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Comment by wonderwonder | Hacker News Reader

I mean Capitol Hill really was seized and people were killed and stores were looted. Crime really is escalating along with the homeless population. Plus there is a drug issue. So the news I am consuming is not the issue. Thus the answer is that in spite of these things the city is growing, hence my question.

No need to lob insults in some sort of misguided political crusade. Thanks!

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You keep citing a protest from more than three years ago and a trend of rising crime and homelessness that is affecting Seattle, as well as almost every major city in America.

It seems like you aren’t actually curious why people move to Seattle, and just want to believe what you already think you know. The person responding to you had not a hint of personal attack or insult, they merely pointed out that your news did not match reality. It is a good idea to evaluate your sources if that is what is happening.

If you look at the comment I was responding to, they posted in an attacking manner. I was responding to that. I agree it was 3 years ago, but all those people likely still live there and it was a pretty damn big deal. Several city blocks were seized and lawless. So again I clearly communicated that this is what the news I saw was conveying and then asked for the reasons it was growing as this is all the info I have. No idea why everyone is incredibly insulted that I asked a question.

> but all those people likely still live there and it was a pretty damn big deal

You aren't going to get much sympathy for your position from those people who lives in Capitol Hill, they tend to be very young and very left in their ideology. Yes, FoxNews showed that picture of the teleporting guy with the gun (before they started marking such pictures as illustration), and yes, the homicide rate was slightly above average during the CHAZ. Most of us who live in Seattle never actually experienced it (I didn't), and when I finally got around to visiting Capitol Hill during the pandemic, it was long over and a perfectly normal place (albeit with slightly more restaurants closed).

Fair enough, thank you.

You are factually wrong and also your news sources are factually wrong. If you find that insulting, that's a you problem.

cool cool, what part am I factually wrong about? The growing homeless population? The drug problem? The growth in violent crime? The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone and the related killings?

I lived on the hill during the protests. I walked through the 'capitol hill autonomous zone' with my children numerous times and never felt unsafe. 15-20 years ago I used to catch a late-night bus at Pike and 3rd which was considerably sketchier than anything that's ever happened on Capitol Hill and even that was tame compared to other large cities I've visited.

Friend, respectfully... 5 people were not shot over a few days on the late night bus. I'm glad you felt safe and that you were able to walk your kids through it but lets not down play what really happened to the people that were shot and killed in that small area during that short window of time.

I don't watch a lot of news so I can't really speak to the facts you're citing, but I've also spent some time living southeast of Capitol Hill in the Central District where people actually routinely get shot and where I've been mugged at gunpoint so it's possible my 'safety tolerance' is just different from yours. By comparison, nothing I saw on the hill during the 'CHAZ' even came close, it was mostly drum circles and graffiti-art.

I remember feeling a similar disconnect between the news cycle and my lived experience during 'Occupy Wallstreet' when I watched a crowd of hundreds of people walking two blocks from in front of Westlake to protest at the Bank of America stop and wait for every pedestrian signal.

I've never heard of anyone getting mugged at gunpoint in Seattle before. I'm not doubting your experience, but usually they try to steal your bike or pirate your packages, crimes that the SPD usually just ignores, pulling a gun on someone is rare, since the SPD doesn't really ignore that. My maternal aunt from Alaska did claim to be mugged by a black guy in Seattle in the 70s, but she was also kind of racist, so I'm not sure if her story was true or not.

An extended family member did get shot outside of an SLU bar a few years ago. I'm not really clear on what was going on, they didn't catch whoever did it, and he wasn't seriously wounded, but it was scary that someone I knew was shot at at all, since this place isn't really know for that (and I worked at Third and Pine McDonalds for a year in the mid-90s, so have seen some crazy sh*t).

If it helps your collection of anecdotes, I gave the mugger my wallet while remarking that I was sorry there was no cash in it but I had $150 on the EBT card and he handed it back and said 'that's all right, have a safe night' and ran away.

Oohf, ya, mugging people these days is tough. No one carries cash around anymore.

There used to be a protective Pride patrol in Capitol Hill because there were regular physical attacks on LGBTQ people in the street. I moved here in 2009 and I remember multiple incidents where people were mugged at gunpoint on the Hill just that year. Pulling a gun on someone is not frequent, but it's also not a once-a-year headline act.

I live in Capitol Hill and no, it wasn't "seized". CHAZ was on the same level of disruption as this weekend's annual music festival, which fenced off several city blocks (and they were blocks filled with stores people wanted to go to, not just the park). The news you are consuming is absolutely the issue, but I get the impression that you consume it because it tells you what you want to hear.

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