Running out of room to hide Seattle’s inability to fix homelessness

I thought about the homeless a lot today.

I had a dentist appointment in South Lake Union where I used to live. It’s also where a lot of homeless and heroin addicts used to live.

Remember when you would get off I-5 at Mercer Street and see the big, pink Toe Truck? That neighborhood is now bustling with Amazon workers. That is where a lot of people that you now see living in tents, under bridges, and derelict RVs – they used to live in a lot of those abandoned homes and warehouses in South Lake Union. I would see it every day as I walked from Yale Avenue to Cascade Park with my then-young Basset Hound, Nola.

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You would see the dope deals going on in the parks. You would have to be very careful then while walking your dog because of the heroin needles.

I spent a couple of hours walking through the neighborhood Friday and I didn’t see a heroin needle. I actually didn’t see one homeless person. I didn’t see a tent. I didn’t see a derelict RV.

I did see a police presence. I saw a lot of tech workers. I saw billions and billions of dollars worth of buildings. I saw a similar scene while walking through Pioneer Square on Thursday night.

I think homelessness is something we’re going to have to fix ourselves. There are businesses like Amazon, and others in the South Lake Union neighborhood, and Weyerhaeuser in Pioneer Square that are moving in with billion-dollar buildings that aren’t going to wait for city leaders, the mayor, or the city council.

Maybe Amazon will take the lead on this and I appreciate that. During the Big Give in April, homelessness was on Amazon’s radar. They donated a building to Mary’s Place for at least a year before they tear it down. And the company hosted a barbecue for the homeless last week.

The homeless people and the heroin addicts didn’t disappear. It’s like squeezing a tube of toothpaste. It means they moved somewhere else — under overpasses and highways. I really do feel for those people, but we need to tell the truth about heroin and mental illness.