Two months ago, I did a post about a Great City brownbag, where people came together from around the city to brainstorm ideas for how to revitalize Pioneer Square. Shortly after posting it, someone commented that we hadn’t included any homeless in the discussion. At the time, I was annoyed at the comment because anyone was welcome to attend the brownbag, and I think I drafted like 5 or 6 responses, which I never ended up posting. Instead, I decided to take his/her advice and ask someone from the homeless community what they thought could change in Pioneer Square.
Meet George Hazel.
George is originally from Virginia, and has been in Seattle for almost two years now. His background includes divorce, drugs, alcohol, and a downward spiral that almost destroyed his life.
By the time George made it to Seattle, he was already off of drugs and alcohol, but still needed help to get his life back on track. He was accepted into the Bread of Life’s LifeChange program, and started what he calls “a grueling, 12 month program.”
When I asked him what made the program so difficult, he said that “when you’re coming from an addictive past, whatever that addiction might be, it has you in bondage, and is something that makes you feel defeated. You say to yourself ‘I know I’m better than this — why am I letting this thing hold me down?’ It’s hard to think — what if I had never gotten into drugs or alcohol — I could be in a very different place right now. That’s the most difficult part of being in a program. You’re in the program because you misjudged and dropped the ball and you have to come to terms with that.”
After completing the LifeChange program in March of this year, he continued to live at the Bread of Life Mission (BOLM), but is now part of the staff.
Having lived in Pioneer Square for almost two years now, and having a unique perspective on homelessness, I asked George what his perceptions of the neighborhood were. He said that he sees homeless with cups, hats, gloves, scarves — whatever they can hold out for money — and he thinks to himself– “how can people sit around here and walk past somebody every day that’s going through something and they don’t ask themselves what they can do to help this person out. Someone asks for 50 cents, and people act like they’re asking for their social security number.”
Through his own personal experiences, George knows what it’s like to be in that situation, and the feelings of hopelessness that surround it. “I know that feeling of there’s no way out — no one loves me, no one cares about me. To get out of that, you have to get to the point with yourself where you say enough is enough.” But to get out of that situation, he says, you need someone that cares about you — you need people to show more compassion.
In the Bread of Life program, George received the compassion he needed and had people surrounding him that genuinely wanted him to succeed, and that’s one of the things he believes Pioneer Square needs have more of in order to facilitate any type of change.
We talked about the debate surrounding aggressive panhandling and the opinion of many that if people just stop giving money to those who ask for it, it will stop the problem with the people who are overly aggressive about it. Although George agreed that one of the best things someone can do is to give money to the shelters who have the experience and resources to really help people, he also feels that people on the street shouldn’t be shunned.
“I work in the shelter and I still see the same guys out in the streets that get food at the BOLM, and they’re saying ‘George, George… can I have some money?’ And I don’t do it every time, but I do it at least once a week. I’ll give them a dollar or 50 cents. Why? Because even though I know that they might go and get a beer, or whatever — at that point, it’s their choice. If they have an addiction, they might not be able to get out of it. But we have to sit back and look at the person and discern if they’re sincere about being hungry, thirsty, or trying to catch the bus. If you give something to somebody out of the sincerity of your heart — then it becomes between that person and God what they do with the money. If you don’t give it to them because you assume they’ll spend it on drugs, then you’re judging them.”
I asked him if he felt that’s the main thing that people who live and work in Pioneer Square can do to change, and he responded that it wasn’t only in Pioneer Square — it’s down by the space needle, out in the U District, in Capitol Hill, etc.
“If people stop walking past people because they feel like their life is together, and they went to school, and they got a job and they think that everyone could do the same thing. And for many of those guys, if they could do the same thing, they would be doing the same thing.”
George personally comes from a middle class preacher’s family where both his mother and father have their Bachelor’s degrees. He emphasizes that he didn’t come from the scums, but through the course of his life, ran into problems that ended up with him being homeless.
And when he felt he had hit a low, what took him further down was people who were always criticizing. “You feel like you’re already in a hopeless situation and that people just don’t care — it takes you further down.” But if someone had looked at him and not seen the potential, he knows he wouldn’t be where he is today. There were one or two people that said to him, “George – I think you can do better than this.”
George knows that if there were more people out there, not just in Pioneer Square, not just downtown, but throughout the Greater Seattle area, that showed that they cared that things could change.
“People need to start asking themselves – ‘what can we do to help, not what can we do to complain?’ It’s easy to complain.” It’s not as easy to take action and make a difference, though.
