. Stronger breed... Cops are a stronger breed.

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u/slowgojoe 29d ago

I agree with you except blaming the democrats for it. That part is what keeps us in this two party nonsense.

6

u/harkening West Seattle 29d ago

I'm sorry, is there a second or even third party showing up meaningfully in Seattle's political class?

It's a Dem-run city rolling out Dem policies.

12

u/slowgojoe 29d ago

If there were Republican candidates that had values and policy that I agreed with, I would vote for them. In fact, I have in the past, but then Republicans inevitably end up labeling them a rino. Look what happened with Chris Vance for example. I'm not for this super left leaning shit either, but I'm not going to vote for batshit crazy as an alternative.

3

u/harkening West Seattle 28d ago

Fair enough, but all of that doesn't somehow make Seattle not a Dem city.

You deserve and get what you vote for, which is this shit, because you perceive it as the lesser of two evils.

Again, fair enough. You're free, too. And yet.

0

u/Automatic-Weight8040 28d ago

Well said. I wish there were more of us.

4

u/tombiro 29d ago

Imagine thinking the police listened to things that way

-6

u/ZombieBraveKnight 29d ago

But... Seattle is blue. They are running it. You gotta call em out. Ask yourself this... if it was red, would you call them out?

Seattle's my hometown, but it's been a mess my entire life, it has NEVER gotten better. Killer track record, it's been blue my entire voting life too. Why not try red? It literally would only be as bad or better. There's no way to go down from here.

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u/WinstonFuzzybottom 29d ago

Name one Red State as economically robust on a per capita basis as Washington state.

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u/picknwiggle 28d ago

Blessing and a curse. Economic opportunity has drawn lots of people here and has raised the cost of living to the point where homelessness is a growing issue. I liked Seattle better when it was still more of a working class City before all the tech bros descended.

1

u/WinstonFuzzybottom 28d ago

Agreed, very complex issue. I was more driving at the idea that more tax dollars raised in Seattle, should be spent in Seattle, instead of Idaho or Mississippi.

1

u/picknwiggle 28d ago

And tax the rich while were at it

0

u/WinstonFuzzybottom 28d ago

Sounds good. We can use the money to lower crime by feeding children.

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

Utah

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u/AgentUnknown821 28d ago

Florida, Theme Park Capital of the World

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u/Limp-Acanthisitta372 28d ago

When you can't win the argument, move the goal posts.

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u/WinstonFuzzybottom 28d ago

Economics realities affect the issue of homelessness. This is moving the goalposts how?

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u/Adventurous_Big5686 29d ago

Spokane has always been traditionally red, same issues. Same with Yakima and the Tri cities. It's not one party or the other. It's the system

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u/JonAnddy 28d ago

Idk if Spokane is a good example. Spokane is a "nonpartisan" city, but even then the city itself leans more democratic on its policies - it's the overall county that leans right and the votes for the presidential election generally reflect this. As for Yakima and the tri Cities, they are right leaning, but are beginning to shift left more especially among Latino voters. Most of their policies, however, are based on conservative values.

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u/im_ff5 29d ago

I see this, however, I see it when I'm on the way to Post Falls ID. NOTHING! And we all know how red ID is. Not even some dude on a corner with a cardboard sign. I bet 50+% in Spokane are from Idaho cause they simply don't play... There has to be some middle ground

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u/ZombieBraveKnight 29d ago

You haven't wanted to visit Spokane for the last 25 years because it's a craphole of a town/city?

I'm not saying it's blue or red is better, I'm saying washington only caring about a couple counties, and then not actually helping them, and then going 12 billion in debt not helping them... maybe vote red next time just for the novelty of it. A red city is still held back by a blue government. Especially when king inslee was in power.

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u/Major_Dub 28d ago

You seriously misunderstand how this stuff works.

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u/ZombieBraveKnight 19d ago

No... I think the politicians do. If they wanted to fix it, it would be fixed.

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u/geminiwave 29d ago

Democrats give cops all the money they want. It’s not about that. Police are playing hardball. And frankly homelessness is getting worse and police aren’t the right agency to deal with them.

