It Takes All Kinds
Went to a public meeting in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood last night. It was about homelessness. Homelessness is one of the things Seattle’s famous for. Along with coffee, grunge, rain, marijuana ....
View ArticleHello this is my daughter…
March 6, 2017 Seen in a Portland shop window in August 2017. It may have been there for some time, given the reference to winter clothes: HOMELESS IN DWNTWN PORTLAND Please help my ill daughter Hello...
View ArticleBeyond the Pale: A neighbor’s view of the Ballard Locks homeless camp
March 10, 2017 The Ballard Locks (also known as Hiram M. Chittenden Locks) are a system of mechanically controlled channels that allow watercraft to travel between the inland waterways of Seattle (Lake...
View ArticleThe tarnished halo of Rob Ferguson
March 12, 2017 Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is exulting in his successful court challenge to President Trump’s immigration ban. Ferguson obviously cares about immigrant rights, been has he...
View ArticleThe Thin Veneer
March 13, 2017 In my time, I’ve been in some pretty bad places. Figuratively and literally. I was raised in an affluent home, but as a young man, I traveled to an embattled Third World country because...
View ArticleEncampment Complaints: A suspicious pattern
March 23, 2017 The document in the link below was produced by Seattle’s Customer Service Bureau (CSB) in response to a public disclosure request from Safe Seattle. The document shows how many citizen...
View ArticleThe Margin Dwellers
April 4, 2017 A word of advice to aspiring reporters: Don’t ever volunteer for the poverty beat. It’ll tear the heart out of you. Meet Jennifer Allison (on the left). She’s the manager at the Georgian...
View ArticleCall Me Reverend
April 11, 2017 Call Me Reverend: The Bill Kirlin-Hackett Story Mr. Mild The first impression one gets of the Reverend Bill Kirlin-Hackett is of someone we’d expect to find singing kum-ba-ya around the...
View ArticlePuff Piece
April 29, 2017 In my years of trying to bring the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) to justice, I have been repeatedly frustrated by their slick public relations operation. Here’s an organization...
View ArticleGhostwriter
June 5, 2017 What would you think if you discovered automobile executives had written a bill on auto safety and handed it to your senator to sponsor? And what if you learned those same executives had...
View ArticleProtected: Testimony of Christian Otto
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
View ArticleDemocracy Slouchers
July 4, 2017 I-122, the “Honest Elections” initiative (aka the Democracy Voucher Program) was supposed to get money and corporate influence out of Seattle politics. It looked great on paper. The...
View ArticleDemocracy Slouchers ~ Part 3: What’s left of the Dream?
September 8, 2017 Remember when the Democracy Voucher Program was proposed? It was supposed to get big money out of politics and get grassroots candidates in. We’re now six months into our first...
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