SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

City Hall as a homeless shelter epitomizes Seattle’s problems

Jun 14, 2018, 10:00 PM

seattle, HR department, shadow city hall...

(File photo)

(File photo)

Every day the City of Seattle has another insane idea. Now they want to turn the lobby of Seattle City Hall into a homeless shelter. I am not joking about this.

This is where the City of Seattle does business, and you want to fill it with sleeping bags and tents, so you have to step over people? What are you going to do about the drug addiction that is part of most of these lives? What about the encampment at the King County Courthouse, where homeless people throw feces at jurors?

RELATED: Most dangerous place in Seattle? The King County Courthouse

They spared little expense when they built this place, because of course our politicians have to have a palace to work in. It’s absolutely unbelievable that instead of saying they won’t tolerate vagrancy, they now want to trash this new building.

And what’s more, since the city has absolutely failed at dealing with this issue, Mayor Jenny Durkan’s idea is to have the whole region pay for Seattle’s failures. Now the Seattle government is just going to turn into panhandlers because they failed to get their life in order politically. They’re going to go hat in hand, to the other cities and counties and tell them to pay for Seattle’s mistakes.

Sally Bagshaw, the council member who last week suggested the city look into buying heroin for homeless addicts, is now alleging that Sea-Tac and Tukwila are driving their homeless people up here and dropping them off in Seattle. If they are, I don’t blame them one bit. Enforce vagrancy laws, get them out of your town. That’s public officials doing the right thing for their taxpayers. Seattle has just decided to allow vagrancy and drug use and people sleeping on the sidewalk — why wouldn’t Tukwila and Sea-Tac ship their homeless up here?

Seattle has created its own problems.

Please follow our Community Guidelines

A healthcare worker is disinfected by his colleague inside a treatment center for Ebola patients in...

Associated Press

Congo Ebola outbreak tops 8,000 confirmed cases as disease remains out of control

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — The number of confirmed cases of Ebola virus in Congo has surged past 8,000, as the country runs out of health workers to contain the deadly disease. Congo announced an outbreak on May 15, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no known treatment or vaccine, and has struggled to […]

25 minutes ago

FILE - A vendor waits for customers near Santa costumes for sale at the Yiwu International Trade Ma...

Associated Press

US and China detail list of products agreed under $30 billion tariff cut deal after Trump-Xi meeting

HONG KONG (AP) — The United States and China released Monday reciprocal lists of products worth about $30 billion that will see tariff cuts, in a deal expected to boost bilateral trade. The details came days after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President Donald Trump in Washington in his first state visit to the […]

1 hour ago

Police officers guard a road leading to RAF Fairford, after an incident in Fairford, England, Monda...

Associated Press

British police investigate whether arrests near US-run air base foiled an Iran-linked attack

FAIRFORD, England (AP) — Police were holding five men on Monday and examining suspected explosives found near a U.S.-operated air force base in England, as counterterror detectives investigated whether the arrests foiled an attempted attack linked to Iran. The men were detained early Sunday after three vans were spotted near RAF Fairford, a U.K.-owned base […]

2 hours ago

From left, Amelia Woods sits in front as Samantha Hatch holds Elsie Bickett, while Maliyah Rider st...

Associated Press

People with Down syndrome and other disabilities find their rhythm in Indiana dance program

FISHERS, Ind. (AP) — Finn Vester, who has autism and Down syndrome, tried a martial arts class but it proved unsuitable because he learns differently, his mother said. Then he joined Dance Abilities, a program at Academy of Dance Arts in the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers for people with physical or intellectual disabilities. Now dance […]

2 hours ago

FILE - An aircraft lands at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP P...

Associated Press

High airfares could stick around even if jet fuel prices fall

Travelers could be stuck paying high airfares even if oil and jet fuel prices fall, major U.S. airlines and industry analysts say. The price of jet fuel shot up after the Iran war began and retreated sharply in the spring before surging again as the summer went on. Such fluctuations make it harder for airlines […]

3 hours ago

Associated Press

Asian benchmarks are mixed despite Wall Street’s rally finish last week

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were trading mixed Monday after a cooldown in oil prices last week helped U.S. stocks close out their first winning week in the last three. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 declined 0.7% to finish at 65,877.62. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 8,679.70. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 2.7% to 6,889.74. Hong […]

6 hours ago

City Hall as a homeless shelter epitomizes Seattle’s problems