Seattle is Dying

Seattle is Dying

2019, Society  -   56 Comments
7.34
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Ratings: 7.34/10 from 184 users.

Bordered by beautiful mountain ranges and gleaming waters, Seattle is one of the most desirable spots to live in the United States. According to Seattle is Dying, a documentary produced by the local KOMO news outlet, the appeal of the city is giving way to rampant crime, homelessness and disgrace.

After tackling issues related to homelessness and drug addiction in previous documentaries, the outlet decided to focus on how these elements impact the quality of life for residents and what can be done to curb the tide of despair that has gripped their beloved city.

The scope of the problem is distressing, and its visual evidence can be seen on nearly every corner. Junkyards hiding under overpasses, tents set up on the side of highways, disturbed members of the homeless community shouting obscenities on downtown streets.

The city has spent large amounts of money to battle the epidemic in their communities, but these philanthropic efforts have had little effect. The film illustrates a profound disconnect between the reality on the streets and the courses of action taken by the city's government agencies.

That disconnect is the central focus of the film as the filmmakers attempt to devise a strategy for restoring order to the region. They receive input from several whistleblower police officers who wish to remain anonymous. The conditions on the street are nearly post-apocalyptic, they claim, and the criminal justice system limits their ability to effectively enforce the law.

In a random list of 100 repeat offenders, the filmmakers find that every subject is homeless and drug-addicted. Most of those tested are afflicted with mental illness. But the majority of them have repeatedly been thrown back into society without a conviction or additional follow-up of any kind.

Seattle is Dying isn't afraid to examine the stark realities behind these issues. It does not intend to demonize the vulnerable. To the contrary, it questions why the city hasn't been able to do more for them. Ultimately, the film endorses more virulent enforcement, and advocates for increased access to recovery services for the city's population of prisoners and other at-risk individuals.

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Viva Venezuela
Viva Venezuela
1 year ago

The Seattle city council's policies are what attract dead-beats like flies to dung, and then they wonder why there are so many. The council wants to dismember single-family neighborhoods in favor of high-density projects because they think destroying the tax base is a good idea. They think Seattle should be affordable, when there are already plenty of affordable places elsewhere. They don't understand capitalism, or that for a large majority homelessness is a lifestyle choice. If a foreign adversary wanted to kill Seattle they could attack militarily & end up with WWIII. Or they could simply fund far-left liberals for council & let them rot it as they have done to so many other major cities in America. 25 years in Seattle, now living in a red state in a non-sanctuary city. Night and day. Where are all the vagrants? Thanks, Seattle, and other cities like you

Lori Halderson
Lori Halderson
1 year ago

They are homosexual inbred sodomites. They can do nothing of any value. They rape gestated me in sewers and then put me into Kensington PA slums and urinated on me in a door well. The USA pimp courts told me this my mandated religion...

melvin
melvin
1 year ago

Seattle has been corupted by "Liberalsim" for years.

Lars Johansson
Lars Johansson
2 years ago

6.00 in. Could be a victim of voice 2 skull torture/tech/weapons/experimentation (NSA) so be careful with your conclusions.

kate
kate
2 years ago

Most democratic states are like this though ... avoid at all cost.

Rafael
Rafael
2 years ago

Why do yo make it sound like homelessness is the epidemic? Unhoused peoples are people, not a disease. Look at the root of homelessness, what needs to change? Try mental health reform? Try addiction recovery programs?

arlo
arlo
2 years ago

You don't need to go back in time to find out why empires collapse. It's happening right here and right now in this US Empire. This is what you get for being a FAKE democracy with a FAIL capitalism which is running by a bunch of oligarchs in a corrupted system. Don't act innocent and pretend like you don't know what's going on... because, you are not innocent in this tragedy, but... instead, you're (and have been) supporting this same system since after WWII and you're a part of the problem, all Americans! You selfish people who voted for the crooked politicians and corrupted government leaders for your own hidden agenda and self-interests in order to maintain your status quo decadent and materialistic lifestyle, eh! Yeah... you all guilty of this tragic demise of your nation. Period.

