Seattle is Dying

offlabel · Mar 28, 2019

9 minutes ago, Susie2310 said:
The problem is a complex one. Costs of living are high, rents are very high, and buying a house is unaffordable for all but the highest paid workers. Salaries/wages have not kept pace with the costs of housing, and there are a limited number of decently paid jobs (many of which require a substantial amount of expensive college education).

then what happens is, when those high dollar earners need places to live, framers, welders, painters etc. all of a sudden earn high 5 figures and squeeze themselves further out of metro Sacramento, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco etc...

TriciaJ, RN · Mar 28, 2019

2 hours ago, brownbook said:
My gut feeling is mental illness is a key culprit, in spite of the "statistics" that less than half were evaluated by a court as severely mentally ill.
I think it is very difficult to deem someone severely mentally ill in our current legal system.
Someone can even be evaluated as severely mentally ill.... be in a locked psychiatric facility, then eventually they are released, and end up back on the street.
Decent, long term, well run, psychiatric facilities are my solution.

"Deinstitutionalization" is one of those Orwellian words that sounds like something good but is actually very sinister. It was done again in Oregon in the 1990s, lauded by social workers and journalists. "People can be so much better taken care of in the community!" they all crowed. The people we now see eating out of garbage cans are the ones receiving this stellar care in the community.

I used to work on a unit that cared for people on mental health holds. The "court investigators" (who had the same qualifications as the average barista) would come and release the holds. We had to let people go who had no way of caring for themselves. They had to present "a danger to self and others" and inability to provide self-care didn't count.

Then I went to work in a jail and saw people being brought in by police for actions not involving criminal intent. They were just mentally impaired, making bad judgements and the police had nowhere else to take them for their safety. It would take me half a shift just to persuade county mental health to try to find a treatment bed for them.

"Liberalism" is another one of those nice Orwellian words. It sounds like "live and let live". In reality, it means "from the safety of my gated community, I don't need to give a rat's patooty". In a society where anything goes, eventually everything goes.

offlabel · Mar 28, 2019

2 minutes ago, TriciaJ said:
"Deinstitutionalization" is one of those Orwellian words that sounds like something good but is actually very sinister. It was done again in Oregon in the 1990s, lauded by social workers and journalists. "People can be so much better taken care of in the community!" they all crowed. The people we now see eating out of garbage cans are the ones receiving this stellar care in the community.
I used to work on a unit that cared for people on mental health holds. The "court investigators" (who had the same qualifications as the average barista) would come and release the holds. We had to let people go who had no way of caring for themselves. They had to present "a danger to self and others" and inability to provide self-care didn't count.
Then I went to work in a jail and saw people being brought in by police for actions not involving criminal intent. They were just mentally impaired, making bad judgements and the police had nowhere else to take them for their safety. It would take me half a shift just to persuade county mental health to try to find a treatment bed for them.
"Liberalism" is another one of those nice Orwellian words. It sounds like "live and let live". In reality, it means "from the safety of my gated community, I don't need to give a rat's patooty". In a society where anything goes, eventually everything goes.

I'll do you one better and take all of the hate by the "progressives" on this forum...the last 40 years has seen the full frontal assault on marriage and parenthood, causing the emergence of fatherless children consigned to the chaos of moral relativism cycling into greater tumult and catastrophe. No mom and dad, no yes and no, no right and wrong...mom is too busy with boyfriend and dad is no where to be found...

TheAngryMan · Mar 28, 2019

10 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:
To the list of Seattle and SanFran you can also add Portland, LA, San Diego and to a lesser degree Anahiem/Orange County. Yes, what great government leadership on the West Coast!

Has less to do with government leadership and more to do with the population that elects them.

Los Angeles for example had the opportunity to pass rent control...yet "liberal" Angelinos voted no. Hipsters open up expensive coffee shops in historical low income neighbor hoods and drives up the rent for former residents...forcing them onto the streets or further out Into to the boonies.

People complain about the homeless problem, but are unwilling to pay more in taxes or take in less revenue to accommodate low income housing.

Study after study shows that a "housing first" approach, works to get people back on thier feet, yet thier fellow citizens are unwilling to help out. Pennywise, pound foolish.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Mar 28, 2019

I am from there, but haven't lived there for 20 years. Can't afford to with median home cost at 750k. Last year I took the train from the airport to U of Wa. It was shocking to me the amount of homeless. Most in their 20's and 30's with seemingly healthy bodies if not minds.

allnurses Guide · Mar 28, 2019

Nevermind.

Emergent, RN · Mar 28, 2019

LOL, I'm right and you haters are wrong. Let me rake you all over the coals with the last word. Now go away you Haters!

Emergent, RN · Mar 28, 2019

1 hour ago, not.done.yet said:
Nevermind

Whatever

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · Mar 28, 2019

Use of generic labels in policy discussion, e.g. liberal, conservative, progressive, etc. can lead to sloppy "stereotype-think" as well as polarization that often ends in fighting instead of action on a given problem.

That being said, since some comments on this thread have attributed the Seattle problem to liberal and/or progressive thinking, I have to ask this question-

What proposals do conservatives have to help with mental health services and affordable housing, as these two things greatly contribute to the situation...?

Emergent, RN · Mar 28, 2019

1 minute ago, Jedrnurse said:
Use of generic labels in policy discussion, e.g. liberal, conservative, progressive, etc. can lead to sloppy "stereotype-think" as well as polarization that often ends in fighting instead of action on a given problem.
That being said, since some comments on this thread have attributed the Seattle problem to liberal and/or progressive thinking, I have to ask this question-
What proposals do conservatives have to help with mental health services and affordable housing, as these two things greatly contribute to the situation...?

Probably none. I do think that more conservative folks feel that big government liberalism is making life more unaffordable for the middle class.

One thing is, the liberal policies of catering and putting up with public loitering in Seattle is disgusting. They allow the homeless to take over all the benches at Pioneer square and nap on the grass at Pike market. The city has become unlivable for families.

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · Mar 28, 2019

8 minutes ago, Emergent said:
Probably none. I do think that more conservative folks feel that big government liberalism is making life more unaffordable for the middle class.
One thing is, the liberal policies of catering and putting up with public loitering in Seattle is disgusting. They allow the homeless to take over all the benches at Pioneer square and nap on the grass at Pike market. The city has become unlivable for families.

Yeah, I think it's appropriate to have a standard for use of public facilities that doesn't scare off taxpayers from using them...

OldDude · Mar 28, 2019

1 minute ago, Emergent said:
Probably none. I do think that more conservative folks feel that big government liberalism is making life more unaffordable for the middle class.
One thing is, the liberal policies of catering and putting up with public loitering in Seattle is disgusting. They allow the homeless to take over all the benches at Pioneer square and nap on the grass at Pike market. The city has become unlivable for families.

Wow Emergent...I was just remembering being old enough to recall, growing up in a piss ant little town in south Texas, vagrants being taken to the city limits and dropped off by the police. Vagrancy, homelessness, begging, and panhandling was not allowed in the city and, of course, wasn't possible out in the county because there were no resources to facilitate such things. I think places like Seattle have evolved in such a grand scale by not enforcing such restrictions. I think "most" of the population we're talking about are able bodied and could have other options if they chose to do so; exceptions of course. It's like the example I often use...if you feed the lioness she will not go out and hunt for herself even though she is capable of doing so. One thing for sure...allowing such behavior as you mention in Seattle is only going to get worse and no one is going to volunteer to leave; they will have to be forced to leave and whoever makes that decision will suffer the wrath of whatever political faction you want to call it.