One of those ways is for other neighborhoods to become more aware of the issues surrounding homelessness and see it as a something that they can get involved in. It’s easy to send all of the homeless down to Pioneer Square, or Belltown, where services are set up, but that ghettoizes the homeless population. It send a message that they should only feel comfortable in certain neighborhoods, but that they don’t belong elsewhere. (the Ride Free zone also contributes to this restriction of movement)
According to George, a lot of homeless men don’t feel safe in Pioneer Square where they’re easily preyed on by drug dealers or have a fear of having things stolen or being attacked when sleeping outdoors. There are a lot individuals who utilize services at the Compass Center, Bread of Life, or the Union Gospel Mission that are trying to make their lives better and get out of homelessness. “It’s tough to be homeless in Pioneer Square if you’re trying to get better,” George said. It would be great to have more support for programs that really try to place individuals in affordable housing and integrate them more into all of the neighborhoods throughout King County.
George made a lot of interesting statements throughout our conversation, and I mentioned near the end that I was either going to title the post “It’s a heart condition” (which he stated early on) or his phrase about helping instead of complaining. He asked if I would use the latter and said that if we all started looking at how we could help more, instead of spending time and energy complaining, issues such as homelessness would start to get better, and in turn, Pioneer Square would start to get better.
To see more of George’s story of going through the Bread of Life Program, check out this clip on YouTube.
Every January, volunteers throughout Seattle and King County come together in a combined effort to determine the number of homeless people who are either sleeping in the streets or in shelters. This effort is called the “One Night Count” (see posts here and here). The number of people counted for 2010 was a staggering 8,559.
In an effort to reduce the number of homeless people in Seattle, the Bread of Life Mission has started a campaign called “Each Person Counts” to help draw attention to the cause and to bring people together to change the trajectory of homelessness in Seattle.
The Each Person Counts campaign offers t-shirts for sale that have a number on the front – every shirt that you purchase will represent one homeless person in King County. The number on the shirt will continue to count up until they reach 8,559 shirts; at that point, every homeless person that was counted will be represented by someone who cared enough to contribute to the campaign. 100% of the profits will be used towards the cost of providing food and shelter to one of their overnight homeless guests at the Mission.
While they are at the Mission, they will be presented with options and opportunities to end their personal battle with homelessness.
To see a video promoting this campaign, click here. To make your donation and get your t-shirt, click here (and check out their t-shirt counter that shows how many more they need to reach their goal).
The Bread of Life is an incredible mission in Pioneer Square (see a post regarding their Drive by Fooding Program here, or a post introducing 5 bread of life residents). When talking to Leah Swindon, the Marketing + Communications Director, about their Drive-by-Fooding program, she also mentioned this great voucher program that they have.
What it is / How it works:
If someone on the street stops and asks you for money or food, you can hand them a voucher for a free night’s stay (+ two meals) at the Bread of Life Mission in Pioneer Square. When you request the vouchers, BOLM notes your specific ticket numbers so that they can track what happens to them. If someone uses a voucher you gave them for shelter, BOLM will send an email to you that thanks you, and that because of you, someone had a place to sleep that night.
They also get the opportunity while they are there to learn more about their programs and to possible enroll or continue to get help.
What the voucher includes:
The individual would need to be there by 5:30pm where they get the following:
- A shower
- A bed (not a mat)
- 2 meals – dinner + breakfast
* BOLM is for men only, although they do offer food and clothing services for women
How to get the vouchers:
Email Leah or Katie – you can request them by mail or if you’re in the area (they’re located on 1st & Main), feel free to stop by and pick them up, and possibly take a tour of the facilities. If you have more questions, call 206-682-3579.
Other information:
In the next week or two, I have a post coming that will talk about more of the programs that they offer, but here are a few details. For a person to stay at the shelter, they pay $5/night and have to be in line by 5:30pm (and don’t leave until 6 the next morning). Every single individual is breathalized and has to attend ½ hr of an inter-denominational chapel before eating. The BOLM doesn’t consider their mission to be secondary housing, but works to get individuals the help they need to get back on their feet.
They utilize around 60 volunteers a month and their costs for an individual per night is $15.14. To learn more about their program or to get involved, check out their website.
