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Thread: Is downtown Seattle a hot-spot for lowlifes?

  1. #1
    A Football of Fate Jeff's avatar
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    Default Is downtown Seattle a hot-spot for lowlifes?

    Someone on another message board I sometimes post at is bitching about working in downtown Seattle and claims it is crawling with lowlifes "bums, whores and bangers" and people with mental issues.

    Is he just full of shit or is Seattle got itself some serious problems?

  2. #2
    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    I've never been to Seattle, but I've lived in and around several large cities, and what all of them had in common, from 3rd world Guayaquil, to Washington D.C., to squaky-clean Salt Lake City, is that the downtown areas were full of bums, whores and bangers. I would be surprised if Seattle were any different; I always kind of assumed it was a universal thing.

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    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    When you're all homeless and life is making you crazy
    You can always go - downtown
    When you need a crack rock, and it's past three o'clock
    There's a guy , I know - downtown
    Just listen to the gunshots of the bangers in the city
    Linger on the sidewalk and some whore will flash her titties
    How can you lose?
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

  4. #4
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by OneCentStamp View post
    I've never been to Seattle, but I've lived in and around several large cities, and what all of them had in common, from 3rd world Guayaquil, to Washington D.C., to squaky-clean Salt Lake City, is that the downtown areas were full of bums, whores and bangers. I would be surprised if Seattle were any different; I always kind of assumed it was a universal thing.
    I didn't really see the bums or whores in Vancouver and NYC has mostly hid them away somehow, especially compared to 15 years ago. Minneapolis was another city where I never saw the bums and whores. I would agree I saw them everywhere else. I have not been to the Emerald City yet though.
    Quote Originally posted by Cluricaun View post
    When you're all homeless and life is making you crazy
    You can always go - downtown
    When you need a crack rock, and it's past three o'clock
    There's a guy , I know - downtown
    Just listen to the gunshots of the bangers in the city
    Linger on the sidewalk and some whore will flash her titties
    How can you lose?
    Awesome.

  5. #5
    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    I've heard that Seattle has a really bad homeless problem...especially teenagers. No first hand experience, though.

  6. #6
    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    To contribute something less sophmoric, I've only been to Seattle once and it was during the WTO conferance in 1999, which of course attracted all sorts of weird people which threw off the balance I think. However Seattle is the only major city within quite a distance of itself and therefore would most likely be perhaps more of a magnet for the disenfranchised than other major urban areas that have other close by major urban areas.
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

  7. #7
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    As another factor in this, isn't Seattle, much like Portland, OR, one of those places where the young and lost congregate to? People who've run away from home, or just hit eighteen and decided to move to their version of alternative lifestyle Mecca, people who don't have much sense and may not be looking for more traditional jobs, etc.

    I know it has a very active LGBT community. If kids with a troubled home life get drawn there because of that and then aren't prepared for the harsh realities of city living, I can see how many of them could end up as sex workers or homeless.

    (Of course, I also know of people in Seattle who are sex workers by choice and make very good money. They wouldn't factor into this, obviously.)

  8. #8
    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    I think you're right Zuul, but it's again because it's the only real thing around lots of those places. Portland isn't as bad because Eugene is nearby, which is the North West Coast version of hell when it comes to drugs and homeless and begging and the like. But if you're a gay kid who grew up in North Bumfuck Crackerville in the eastern portions of Washington or Oregon you're sure as hell not sticking around a second longer than you have to, and when you flee you're not going to Wyoming or Idaho for your triumphant escape. I saw much the same thing in Omaha, but I'd imagine it's true for most of the country. Young people flock to urban areas to escape bumpkinism.
    Last edited by Cluricaun; 15 Oct 2009 at 10:54 AM.
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

  9. #9
    Vast Right-Wing Conspirator
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    I was in Seattle a few months back to visit my son. There was a person passed out in a doorway. I think he was on heroin or something other than alcohol.

    We met several homeless folks. One gave us an excellent recommendation for a restaurant. He liked it because they fed him for free, but the food was just as good if you paid for it.

    Regards,
    Shodan

  10. #10
    Vast Right-Wing Conspirator
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    hmmm...

    Regards,
    Shodan
    Last edited by Shodan; 15 Oct 2009 at 11:18 AM. Reason: double post

  11. #11
    Stegodon hamburglar's avatar
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    Yes, there are a lot of homeless and crazy people in downtown Seattle. Most of downtown is the in the bus "Free Ride Zone" where you can just hop on and off the bus for free. If you are on a bus which is traveling into downtown, you can always tell when you've entered the Free Ride Zone because the bus suddenly starts filling up with people you really don't want to sit next to.

    I used to work downtown and there are a lot of regulars that you come to recognize. My office was about a block from this guy's usual hangout. I can think of two others that I'd recognize pretty easily if I saw them somewhere else in town.

    a youtube video about the shouting guy. I'm not sure if they got him to sing the song for them or what, but if you imagine that same growly shout not set to music, being shouted out into traffic and at crowds of pedestrians, that's pretty much the 6th & Pine experience.
    Last edited by hamburglar; 15 Oct 2009 at 06:41 PM.

  12. #12
    Stegodon hamburglar's avatar
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    I knew I could find some streetview evidence without much effort. One of the regulars I was thinking of sits on the concrete ledge here every day and literally shrieks stuff like "HEY MISTER LET ME HAVE A DOLLAR" in an angry high-pitched voice. She's really unfriendly and I have a hard time believing anyone ever gives her any money, but she's almost always there.

  13. #13
    A Football of Fate Jeff's avatar
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    Huh, go figure. I guess this guy wasn't exaggerating.

    Thanks all.

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