Sharon McConville
Sharon McConville
2 years ago

I think KOMO TV had a good solution to help the homelessness in Seattle. After interviewing hundreds of homeless people, they came to the conclusion that 93% of all homelessness was due to addiction. Some type of drug or alcohol addiction and not much was mentioned of an actual clinical medical problem as Schizophrenia or other PTSD. So most of the problems are addiction. The end result to help many people was to turn McNeil Island into a hospital for the homeless and addicted. What ever happened to that good idea. The money that is thrown at the tiny houses and the money for clean up of camps is staggering. Why not fix up McNeil Island and do some actual good. Also, many people who live here have come from other cities. Thanks to those officials who are "kind enough" to give them tickets to Seattle to get them out of their cities. It's a known fact that our city has a corrupt political homeless factor in place and the money goes into the pockets of the people who are supposed to be helping the homeless. But this idea would take that away from the crooks. The Homeless who need help would have a second chance to get better if McNeil Island was a place for them to go. Wouldn't it be smarter to actually get some help for these individuals rather than just moving them around to different spots to live in the exact same squallor. I see NO progress, it's getting worse. Our politicians do not have a clue how to fix it. All the social workers have no idea how to fix it either. KOMO TV had a good solution...politicians need to get that going. nothing else is working. You could save many lives.

Karen Rogers
Karen Rogers
3 years ago

Good, but * very * incomplete, video. It shows just the surface level of a problem, all the while failing to ASK THE QUESTION: Who is making money by perpetuating this drug culture?

Drug dealers/manufacturers -- making $$ through sales

"Non-profit" organizations providing services -- making $$ through donations, tax subsidies (city, county, state, and federal), and possibly illegal kick-backs

Elected officials -- making $$ through donations, jobs (for themselves, family, and friends), and possibly illegal kick-backs

Black-market criminals -- selling stolen goods

Sex traffickers -- selling stolen humans

A problem doesn't get this big unless someone is making $$ -- and a LOT of it. While it's nice that the video producers showed (part of) a problem that is obvious to anyone who goes to Seattle, it'll take bravery to follow the $$ trail.

I have no doubt that the people making $$ from this problem would move Heaven and Earth to stop -- or * severely * punish the people who dare to make -- Part 2: Follow the Money.

Rand
Rand
3 years ago

Chicago is sick and dying also.

Alana
Alana
3 years ago

We moved last month from Seattle to Nevada for all of the reasons that this documentary goes into, and so much more. A Socialist and Marxist leaning City Council that refuses to support it's police department. A corrupt, inept justice system, lawlessness and policies designed to handicap, bleed & exploit businesses are all part & parcel with why the Emerald city is no longer a desirable place to live. San Francisco is worse, which is why housing prices are temporarily buoyed in Seattle. The influx of Californians will end, & yet smart Seattlites will continue to exit on mass. Most business owners & friends we know are quietly planning to leave. It is easy to understand why, as Seattle is just another failed liberal city that is self destructing. It's too bad, it once was so beautiful, vibrant & vital. We are sad to see it dying due to socialist policies, policy makers & a general moral decline. What kind of city supports Antifa, but not it's police department? Clearly Seattle is a city that sadly, actually, deserves to die.

James
James
3 years ago

I must be the oldest person posting here. I remember when LBJ started the Great Society. We have been on the sam socialist path since then. Each drug has its own story. Why it's here, what made it possible. The people to start on it? Sometimes they are dealing with depression, bored, around the wrong people, made a bad choice, didn't have a father around ... in the end it was pressures of socialism and socialism's desire to break down the family unit. Remove a community's natural safety nets - replace them with people who don't know who you are and don't care - this is what happens.

Seattle isn't the first city to see this. San Fran, LA, San Diego, Portland - it's all up and down the coast. Chicago, NYC, Atlanta, Miami, (recent addition) Denver, Tucson, and welcome to the club Antonio. What's in common? Socialism. Every single one of these cities have followed the same path.

Don't arrest for personal use amounts. Don't arrest for nuisance offenses. Have homeless projects that count the number of people they serve as a measure of success rather than how few they have left to help as a measure. Court/Justice systems that look more at home as a revolving door, a fixture rather than having a function.

But let me touch on the Great Society ... this country use to have hospitals for the mentally ill. Use to. The country shut them all down and kicked them to the curb. "We can do this on an out patient basis," we said. Now the question is how many self medicate and how many people at the fringes fall into the mentally ill category because of one of many reason such as those I stated above?

In the end, community is not government and when government attempts to take over the rolls of the community they remove accountability in the process. The promise of socialism is a fools dream.

Brian
Brian
3 years ago

Seattle's answer: abolish the police.