Update:
I have contacted Real Change and we have a meeting + tour planned. After talking with friends and coworkers, I realize that when I posted this a week or so ago, that I framed the conversation in the wrong way. I think Real Change is an incredible organization and they do great things for the region’s homeless. Pioneer Square is also a model community for how they deal with homelessness and the low income population. Even though we have under 2,500 residents, we have a history of great relationships with the shelters and human services located here. What it really comes down to is that homelessness is a city-wide issue, not a neighborhood issue, and there are a few factors that lead many of the services to locate in Pioneer Square (history, the free ride zone, etc.) What I’m doing now is working on a dialogue with Real Change, with the Homeless Intervention Director for the City’s Human Services Dept, and other organizations to talk about broadening the support for the homeless community and not sending the message to the homeless/low income that they should only feel comfortable in one or two neighborhoods. This is a long update, but I wanted to add it to this post in case anyone comes back to read it, but I’m not quite ready for a new post yet.
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Every now and then, I do a search for “Pioneer Square” on twitter to see what people are talking about and if there’s something new going on that I may not have heard about. A few weeks ago, I came across this announcement on Real Change’s twitter page:
To be honest – I was shocked. I know some people feel like they have a few too many human services in their neighborhood, but there’s no doubt that Pioneer Square has the highest concentration. When the Pioneer Square neighborhood plan was being worked on, one of the issues that was stressed was that there should be a moratorium on new human services moving in or current human services expanding.
Just to be very clear — I am supportive of many of the human services in our neighborhood. This isn’t about whether a human service is good or bad or if you love them or hate them — it’s about the fact that if you have a concentration of services in one neighborhood, it sends the message that that’s the only place they should feel comfortable being. Not in other “nicer” neighborhoods, but yes, you are welcome in Pioneer Square.
I called Real Change to find out more information about the move because I couldn’t find anything on their blog or website or twitter. Real Change was very open and willing to talk about it. Apparently they are supposed to open May 24th in their new location on Main between 1st + Western. When I asked them if they were worried about potential objections from the neighborhood, they said that the Landlord was satisfied with the measures and precautions they take.
Which isn’t really an answer.
In an email, however, they gave the reasons for their move:
“In my conversations with donors, businesses and community leaders, people are excited for our move to the area.“
Not sure what people they’ve been talking to — no one seems to have known about it until it showed up on twitter. That means that they haven’t even reached out to the Pioneer Square Board, or other leaders in the community.
“Our relocation to Pioneer Square serves several objectives to us, to the community as a whole and to our vendors. Moving outside of the Downtown area, as many non-profits have done, is not practical for our vendors or our community. Pioneer Square is affordable and in need of vibrant businesses and organizations like ours. We aim to be good neighbors, as we have been for 15 years in Belltown.”
I understand why they want to stay downtown, however, we are very aware and open regarding the problems that we’re having with homelessness and drug dealing down here — similar to Belltown, but we have it more concentrated. Bringing their vendors down here is going to expose them to the drug dealers that target the population of people who utilize the existing services in the area. One Real Change vendor even recently said that she was nervous about coming to Pioneer Square to pick up her papers and wasn’t sure if she would continue with the program.
Continuing in the email, they then stated how they would help the neighborhood:
What we bring to Pioneer Square is a staff of 12 employees and 4 full-time interns, as well as many volunteers and donors, who will be in the area daily- buying lunch, buying parking, shopping on their lunch breaks and bringing their families and friends into the area.
Not to be overly cynical, but 16 staffers don’t really outweigh the queuing of 400 vendors that is going to take place [as I mentioned above -- setting up yet another target for the drug dealers], or the fact that it’s contributing to Pioneer Square becoming a one stop shop for most of Seattle’s homeless.
Morning queue at Lazarus Day Center + known location of heavy drug and alcohol usage and fighting
Because of the decision of Elliott Bay Book Co to move at the end of this month, our neighborhood has received a lot of attention. We have a revitalization committee led by OED, and a lot of people working on activating the neighborhood, as well as articles and TV features.
There are a lot of people working really hard on this neighborhood right now and no matter how good Real Change is for homelessness, it just feels like taking a step in the wrong direction.
If Real Change really wants to be a good neighbor and to be a part of the neighborhood, it would have been nice if they had done some outreach and met with PSCA and other Pioneer Square business owners and residents to talk about how their move would affect Pioneer Square, and even how being located in our neighborhood could affect the vendors in their program.
I’m very supportive of what they’re doing for homelessness and I would just hope they would be equally supportive of what we’re trying to do for our neighborhood. I would also hope that the landlords who are leasing out spaces would be mindful of how each tenant can help/hurt Pioneer Square.