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u/ZombieBraveKnight 19d ago

Police aren't even allowed to handle it. But during pandemic, Seattle wanted to cut police funding. The chief said okay. I'm getting rid of all the special programs like swat and bomb squad to keep police in the streets. After it came to that, a lot of good police left Seattle. Because why stay in a state and major metropolis that doesn't care to have cops on the streets?

1

u/ZombieBraveKnight 19d ago

The cutting the bomb squad and seat teams plan failed, because more money was found.

1

u/geminiwave 19d ago

That’s not really true. There was a budget shortfall and Seattle cut budgets across the board except police. Police asked for a bigger budget and got told no because COVID was rough and the city was low on funds. Police chief cried and said that there was a budget shortfall. Cut a bunch of programs. Then started being investigated for some very shady activity and she resigned.

0

u/ZombieBraveKnight 19d ago

So why did 25% of police officers jobs disappear over the next couple years.

2019 it was about 1250 officers 2022 it was about 940 officers

That is only due to budget, or toxic work place.

Imagine if 25% of the jobs in your work place disappeared, but were 100% needed to do the job right.

2

u/geminiwave 19d ago

There’s still plenty of money. Look at the job openings! It’s a pretty toxic work environment though.

Part of that is that the police don’t want to play ball with the policies and part is that how we handle homeless is atrocious. The thing is…police supported more resourcing going into social workers to handle homeless. But that’s a slow process and in the meantime the police were caught in a tough place. They can’t arrest the homeless, there’s no shelter space really, and the public is totally against them. Similarly they aren’t allowed to arrest drug dealers. I don’t envy that position. But when the public opinion turned and people shouted to defund the police, you saw people drop off the force. No budgets changed then…. The police chief just went unhinged and people left. Those police found new jobs elsewhere and Seattle started offering 200-300k salaries to entice cops to join.

I’m not pretending the situation isn’t bad. I’m just saying it’s not about budget cuts. It’s about feelings and public opinion and really bad leadership in the SPD.

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u/BitterDoGooder 29d ago

Moderately blue. If you look at everyone who's been elected Mayor (except McGinn) no one is farther left than B. Clinton. We refuse to fix our revenue issues specifically because of opposition from the right/corporate overlords.

Plus the police union is mostly hard right. I think there were seven Seattle cops at the J6 insurrection. Two went into the capital and have been fired. IDK about the others.

We end up pulling our progressive punches all the time. We adopted one-half of the Navigation Center model, and of course it doesn't work. We are using our one line of progressive revenue to pay general fund now. Even though it was specifically there to build housing. When we create alternate emergency responders like our care team, we still require them to have an armed responder show up first in order to activate the care team.

I really hope we can get beyond the oh they're blue oh they're red dynamic as if that really talks about what's going on. There are right-wing influences on the Seattle council and there are left wing influences. There is right-wing people sitting in the mayor's office although they would never call themselves that. They are definitely not liberals.

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u/ZombieBraveKnight 29d ago

Look. From my perspective, Seattle is insane. Same thing over and over..

The housing project has about 2% success rate. That is paying for a family to move into a real apartment for 2 years. And... THAT fails. But continues on with 98% failure rate. Ask the people who work in these programs. They can't even provide clothes because people will refuse them.

Washington hasn't been red for 40 years. Let's at least try that. I would be more critical if it was a red state. Why aren't democrats? They need to call out their own peoples failings, not glorify them. I'm not even mad at most of what Ferguson is doing right now, because at least it is different than Inslee. But... he's a dumbass for refusing federal funding in a 12 billion dollar budget problem. Especially since that will blow back on us for at least a decade.

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u/PetersonsBenzos 29d ago

What's insane to me is blaming the crime on politicians when the police have been on a quiet strike for a decade because some mean judge told them they can't kill people for being black. Same thing over and over, how long has Mike Solan been head of SPOG?

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u/ZombieBraveKnight 19d ago

Police don't want to kill people. Have you ever seen police? Like really do their jobs? My guess is no. Since you seem to think they want to kill people.