SMH...if the incompetent, woke, marxist ideologues running Seattle think they can just turn to the federal government for a bailout, know other American will not pay for your social experiments and mis-management. You destroyed it, you can fix it.

Joy
Joy
3 years ago

Everything this documentary points to is 110% truth. I won’t bring my family near Seattle anymore... it’s post apocalyptic.

Caedmon
Caedmon
3 years ago

Not enough political competition. Seattle has a one party political monopoly, and the voters are unwilling to kick the bums out and give the opposition party a chance. That is why there is no change.

Richard Rider
Richard Rider
4 years ago

Seattle, you need to spend more money on the homeless. Raise taxes, and make Seattle a magnet for MORE homeless. Works in SF, LA and San Diego!

Janet
Janet
4 years ago

They need to incinerate the garbage and place the bad ones in hospitals. The not so bad homeless need housing.

Booster
Booster
4 years ago

These are symptoms of the system, we must focus on the causes. It has little to do with political affiations.

Andi
Andi
4 years ago

What an eye-opener! Coming to a city near you if you elect liberal city leaders.

Dave
Dave
4 years ago

One of the best documentaries I have seen. I am American living overseas in Asia. It is a shame to watch the U.S. implode and nothing is being done about it. It was good to see the problem explained so clearly and a solution portrayed at the end. Hats off to those in Rhode Island.

Where I live the streets are spotless, trains are clean, and I do not encounter what I have seen in the movie. I am not saying there are no problems here (there are) however the problems shown about Seattle (which also exist in my hometown of San Francisco) are devastating.

I fear the U.S. will need to get much worse before anything gets better. It seems neither of the political parties have a viable solution (in my opinion).

Again....I tip my hat to those workers in Rhode Island.

Thomas
Thomas
4 years ago

I live in Redding. A northern California town. We are on the same level as Seattle but no where near the scale. Seattle really does look like sh*t from what I have seen in this film. Medication cant substitute self respect; it can give an individual enough time to learn it.

Dave
Dave
4 years ago

Put them in concentration camps.

Mars
Mars
4 years ago

fantastic. There is a way to help.

Jack
Jack
4 years ago

I look forward to the day when all the "Progressive " bastions collapse under there collective bureaucratic weight. Exactly as the USSR and other failed Socialist states
and like ideologies that came before them.

Mark Gaboury
Mark Gaboury
4 years ago

The drug problem, with all of its attendant crime and filth, is a symptom of leftist policies. It's that simple, folks.

Tominator
Tominator
4 years ago

Just back from Seattle. I live in the North East. I've visited Seattle dozen of times throughout the decades, and used to love to hang in the once great city. Pikes Market, ferry landing, downtown. I no longer feel safe, as the city gets dirtier and filled with grossness from the wacked out druggies. Meth is a much bigger problem on the west coast vs east. Heroin for both, is bad news. Homeless is the general category given to this DRUG problem. The city is dying because their is no plan in place to address this problem. The film offers one possibility that is being used in Providence, RI.
The anti police comments here are close minded, and offer no possible solutions. Perhaps some of these police hater people should walk the streets of some of these west coast cities and be challenged by some of these crazies, as I have. Feel what it's like to have your child our wife with you on these walks.

Maggie
Maggie
4 years ago

Could we learn from the R.I. rehab program?

Carl
Carl
4 years ago

This documentary speaks the truth. Plain and simple.
The big unspoken truth here is that Seattle along with San Francisco are lead by liberals so open minded their brains fell out. There would be similar dire consequences if just conservatives governed a city or region. There has to be a balance of both sides politically. When one side is shut out then the checks and balances, put in place, whither and die.
The answer is evident for those with a mind. Enforce the laws for the safety of the citizens whilst mandating drug treatment as a condition of release back into society. The financial burden would soon be equaled and surpassed by the savings of reduced crime and all that comes with it.

winter
winter
4 years ago

You speak of empowering cops to punish the homeless, sick, and insane. This is the kind of thing cops most love to do because it doesn't place them in danger. Mostly they worry about missing out on their early retirement. My advice to you, if you are wond -ering what to do with your life? Take a couple criminal justice classes so you can be a c op. It's easy money, especially if you happen to be a woman.

JMFD
JMFD
4 years ago

"Let's give police more power because seeing the homeless poor hurts my feelings."
- the whole point of this documentary