Please rest of United States don't become like Seattle

I'm talking about Washington State as a whole, but I will say Seattle because I think that is what everyone is familiar with.


I remember it as clear as day. It was the 1970's. I remember going to the beach and digging for clams. We actually ate them too. I remember the steep streets and charming houses along the way. The area was not rich by any means, but it was clean. The entire state leaned conservative.
Houses were cheap, land was very cheap. Cheap even compared to other areas of the country. It was a very beautiful city/state. I remember families everywhere and beautiful, breathtakingly beautiful natural scenery.

Fast forward 40 years. I spent the week in Seattle this week. What I have seen with my own eyes has hurt my very soul.
My flight was a little under 2K miles. My entire flight was sunny, until we descended on Seattle, the skies were dark. It wasn't just the color,
it was as if it there is an ever looming evil sadness hoovering over the city.

The city is so dirty, there are homeless everywhere. Sick people everywhere. Housing is out of reach. People are sleeping anywhere and everywhere.
Any sense of morality or decency is gone. I'm not a very religious person but I liken it to Sodom and Gomorrah. Casinos everywhere, pot sellers everywhere. I saw a pimp with his prostitute. Her black eye, her red eyes, quickly biting a burger and then going to stand on the corner. She look around my daughters age. My heart sank. I wondered how life brought her to that point. Nobody cared, everything upside down seemed to be normal here.

Beyond the people, the visuals in the city were just as bad. There is a tourist area Pikes Place. There is a steep walk to it. The entire corridor is lined with chewed up gum that people have piled up over the years. It is the most disgusting thing you can imagine, but this is "classic Seattle" think about that, chewed up gum on display. The smells. The only was I can describe it, is that is what hell must smell like.

This story is not just about Seattle, it is about how much a place can change in very little time with an influx of an "alternative" way of thinking.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Yeah, went to Seattle & Portland a few years ago. I floored by the homelessness there. Addicts EVERYWHERE. We stayed at a nice hotel right on the water at Pike Place. Great food and artsy culture, but the leftist politicians have truly turned the city into dump. Portland was more of the same, just on a smaller scale.

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I actually like leftist social culture. Food, art, etc. I prefer urban cities with these qualities. On the other hand, leftist often take over and a city goes from being cool and hip to a dump eventually. It is fine balance... Seattle, SF, and Portland have crossed that line.

originally posted by: Edumakated
a reply to: JAGStorm

Yeah, went to Seattle & Portland a few years ago. I floored by the homelessness there. Addicts EVERYWHERE. We stayed at a nice hotel right on the water at Pike Place. Great food and artsy culture, but the leftist politicians have truly turned the city into dump. Portland was more of the same, just on a smaller scale.

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I actually like leftist social culture. Food, art, etc. I prefer urban cities with these qualities. On the other hand, leftist often take over and a city goes from being cool and hip to a dump eventually. It is fine balance... Seattle, SF, and Portland have crossed that line.

I love artsy culture and food, but it doesn't work when you have to step in feces to get there.
This city used to be so gorgeous, it is a shame. Haven't been to Portland, but if it is anything like Seattle, no thanks!

a reply to: JAGStorm

I just went recently to Seattle.

The homeless are an issue. But that's an issue that could be resolved if politicians had the intestinal fortitude to actually help those people. And yes I did see quite a few of them around.

The gum wall was pretty gross but an interesting feature. It's just an alley with gum on the walls. And I'm pretty sure that hell doesn't smell like bubble gum.

I didn't visit any casinos. But I did pass by 3 pot stores. They all looked clean from the outside. And the one I peeked into didn't look dirty or run down.

a reply to: grey580

The gum wall was pretty gross but an interesting feature. It's just an alley with gum on the walls. And I'm pretty sure that hell doesn't smell like bubble gum.

Oh I didn't like the gum alley smell, but that wasn't the smell I was referring to. I mean the city, the smell of people going to the bathroom everywhere and I think the trash that is picked through. It was pretty warm when I was there so that may have been worse than normal, but that city is VERY dirty. It is not because of population either. Chicago and New York are significantly, and I mean significantly cleaner and nicer looking.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I will comment on the gum thing ...

For years at the local amusement park, there was "the gum tree" as you waited in line for one particular roller coaster and only that one. People started sticking their gum to it before they went further in line.

It was weird because that coaster wasn't necessarily worse per se than others in the park. I think it was just a tradition that got started somewhere because none of the other coasters had "gum trees" along their lines.

And when that coaster was taken out for something newer, no other "gum tree" replaced it.

Now, I'm not defending the gum you are talking about, but I am saying that who knows what kind of tradition might have gotten started concerting that gum.