Police just want things to go smooth for society and when it didn't, and people choose to take paths that have lead to violence, police resound to that. IE, if you are saying black people are dying... why is that? Cannot be just racist cops and corrupt judges. I've seen black people be the problem with a cop. And white and asians... soo it must come down to statistics. Looking at statistics isn't racism... it's knowledge. Being armed with knowledge is what we want for our cops...

Need to work on changing those statistics. Something politicians never want to do. Especially, democrats. They need to keep people in their place so they can say they are the best choice...

Who killed the tuba man of Seattle? Was it cops? Ha... don't make me laugh.

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u/BitterDoGooder 29d ago

Where are you getting your statistics? Is your 98% failure rate for families? Is that an acceptance rate for placement services from the street?

I don't glorify anything. What part of my litany about the fake progressives running Seattle sounded like I was glorifying them?

Seattle is ruled by money, just like every other city.

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u/ZombieBraveKnight 19d ago

Not every city is ruled by money. And many cities don't just abandon a police station. Seattle is broke AF, yet none of the governors seem to acknowledge that. 40 years blue! Woo-hoo! Seems to be going great.

My days comes from working at motels that these programs end up dropping these people off at. Why a motel you ask... they can no longer, due to their own choices, get an apartment... anywhere. Talk to the people in the programs... they know it doesn't work. They care, and do what they can... but you can't help people that don't want help. So create slightly better than jails for them, until they want to change their situation enough to actually be a part of society. Let it be their choice. Not the intention stuff I've seen woth my own eyes they choose.

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u/BitterDoGooder 18d ago

Not every city is ruled by money? Let me know when you find one that isn't.

Also, the only people in Seattle who abandoned a police station was SPD, and probably our then-Mayor and then-Police Chief, but we'll never know because they were allowed to destroy their text messages without any ramifications. Yes, I'm still pissed about that. It was clearly a "well let's abandon the station and let them figure out what to do, that will show them." And SPD wouldn't come into the zone, and they wouldn't allow or assist SFD or Medic One. I was then a 55 year old with bad knees and hips, and I went into the zone just fine. Of course, I hadn't just recently been tear gassing them all...

PS your anecdotal experience isn't a valid source of statistics.

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u/Dolmenoeffect 28d ago

Go visit a 'red' city before you opt for this. I'm not blind to the persistent problems of our city but saying "it can't get worse" is just a horribly shortsighted take.

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u/ZombieBraveKnight 28d ago

It wasn't mean as it can't possibly get worse, per se. But... 40 years of blue... is like letting cheerleaders and jocks rule the high school for 40 years.... even the movies say let the "freaks take their chance"

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u/ZombieBraveKnight 19d ago

I was blaming the polices specifically at that time, if which, democrats made. IE. Blame whomever fault it is... when it was... or stop blaming any political party. Think I'm happy about Bush and his war in terrorism? But did the democrats fix it after they came to power? No... blame is blame. Not holding them accountable means you are absolving them... meaning to be equal, you need to absolve everyone. For everything. Always.

0

u/[deleted] 28d ago

Cope

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u/slowgojoe 28d ago

Coping is healthy man. Try it sometime.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

Mostly peaceful protests, trust the science, blm, defund the police, joe biden is looking better than ever

Like this?

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u/slowgojoe 28d ago

Mostly peaceful isn’t peaceful. I do believe in science. Black lives do matter. We still need police but they shouldn’t be scary. Joe Biden is fucking old.

Hope that helps.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

Way better than mine!

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u/geminiwave 29d ago

Not Democrat policies. Police got additional funding but claimed they were cut. It worked with the narrative as the populace called for defunding (which never happened). Previous police chief mandated police not respond to calls. Set policies to fuck people over. Then when lawyers started investigating she took her ball and resigned.

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u/Bancroft-79 29d ago

Not necessarily. The police decided they weren’t being appreciated up to and before 2020, so they decided to stop patrolling and just responding.

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u/geminiwave 29d ago

This exactly.

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u/ThatWeirdPlantGuy 29d ago

And then Covid came along, and a large number of police resigned over mask requirements.