I have to be honest — when I initially saw this advertised, my first reaction was negative. Over the past 8 months, I have heard a lot of feedback from Pioneer Square residents that they are tired of church organizations and people with good intentions coming to our neighborhood to feed the homeless. Oftentimes, they leave our parks full of trash, and when confronted about picking it up, they get angry and don’t feel like it’s their responsibility. It also brings more and more homeless to our neighborhood — people ask why they don’t advertise that they’ll feed them in their neighborhood.
After talking to the Marketing + Communications Director for the Bread of Life, however, their event is different.
“The Bread of Life’s intent is not to be a band-aid,” she said. “When someone comes here for a meal, they realize that there is a transitional opportunity and there is a program and a way to step out of this cycle of homelessness. When we are in the park, we are also marketing that opportunity to the people on the streets.”
The have done this three times already– usually the third Saturday of the month, and plan to keep up the program. In January, a homeless person talked to someone in BOLM’s Life Change program about how he changed his life. He later came down and signed up for their program. They also see it as a way for the men in their Life Change program to give back.
They send out runners to the train station, occidental park, places they know there are homeless — telling them where the food is, with the goal of spreading the word about getting off the streets and changing their lives.
In that way, they are different than many of the other groups that come to our neighborhood. Plus, they have their own trash receptacles and make sure to clean up after each event.
When: Saturday, February 27th from 1 – 4pm (volunteers meet at 12:45 for a safety/info briefing)
Where: Meet at the Bread of Life Mission (1st + Main)
One group will set up by the courthouse park, and a second team will go out in a van to a few spots in Seattle where homeless usually gather (under an overpass or by the West Seattle Bridge, I-5 and Pike Place Market)
For more information, click here to email our volunteer coordinator or visit their website.
See how many of these questions you know: (no cheating)
- The number of Senators in Washington
- The number of Representatives in the WA House of Reps
- The number of legislative districts with low-income people
- The name of your Senator and two reps?
- The state gem
(answers listed at the end of the post)
These are just a few of the things that we learned at the “Beyond the One Night Count” workshop hosted by SKCCH and Catholic Community Services. Almost 1,000 individuals showed up in the hours of 2-5 in the morning to count homeless out on the streets of Seattle.
For those who were interested in doing more than a few hours of service, BONC was set up to teach people about how they can become advocates for homelessness. After detailing a few bills coming up for vote, including the Housing Trust Fund, and the Disability Lifeline, we were lucky to hear from the main speaker, Nancy Amidei. Amidei has been called a “relentless advocate for changing public policy to better serve the most vulnerable populations.”
She kept the audience laughing while teaching us how to become advocates – and not just for homelessness, but general tips for how to get more involved. One of the problems with our system is that the people who are going down to advocate seem to fit a certain stereotype: they have money (+ can afford to be down there often), they’re retired, and are usually white. This is a problem for the bills that need to be passed regarding human services and affordable housing – there simply aren’t the right type of people there that can advocate for them.
She listed five things that you can do anytime, anywhere and said that they all come from one simple fact: Advocacy just means speaking up.
- Be sure you’re signed up for a good legislative alert group that can monitor your issues
- Communicate – write, call, visit “The most effective is the one you will use.”
- Empower others – bills need a lot of votes
- Advertise your issue
- TALK! Think of opportunities wherever you are
As a retired teacher, Amidei gave us a lengthier quiz than listed at the beginning of this post, but let’s see how you did:
- 49
- 98
- all of them
- http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
- petrified wood
If you’re interested in getting involved and possibly taking a trip down to Olympia to meet your Senator and/or Representatives, Amidei said she’d be happy to be your personal guide.
Link to Part 1, Social
Link to Part 2, Economic
Link to Part 3, Political
Link to Part 4, Physical
The Revitalization Committee for Pioneer Square is meeting again tomorrow morning (open to the public) to continue the discussion about revitalizing our neighborhood. I’ve been posting clips from the presentation, but if you’d like to see the whole 60 min presentation, click here.
Realities and Observations
- There is a sense among Pioneer Square stakeholders that the commercial district is suffering.
- Declining rents, vacancies and deferral of major reinvestment projects support this premise.
- However these characteristics are true of commercial districts all over America, and the primary forces creating these consequences are national in scope and beyond the ability of one city, state or region to quickly overcome them.