As a person who currently lives in downtown Seattle (South Lake Union neighborhood), I can't stand the amount of homelessness/dirtiness/liberal BS i need to deal with. especially when you consider I spend $3500/month for a one bedroom apartment thats about 700sqft.. Granted, we arent quite San Fran bad, but we are quickly on our way.. There is a major wealth division within the city too, which has been expanding out to all the local suburbs (and even to as far as Tacoma) recently... I hate seeing what all these liberal leaders are doing to this city (and state).. The mayor/city council is anti-police, and due to their recent changes within the police departments, many cops are either fleeing to other cities, or not interested in even applying here.... I dont blame them, considering we are a sanctuary city hell hole that welcomes illegals/criminals, and police cant police due to the mayor constantly going against them..

originally posted by: grey580
a reply to: JAGStorm

I just went recently to Seattle.

The homeless are an issue. But that's an issue that could be resolved if politicians had the intestinal fortitude to actually help those people. And yes I did see quite a few of them around.

The gum wall was pretty gross but an interesting feature. It's just an alley with gum on the walls. And I'm pretty sure that hell doesn't smell like bubble gum.

I didn't visit any casinos. But I did pass by 3 pot stores. They all looked clean from the outside. And the one I peeked into didn't look dirty or run down.

The gum wall is gross, but is sorta one of those weird quirky Seattle things, sorta like the Troll under Fremont bridge... I am a daily weed smoker, due to crohns, and i can state all the weed shops are clean/well run/legitimate

a reply to: JAGStorm

Today, much to my surprise when I went to work downtown Saint Louis, I saw cops actually waking up bums and making them leave the front of stores. Saint Louis is a DNC stronghold, but at least they haven't lost their minds totally.

Also, the PA in STL refuses to take any case from certain policemen and women. So maybe they are sort of just ignoring her and city hall and doing what they should. I have no idea.

I gotta chime in, Its true. Don't let your city turn into Seattle.
This is a long rant but if you are at all curious about what JAGstorm is talking about I have firsthand experience.
a bunch of things happened in a short period of time. I am only going to touch on a few.
I was a lifelong resident of Seattle, over 45 years, I finally had to move out in 2017. I am a witness to the heartbreaking decline of what was once an awesome place to grow up and live. It really is like a dark cloud appeared.The housing crisis is completely out of control, and the gap between rich and poor has become appalling.
The people have changed also, I used to know half the town, and run into folks I knew pretty much everywhere, that is no longer the case. Nowdays whomever I meet seems to be a bit younger, and have just come from somewhere else for a high paying tech job, and they really have no idea at all what the place used to be like. Many of the longtime locals have moved out. The higher wages have pushed the housing prices out of reach for most people, and if you do find something you can barely afford you will almost certainly get outbid by a newly arrived tech employee, or some overseas investor, etc. Driving prices even higher.
During the years I owned a home there I watched my entire neighborhood and many other neighborhoods get bought up by foreign real estate investors. We literally had them knocking at the door with offers. So over the years and one by one people sold out, the homes got torn down and replaced with insanely huge mansions, within a few short decades many places became unrecognizable. no more kids playing in the streets, just shut in and gated mansions.
I spent my last few years there in a severely overpriced tiny apartment, there is no such thing as affordable rent anywhere at all in the entire region. Houses are way overpriced. Laws seem to allow developers to build whatever they want regardless of the carrying capacity of the infrastructure, it seems totally corrupt, and has ruined the city.
So now prettymuch everywhere is overbuilt, way, way too many people living on top of each other to the point where the streets can not handle the traffic, it takes an hour just to get a few short miles, and forget the bus system, it is overcrowded and underserviced, not uncommon to have to miss one or even 2 rush hour busses due to crowding. My work was less than 3 miles away and it took average of 30 min just to drive there, I just rode my bike sometimes if I didnt have anything to carry and it wasn't rainy.
The freeways both 405 and I-5 have gotten so crowded its a joke now. A person needs to factor in huge chunks of time when getting from place to place.

Sadly the people have changed also. but I suppose that is just part of our entire society these days, not as friendly at all.

I don't want to get too much in the politics of it but some of the city council is really too liberal, and being a sanctuary city does not seem to help anything. I worked for several years as a cable tech, '07, '08, '09 and had first hand witnessed every single day, multiple times per day going into homes / apartments absolutely packed with people from other countries, (many other countries I might add, not just Mexico, in fact I more frequently visited Asian homes, and lots of folks from India as well) entire extended families crammed into 2 and 3 bedroom places speaking their own languages, with no doubt in my mind they are not in U.S. legally. So many. In my own appt building a few doors down, 6 people crammed in a 1 bedroom appt. they had some of the kids sleeping out in the car at nights... This is what Seattle has turned into.
And the homeless issue is staggering, I lived just a few blocks from a huge tent city, under the West Seattle bridge. One of many tent cities around town. Drug needles are a common, common sight on sidewalks. People at every single corner, storefront, gas station, bus stop, sidewalk, etc asking for spare change, It really got bad. It went from the best to the worst right before our eyes.
It absolutely broke my heart leaving my hometown, I had a decent job there too in public Ed but a day came where it just was no longer worth it. I visited a few weeks ago. it actually feels different, like a curse has descended.
Don't let it happen to you!!

