SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Seattle suffers as Jenny Durkan insists everything is fine

Mar 27, 2019, 3:08 PM | Updated: 3:08 pm

Jenny Durkan...

The Licton Springs encampment fire on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Diedra Ward)

(Photo courtesy of Diedra Ward)

If you don’t even recognize a problem, there’s no way you can fix a problem. After KOMO’s “Seattle is Dying” documentary, Mayor Jenny Durkan said that the hype was all nonsense, that everything is fine.

“I did see the special, and I think it was unfortunate that it focused on a very limited part of Seattle,” said Durkan in a recent statement. “Again, I think if you went to any neighborhood in Seattle today and told the story from Alki, to Seward Park, to up north, to Seattle Center, you’re going to see a city that is thriving, with people who care, that’s welcoming and diverse.

Hear that? Everything is just fine. Let’s see how fine things are.

RELATED: New Crown Hill business hit with break-ins twice in same week

Six Starbucks stores were vandalized this past week, with windows smashed from Ballard to Belltown. This goes back to the seeds of when Seattle really started to go down the toilet in the ’90s, when we had a city council that by today’s standards would look moderate, but was still nevertheless moving us left politically.

They invited anarchists from around the country to come here for the May Day riots.

Everything is fine at Alki, according to Jenny Durkan — but Q13 News just had a story about how West Seattle residents are frightened as can be because of the prevalence of street robberies.

In Licton Springs, as KOMO 4 reported, people at a homeless camp near the Licton Springs Tiny House Village started a fire on Saturday.

And Jenny Durkan sticks her head in the sand.

In other cities that surround Seattle — Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Bellevue — they have police who are empowered, and they do a good job of stopping illegal camping. But in Seattle, because we’re a “welcoming, diverse city,” we allow the criminals to absolutely take over.

When I was a producer, we would go out after the 11 p.m. news, and then walk and talk together downtown. I was the most fearless, lifelong Seattleite you could imagine. I still do the same thing in New York City in the middle of the night.

There is no way I would do that in Seattle today.

But Jenny Durkan says everything is fine. Stop actually opening your eyes and seeing the reality of life around you. Jenny Durkan says if you go to any neighborhood, you’ll see that all these news reports are nonsense. Well, I just took you to several neighborhoods that proved otherwise.

FILE - Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, arrives to the c...

Associated Press

Father who gave his son the gun used in a Georgia high school shooting faces sentencing

A man who gave his son the gun used to kill two students and two teachers at Appalachee High School in Georgia is set to be sentenced Thursday after he was convicted of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Colin Gray’s sentencing comes just days after his 16-year-old son, Colt Gray, pleaded guilty to murder and […]

6 minutes ago

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at an event at the General Motors Proving Ground Monday, Ju...

Associated Press

Trump touted his tariffs in Michigan despite rising costs. Even some of his supporters are worried

MILFORD, Mich. (AP) — Flying to a rally at General Motors this week, President Donald Trump declared that “car companies are doing better than they’ve ever done” thanks to his tariffs. “All because of Trump,” he said. It was a message the president repeated while touring a collection of new vehicles, predicting that “it’s amazing […]

12 minutes ago

Purple Heart Gregg Stone...

Seattle's Morning News

Purple Heart awarded to Air Force Maj. Gregg Stone, 23 years after deadly Camp Pennsylvania attack

Air Force Major Gregg Stone was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart on Wednesday — more than 23 years after he was killed.

2 hours ago

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks as FBI director Kash Patel speaks during a news confere...

Associated Press

US uses dormant court to seek deportation of Afghan woman accused of aiding terror plot

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Afghan woman accused of supporting an Islamic State-inspired plot in the U.S. is the first person facing deportation through the Trump administration’s use of an obscure court that remained dormant for 30 years, according to court records filed Wednesday. The Alien Terrorist Removal Court is scheduled to hold a hearing on […]

3 hours ago

rabid bat...

KIRO 7 News Staff

Rabid bat found near playground at Renton’s Gene Coulon Park

Health officials are warning the public that a rabid bat was found near a popular park in Renton.

3 hours ago

cats kent...

Jason Sutich

Experts dispel fears of serial cat killer behind dead pets turning up in Kent

Several cats found dead and mutilated around Kent were killed by wildlife, not humans, experts concluded.

4 hours ago

Dori: Seattle suffers as Jenny Durkan insists everything is fine