You write that the Macy's closure was "due to economic reasons rather than the surrounding crime." While the national decline of in person department store shopping was certainly a major driving force behind the closure, my understanding is that rampant shoplifting at the Macy's was also a significant contributor to the company's decision to shutter the location.
Second, in your close you rightly point out that media (and public) attention has recently turned to "homelessness, crime and the fentanyl epidemic." But, conta to how you close your piece, I'm actually surprised at how little the current crop of City Council candidates (with a handful of exceptions) are platforming on those issues. I suspect many of them are hand waving past these issues because, at least to some extent, Thunderdome-ish problems with entrenched encampments, (the not unrelated question of) worsening crime (or at least the perceptions of worsening crime and street disorder downtown), and the fentayl-and-meth driven overdose crisis on our streets makes for an awkward fit with some of Seattle's current movement progressive orthodoxies.
Interesting read, Brad. A couple of comments:
You write that the Macy's closure was "due to economic reasons rather than the surrounding crime." While the national decline of in person department store shopping was certainly a major driving force behind the closure, my understanding is that rampant shoplifting at the Macy's was also a significant contributor to the company's decision to shutter the location.
Second, in your close you rightly point out that media (and public) attention has recently turned to "homelessness, crime and the fentanyl epidemic." But, conta to how you close your piece, I'm actually surprised at how little the current crop of City Council candidates (with a handful of exceptions) are platforming on those issues. I suspect many of them are hand waving past these issues because, at least to some extent, Thunderdome-ish problems with entrenched encampments, (the not unrelated question of) worsening crime (or at least the perceptions of worsening crime and street disorder downtown), and the fentayl-and-meth driven overdose crisis on our streets makes for an awkward fit with some of Seattle's current movement progressive orthodoxies.