Jun 3, 2020
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Argentina
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from New Zealand
seen from China
seen from New Zealand
seen from Luxembourg
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
After President Trump threatened to intervene in ongoing protests in Seattle and criticized elected officials’ responses, the city’s mayor Jenny Durkan clapped back.
follow @nowthisnews for daily news videos & more
U.S.: Jenny Durkan To Become First Out Lesbian Mayor Of Seattle “We are thrilled Jenny will become the first lesbian mayor of Seattle – and just the second woman elected to the position,” said Victory Fund President & CEO Aisha C.
Ok, Seattle. Let’s talk. We just elected a new mayor who has promised to continue doing inhumane and immoral homeless encampment sweeps. (Among other unsettling things.) So let me lay it out for you:
People MUST have the right to sleep in public spaces - whenever and wherever, as long as they are not actively impeding others.
(Your concerns about visual aesthetics are not an impediment.)
Follow this logic.
If you say people cannot sleep outside, then you are saying that it is illegal to not be able to afford a home or apartment.
In Seattle in 2014, the average monthly rent for a 1-bedroom apartment was $1,412. (I couldn’t find good data for studio apartments, but rents have gone up significantly since then, so let’s just use this number for simplicity. Plus people may need space for dependents.) The most common rules of thumb that I hear is that housing shouldn’t cost more than 1/4th to 1/3rd of your income.
This means that you are essentially saying that it should be illegal to make less than $50,832 per year here to even be granted the privilege to simply exist. (Yes, many people can find below average cost housing, but not everyone will be able to count on that due to increases in luxury apartments replacing lower-rent, older buildings.)
Now, the only ways that this could be even remotely considered humane would be for:
1) guaranteed universal employment with a minimum wage of $50K/year, or
2) a universal basic income, or
3) 110% enough public housing that does not discriminate in any way, allows couple to stay together (opposite and same sex), allows kids to stay with both of their parents, allows pets, are properly equipped and staffed to handle mental illness/physical illness/disability/sex offenders/drug addiction/etc. in a way that is safe for the person themselves and everyone else in the housing, and do not impose extremely strict, demeaning rules on their residents.
Now, personally, I would love for all three of these to be true AND for it still to be okay to sleep on the street.
Some people have PTSD, trauma, or mental illness that prevents them from comfortably being able to stay in public housing. That MUST be okay. This would seem to directly fall under the “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” bit.
Your discomfort at their predicament does not supersede their right to exist. And I guarantee that your discomfort at merely seeing homeless people is much less than their general discomfort overall.
Dear Seattle Voters
I strongly urge you all to vote for Cary Moon for mayor. On the surface, Jenny Durkan seems to have good liberal chops, especially with all of the endorsements that she has gotten recently. However, she is truly far to the right of what I think is Seattle's heart. Durkan outright says she will continue to conduct the incredibly inhumane homeless camp sweeps. That alone makes her despicable in my view. She will support the largest of businesses, against the average Seattlite's interest. I believe that the chance of a city income tax would die under her, because of her ties to the wealthy business owners. She will support cars over public transit. Cars that our roads just cannot hold in the numbers needed with our current growth rate and that further build inequality. Durkan wants to add 20,000 affordable housing units over 10 years. With ~21,000 people moving to the city EACH YEAR, this is not even remotely enough. She also has little to say about gentrification and racial disparities in housing affordability. (Admittedly, she has gotten better over the last couple of months. But not nearly enough.)
Durkan supports building a new youth dentention facility. Nuff said. I find it deeply concerning that Durkan illegally gave out her own alcohol at an all ages event in a bar - both giving it to minors and undercutting sales at the small business. I find it deeply concerning that she accepted illegal campaign contributions from massive companies, though she gave it back when called out. Cary Moon is not perfect, but she is actively working for the best outcome on each of these major issues. She is an activist with a proven history of standing up for the least privileged, which is what we need.
Seattle’s Socialist Mayor Just Went Full DOGE
She just went DOGE then turned around and made a complete 180.
It's a wonder her head doesn't spin
Mayor Durkan wants to hire more police.
Seattle Mayor Wants To Re-Fund The Police After Weekend Of Violence - Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) & Seattle City Council defunded the city's police force by 18% last November. After a weekend of violence resulting in 5 deaths and 9 additional shooting injuries, Mayor Durkan is calling to hire more police officers. "this past weekend serves as a reminder, there are many times and types of 9-1-1 calls that require a traditional sworn police officer to respond." The Seattle Police Department lost 250 officers through the defunding and political climate of law enforcement. Mayor Durkan explains "as a city, we cannot continue on this current trajectory of losing police officers like we have this year into the next years. Over the past 17 months, the Seattle Police Department has lost 250 police officers which is the equivalent of over 300,000 service hours. We're on path to losing 300 officers." The Seattle City Council voted 8-1 to defund the police by 18%. Councilmember Kshama Sawant voting against, because she wanted to defund the police by 50% as per BLM demands.