P.S. I still live within the state of Wa, in a much smaller town, it has a few issues with homeless but nowhere near what happened to Seattle.
Thanks for reading

a reply to: Lr103
This is exactly what will happen, the entire US will become Seattle, if the 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidates get their way. Open borders, open the flood gates.

I am for legal immigration and have legal first generation immigrant relatives from South America.

But open borders means criminals from all over the world can come to the US and escape prosecution in the countries they are fleeing from. Change their names and we have a sanctuary country for criminals.

Open borders means becoming a slave nation. 10's of thousands of slaves are smuggled across the border each year. Mostly child sex slaves, women sex slaves, and labor slaves. YES slaves, not human trafficked, but slaves. Just because they are brown doesn't mean they aren't slaves. Open borders means open importation of slaves for purchase, within the US. Shame on us for even considering open borders and giving up on making certain children are related to the "parents" who bring them in. Over 900 children were found just last year as not being related to their "parents" because of DNA testing.

The entire country will look like Seattle if the 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidates get their way and we open the flood gates at the border.

It seems like every time democrats ruin a place they abandon it, because its a sh1thole now, and head somewhere else. That wouldn't be such a bad thing but when they get somewhere else they just do the same damn thing again. Turn another nice place into a sh1thole they will abandon for greener pastures. Its happening in Texas right now. Texans call it getting Californicated. And sure enough, as soon as they get the numbers they start electing dems to office and trying to implement the same failed policies that they fled from in the first place.

Will they ever learn? Seriously. Will they? I don't think its even possible any more. They are that far gone.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I live outside of Spokane in the country, smaller towns are still ok but Spokane is getting what I like to call “liberal city refugees”.

It’s not just the homeless that are migrating here, it’s people tired of what Seattle is becoming so they come here and then walk around stuck up, always talking about Seattle.

My wife had to work with one, he acted like he was doing the company a favor just being there and barely did his work. He always put down everything and compared everything to Seattle. Wanna get coffee? Yeah but they don’t make it here like they do in Seattle, we took our coffee seriously. Wanna get lunch? I sure with you guys had places like Seattle, with like real chefs ya know. He lived here for about a year until his liberal wife told him she was just with him for the money and she was going back to Seattle. Then he went back too, but not before telling my wife that it was ok for her to cry on his last day (he wasn’t joking). The dude was convinced he was the only thing keeping the company afloat.

I’ve met a couple of these refugees and they all seem to think there from a city of the future and are gracing the commoners with their presence.

Btw in Seattle you can get caught shoplifting, be taking a crap on the sidewalk when the cops get there, have up to 30 hits of heroine and meth on you (personal use amounts) and you won’t go to jail. Watch a documentary on YouTube called “Seattle is dying”.

If your in Seattle by all means move to a better city, but please don’t try to turn it into the $h!t hole your fleeing.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I won't be visiting Seattle.

a reply to: JAGStorm

There were a few places that stunk when I went. But it wasn't bad everywhere. Though I do agree that the city does look like it has a few layers of dust on it.

a reply to: jhn7537

Yeah I saw the Troll too. It was cool.

Yeah. And it's good to see how those are well run. Hopefully here in Florida they legalize it and we can enjoy as well.

a reply to: Quantumgamer1776

I watched this documentary you mentioned. This is just unacceptable..

a reply to: JAGStorm

Too many people ruin everything. Nothing good is ever made better by the addition of more people.

originally posted by: richapau
a reply to: JAGStorm

Too many people ruin everything. Nothing good is ever made better by the addition of more people.

I'd agree with that to a certain extent, but Seattle's problem is not just people. If that were the case, New York, Chicago, and many other bigger cities would have the same problem. They don't.

a reply to: Quantumgamer1776

If your in Seattle by all means move to a better city, but please don’t try to turn it into the $h!t hole your fleeing.

In many ways, it's far, far too late.

Checked housing prices lately? Gasoline? Even tobacco?

I recently moved to Alabama from SE Washington, Walla Walla, to be precise. I was priced out of the housing market by new arrivals from, as you may have guessed, California via Seattle/Tacoma...

Since I've arrived in the Deep South, I've noticed that suddenly houses that 6 months ago were far beyond my budget, aren't. Groceries are a bit cheaper. Gasoline, certainly is. Since I don't use tobacco, I can't say anything there...