SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: I could run for office, fix the region’s homeless crisis

Nov 2, 2018, 3:42 PM

9th circuit court...

(AP Photo)

(AP Photo)

I had the craziest idea last night at 2 a.m. I had been doing show prep and saw a story on KOMO 4 about how the City of Seattle is looking for residents’ ideas on how to solve the homeless crisis.

To feed my competitive fire, now that I’m not coaching basketball anymore, and to continue achieving my life goals, I thought, maybe I should just run for office and finally be the one to fix this region. I know that it would be nearly impossible for someone with my ideology to get elected. But you know what? I want to show everybody and do the impossible. I could take Bob Ferguson down in the race for governor so quickly.

These problems are so fixable around here. And when the city is reaching out asking for ideas — well, I have been expressing my ideas for years now, and I know that they would work. I know I would hate a life in politics. But at some point, we’ve got to start fixing things around here because they’re busted pretty badly.

RELATED: How Dori would fix the city as mayor

The city does not want our ideas to solve the homeless crisis. The city does not want to solve the homeless crisis, and neither does the region or the state. I’ve told you a million times, they want to bring as many addicts as possible here so that they can raise our taxes and create a large base of people that is entirely dependent on government.

First of all, we’ve got to stop making it so easy for people to make being a heroin junkie their lifestyle of choice. As treatment specialists and friends who are former addicts have told me, you have to hit rock-bottom before you get help. And when we have a region that gives junkies a place to sleep and to shoot up, when the prosecutor doesn’t prosecute people for possessing drugs, when a council member wants to look into buying heroin for addicts, we make it so people can subsist not at rock-bottom, but at five- to 10-percent of the potential of life. What our region does is allow thousands of people to subsist at that level, so they don’t feel like they need to get help and turn their lives around.

What we need to do is cut the bureaucracy in the City of Seattle; we need to eliminate about 2,000 jobs. Our city is worse off than it was five years ago, before former Mayor Ed Murray added 1,300 new jobs, some of them for his friends. We could save $150 million a year by just slashing the bloated waste of city government. We could use that money to hire 800 more cops. We could give the prosecutors the jail space and additional prosecutors they need to start enforcing drug laws again. We’ve got to start re-prioritizing; we’ve got to start re-allocating.

We will start supporting our cops and allow them to start policing again. We will get rid of city leaders who call police officers murderers when they’ve been exonerated. We will stop putting emotional handcuffs on the addicts. We will stop making it so easy for them to exist without hitting rock-bottom. We have lousy people running things in our city and state who use the homeless as a handy, visible tool so they can raise our taxes. And until we start getting people in office who actually care about the people on the streets, rather than seeing them as a means to get more government money, nothing will change.

How will I pull all of this together? It will take a miracle, right? No — we’ve just got to get the word out. It’s so obvious, the truth of what I’m saying. I’d even get the far-left of Seattle behind me because they’d understand that actually changing lives instead of using desperate people for tax hikes is the right way to go.

President Donald Trump speaks during an arrival ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping in the G...

Associated Press

Trump administration uses rare authority to claw back nearly $1B in spending approved by Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is canceling nearly $1 billion in spending approved by Congress, the White House announced on Friday, using a rare and contested power to axe funding for immigrant services and diversity-focused initiatives.

8 minutes ago

FILE - A federal agent wears an Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge in New York, June 10, 202...

Associated Press

Meatpacking groups say ICE arrests could lead to higher prices and revenue loss

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Meatpacking industry groups raised concerns Friday that recent heightened immigration operations in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma have caused employees to miss work, leading to problems at meat-related businesses that could ultimately raise prices for consumers. The Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and Kansas Livestock Association said in a statement […]

28 minutes ago

Barham Salih walks on stage during the Clinton Global Initiative, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, in New...

Associated Press

UN refugee chief urges action from Security Council so displacement no longer crosses generations

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. refugee chief urged the world’s divided nations Friday to focus on ending conflicts and crises so the more than 117 million people forced to flee their homes can return, and not spend generations displaced in a foreign country. In his first speech to the U.N. Security Council since his […]

45 minutes ago

columbia city school gun...

MyNorthwest Staff

Person in custody after gun seized by staff at high school in Seattle

A person is in custody after a gun was seized by staff at a high school in Seattle.

53 minutes ago

2 Rick Rizzs...

Manda Factor

Rick Rizzs says goodbye to Mariners booth after 52-year career: ‘I’ve lived my dream’

Rick Rizzs has three games left behind the microphone for the Seattle Mariners, and a lifetime of memories competing for his attention.

53 minutes ago

People pose for photos at United Nations headquarters during the 81st session of the United Nations...

Associated Press

UN tries to build momentum on pandemic preparedness, but hits a speed bump

NEW YORK (AP) — Six years after COVID-19 forced the U.N. General Assembly ‘s annual meeting of world leaders to go virtual for the first time ever, pandemics no longer dominate the conversation at the global gathering. Wars, natural disasters, geopolitical polarization and this year’s hot-button worry — artificial intelligence — have seized attention. But […]

56 minutes ago

Dori: I could run for office, fix the region’s homeless crisis