Live from New York: a Seattle punchline!
Commentary by Jennifer Daydreamer
On October 6th, 2018, during the Weekend Edition of Saturday Night Live, Michael Che riffed on our City: “Starbucks baristas in Seattle are saying that they are being forced to dispose of hypodermic needles left behind in the stores everyday by drug users. Meanwhile, over at 7-11, they’re using them as stirrers.”
Not a great joke but point well taken.
SNL is our modern day court jester. It’s live and communal and mirrors our society in a humorous manner. In another era, it was the court jester who gave the King the very bad news that nobody else dared to deliver.
The news SNL delivers is that baristas across the U.S. are not in contact with hypodermic needles en masse. It’s a Seattle phenomenon. Not a general big city problem. Not even a New York problem. A Seattle problem.
Seattle has a drug crisis and a homeless crisis resulting in a patently predictable Civics 101 crisis: when you allow lawlessness, criminals take advantage and hurt people and property.
What dangers have been happening? Well, in the past month, a Wallingford condominium under construction was burned down by drug addicts. In the SoDo area, a woman was mauled by a homeless pit bull and other dogs. Recently, I saw addicts threatening customers in a business, one man was particularly violent, and gave witness to the police.
As well-meaning as the local news outlets have been, the facts reported have been conflicting. We could use an outsider, a very thorough and ambitious investigative reporter(s) to get to the crux of it. I’m not kidding when I say I see Pulitzer Prize worthy material because there’s a lot to uncover. Hopefully, an expose can help keep everyone, including the homeless, safer.
Shawn Telford describes a harrowing and out of control homeless crisis.
This video of Seattle native Shawn Telford describes how homeless encampment and car prowl problems turned his life upside down. All because the homeless issue is out of control. This is just one of so many compelling stories. There’s a new story each day. Some stories manage to get on people’s radars for a while, like the hypodermic needles in Starbucks.
We got a joke coming out of a big network studio in New York City. We’re going to need far more than just a joke to get people’s attention and make serious progress. The City of Seattle government is not responding in a serious and competent manner. We need outside resources to examine what is going on. Seattle seriously needs help. We need a TIME magazine cover story, not an SNL gag.
I wonder why there’s such a concentration there. It’s not even that bad here in L.A., or at least Burbank. Maybe downtown L.A. is bad, and I’m not aware of it, but I haven’t heard any stories about it. I do know there’s a lot of homelessness and addiction at the beach, where many “free-spirited” and creative types gather. That could lead to distractions and going down “the wrong road.” But Seattle is more “techie” than “artsy”, isn’t it? At any rate, it’s harrowing. It DOES need an in-depth story and discussion.
The situation in Seattle requires a new outlook. Cities across the country need to exchange information more regularly and see what works and what doesn’t work. Amid citizen outrage, the City of Seattle continues to struggle with how to address transient crime and related issues.