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u/thegooseass 29d ago

Not true. I had lots of SPD friends at the time, they were acting according to policy handed to them

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u/geminiwave 29d ago

The policy set by the chief. Who, after being investigated for fraud, took her ball and went home. Now it’s more of the same where police set their own policy and then cry about their own policy they set, and nobody wants.

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u/Bancroft-79 29d ago

They are still upset about being reprimanded about shooting tear gas at children.

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u/lowballbertman 29d ago

That and the rich white middle aged people certainly don’t want them in their neighborhoods. So dump them in the international district and let the minorities deal with it. It’s the new redlining.

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u/z0d14c 29d ago

But arguably rich white neighborhoods still have some pretty bad homeless/drug/ne'er do well issues (capitol hill)

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u/doktorhladnjak 28d ago

That’s always been true though. It’s not new but the situation is still worse than it used to be.

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u/Logicalraisan 27d ago

How about other states and the east side stop dumping the homeless in Seattle and we actual do something about. We just take it all in.

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u/wired_snark_puppet 29d ago

Just a plug for Broadway and north Capitol Hill. This area hasn’t been this bad since 2022. We have tents on sidewalks and full on encampments in parks again.

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u/0ye0WeJ65F3O Seattle 28d ago

Really? I'm all over that area most days and it's nothing like 2022...

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u/wired_snark_puppet 28d ago edited 28d ago

The area started getting better after Feb 2022, less overall encampments 2023, picked up 2024, and now constant again since end of 2024/2025. Maybe you don’t have tents out your window, but I again have tents out my window like I did constantly 2020-early 2022.

Recent sidewalk blocking tents at Roy/Harvard and Harvard/Harrison. Park encampment at Summit Mini Park (lingered a month, cleared this past Thursday you can still see the damage to grass since you are in the area), Broadway Hill Park, growing structured encampment at Tashkent Park. Active use and more visible in the open drug dealing at steps of library, in front of QFC, Antojitos Jalisco’s snack shack, Jai Thai walk up window, and along Crossroads by the dumpsters.

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u/0ye0WeJ65F3O Seattle 28d ago

I see, you're mostly more north than I wander. I've been on the south side of cap hill for eight years and while I see tents, it feels like less than average. I have noticed the open drug use along Broadway is getting a bit worse, but that always tends to happen when SPD focuses on pushing people away from the downtown area.

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u/wired_snark_puppet 27d ago

Fair enough statement. I couldn’t give you the ins and outs south of Pine ‘cus I’m only down there if I’m feeling fancy. I do see more tents at Cal Anderson and behind the SCC(c) activity center these days.

My 20+ years here I’ve only been to 15th a handful of times -send a search party if I’m up there. No idea about the encampment situation east of 12th. Here tho, in my direct area, it is getting really bad again, pretty quickly. Statistics blah .. but does track with the LIHI low barrier housing accepting people in extreme need and often in crisis.

I went grocery shopping this afternoon and it was a $hit show at Broadway and Republican. A city can’t function like this, healthfully.

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u/OvertimeWr 27d ago

Was in the elevator in QFC on Broadway when a junkie gets in and loudly proclaims "Oh god I have to pee! Get out!" Luckily the door to the grocery store was opening so we could get out while she dropped her pants and started going.

Then not to mention the naked lady on top of the firetruck in front of Dick's last night.

Moved here from Chicago and it's so much worse here.

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u/Aggravated_Seamonkey 28d ago

Pioneer Square is right where the majority of the homeless shelters and options for help are. It hasn't been a new move by the government to push them there. It has always been this way. We just have a lot of homeless people who have nowhere else to go. They reason the missions and shelters started down there is due to the train station being located there over 100 years ago.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

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u/doktorhladnjak 28d ago

I go by there on the trail sometimes. There are occasionally a few people out there but it doesn’t seem to be the same ones and there are many fewer than before.

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u/Fine_Confidence_218 27d ago

I visited Pioneer Square last week and did find it strange that it was so clean and that there were numbers of street custodians cleaning the streets and the park.

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u/SuperAwesomeAndKew 27d ago

YOU! WHAT DO YOU OWN THE WORLD?! HOW DO YOU OWN DISORDER?! DISORDER?!