- But even in its current condition, Pioneer Square is one of the great historic commercial districts in the country.
- The quality level of the retailers in Pioneer Square is very high, and a vast majority of them are independent, locally owned businesses.
- There seems to be an inadequate recognition by Pioneer Square stakeholders of how extraordinary this commercial district is.
- The number and quality of great historic buildings in Pioneer Square is certainly the major defining characteristic and strength of the district. At the same time the “edginess” and concentration of locally owned businesses is also an asset. But both “edginess” and independent merchants are fragile assets. In economic downturns, many independent merchants struggle to simply survive. In economic boom times the “edginess” can often be lost in a wave of cash and investment from national chains who prefer a more antiseptic environment.
- The clients of Pioneer Square social service providers (who are readily apparent in the district) are seen as a significant adverse factor on both commercial activity and more market rate residential development in the district.
- There is a concentration of social service providers (and, therefore, their clients) in Pioneer Square.
- Many of these service providers predate any of the existing businesses in Pioneer Square. Further, many own their own buildings and are not going elsewhere.
- There seems to be a significant difference among social service providers their sense of responsibility for their clients once they leave their facilities.
- The congregation of unemployed and often homeless persons in a relatively small commercial district does create a sense of uneasiness among many customer and stakeholder groups.
- The criminal predators – drug dealers and others – exacerbate the sense of unsafety and frequently target the homeless and their not-infrequent addictions and physical and mental health conditions.
- The reality is that people who may have a bed but neither a job nor a daytime residence have to be somewhere. And until there is a day center for them to go, they will be on the street.
- While there is a role for police in addressing these issues, it is not solely a police function.
- While being homeless is not a crime there should be an expectation of civility in an urban context, and many of the actions of some of the homeless far cross the civility threshold.
- At the same time there is a political position among some advocacy groups that the expectation of civil and hygienic behavior is a violation of some imaginary “right”. The concept of rights without responsibilities violates the basic principles which functioning urban life requires.
- This concept of rights but not responsibilities is not limited to some homeless or their advocacy organizations, however. There are numerous examples in Pioneer Square of property owners leaving properties vacant, unmaintained, or suffering demolition by neglect. This is defended by the argument “It’s my property and I have the right to do with it as I will.” But this ignores the property responsibility side of the equation that recognizes that a deteriorating and vacant property is essentially stealing value from adjacent properties. The concept of property rights should not be extended to allow one property owner the right to diminish the property values of his neighbors.
- The Pioneer Square Community Association as lost considerable effectiveness and credibility in recent years.
- The Pioneer Square Community Association needs to be a comprehensive economic development organization, not just the “voice of the neighborhood” or a promotional organization. Currently it is neither staffed nor funded to serve in that role.
Here are the final recommendations from Rypkema (commercial revitalization expert):
- Establish an entity that is a comprehensive economic development organization. This could be a new organization, a reconstituted Pioneer Square Community Association, or a subset of another organization.
- Systematically assemble and evaluate reliable economic data for the Pioneer Square for the last 5 to 8 years.
- Create and then implement a communications strategy targeting both Pioneer Square stakeholders and the larger Seattle community regarding the organization and its role and the economic facts (as opposed to anecdotes) of the Pioneer Square economy.
- Actively recruit and involve the growth sector business segments in Pioneer Square beyond retailing and food and beverage.
- Incorporate these and other priorities into a comprehensive strategy for Pioneer Square.
“Far from being a commercial district in its last gasp, Pioneer Square is a commercial district of both relative economic health and extraordinary economic opportunity. The physical fabric of the neighborhood, the considerable but largely invisible growth of knowledge based businesses, and the proximity to both Seattle and international markets that the district provides would be envied by almost any other commercial district in the country.
But those opportunities will be foregone if stakeholders in Pioneer Square don’t approach economic development comprehensively, continue to make decisions based on anecdote rather than data, and fail to include and capture the currently untapped human and financial resources that could be available.”
Donovan Rypkema
PlaceEconomics
Washington, DC
December 20, 2009
Almost 1,000 volunteers showed up this year to participate in SKCHH’s One Night Count of homeless in King County.
Here are the stats from this year’s count (to see the pdf report, click here):
There was a 5% decrease from last year — from 2,827 in 2009 to 2,759 in 2010. SKCHH attributes this to an increase in awareness of homelessness, as well as an increase in available services. To celebrate, it looks like their website got an upgrade — go check it out.
The unsheltered number released this morning does not include the estimated 5,800 people staying in emergency shelter and transitional housing overnight.
Here are the results from the 2009 ONC (which showed a 2% increase from 2008):
As a reminder, don’t miss out on a follow up free event called “Beyond the One Night Count.” Details are in this post, or you can go directly to their site to register.
The annual One Night Count of people who are homeless in King County is happening tomorrow morning from 2am – 5am. This will be the 30th year that the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH – pronounced “skitch”) and Operation Nightwatch have organized volunteers to see how many of our neighbors are homeless and without shelter.
The One Night Count has two parts:
- A survey of emergency shelter and transitional housing providers. Staff provide a written summary about who is staying in their programs or facilities on that night. Staff from the King County Community Services Division, Homeless Housing Program coordinate the survey.
- A street count of people who are homeless and without shelter and staying outside or in vehicles or makeshift shelters. Volunteers go out with trained team leaders to pre-arranged areas in parts of Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Shoreline, Kenmore, Bothell, Woodinville, Kent, Federal Way, Renton, Auburn, and White Center.
How does the count work? Teams of Count Volunteers will meet at 2:45 am at Seattle Mennonite Church (3120 NE 125th St., Seattle WA 98125) and go out with trained team leaders to pre-arranged areas. Teams ride “Night Owl” buses, and collect information from area hospitals, the Sobering Center, and Tent Cities. (via Shoreline blog)
For more information, please see the SKCCH web site (which appears to be down right now) or call SKCCH Executive Director, Alison Eisinger, at 206-357-3148.
Beyond the ONC
What: BEYOND the ONE NIGHT COUNT: a free and fun advocacy 101 workshop and local issue briefing.
Where: St. James Cathedral in Seattle
When: February 6, 10am – 12pm
Cost: FREE. Please pre-register by calling (206) 357-3149 or sending a message to BONC@homelessinfo.org
In January 2009, there were at least 2,827 men, women, and children without overnight shelter in King County. In total, 8,961 people were homeless in King County during our 2009 One Night Count: sleeping on mats in church basements, staying in transitional housing programs, or wrapped in blankets trying to keep warm outside.
Beyond the One Night Count workshops are one way that concerned people can carry that work forward all year to make a real difference.
Back in December, I wrote a post to “kick off” discussions about Donovan Rykpema’s presentation to the Mayor’s Pioneer Square Revitalization Committee. It took a little while to break up the clip and transcribe it, but I’m finally ready to go. For those who can’t stream the video on YouTube, here is the link, and if you still can’t watch it, send me a note, and I’ll email you the transcript.
Rypkema talked about four “Forces of Value” – things that push the value of a given commodity. For Pioneer Square, he defined these as Social, Economic, Political, and Physical. He said that “if the purpose of Pioneer Square revitalization is to increase the value, and if the forces of value increase it, or change value, then it makes sense to look at the challenges and priorities in those four forces.”
So let’s get it started with what seems to be the hottest topic for Pioneer Square: Social. This includes social service providers, homeless, drug dealers, and people’s perception of our neighborhood.
Take a look at what Rypkema has to say:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-S2CSi8YOo[/youtube]
One of the statements he made that originally upset me was that “social service providers were here in Pioneer Square long before any other business in Pioneer Square, and they’re not going anywhere.” I used to disagree with that statement, but after my conversation with Bill Hobson, Executive Director of DESC — he agreed that there is a slim to none chance that any will actually leave the neighborhood. So what next?
Here is one of the questions from the Q&A:
“Pioneer Square appears to be unusual in that we have a really high concentration of low income and homeless people in a progressive city, with a complicated history with law enforcement. There is a push/pull.”
- My evaluation is that it’s always in flux – crack down/ease up/tolerate/less tolerance. To try to put the issue resolution or mitigation solely in the hands of the police is the wrong approach – they need to be PART of the solution. Perception and reality are also an issue. Perception magnifies the issues.
Here’s where Rypkema suggests we start:
Rypkema said that “the issue isn’t crime, but a bunch of people hanging around scaring people.” I know that the issue also comes up for how safe women are in our neighborhood — when I’m walking down the street in the evening and there’s a group of people just standing on a corner, that’s when I start to feel a little nervous.
The real difference between this and a neighborhood like Queen Anne is that there are lots of other residents out on the streets that will make you feel more comfortable, even if the group is standing there. What does it take to get more residents to move down here and balance out the social problems? Will Rypkema’s solutions to the “social” problems help?