Seattle impressed World Cup visitors with cleaner streets and polished public spaces, but once the final whistle blew, the city's open-air drug crisis quickly returned to view, prompting one Seattle commentator to argue officials merely moved the problem out of sight rather than solving it."Addiction didn’t get better over those few weeks," Charlie Harger, host of Seattle's "Morning News" on KIRO Newsradio, wrote in a Wednesday op-ed."Mental illness didn’t vanish.
Permanent supportive housing didn’t suddenly fix what it has failed to fix here for years.People got moved.
People got pushed away from the corners where a visitor might see them.I understand why the city did it.
But if moving them is all we did, we didn’t solve a thing.We managed the view."Harger said that the city has nothing to show for the "billions" it has spent to address the crisis.
Seattle hosted six World Cup matches at Lumen Field, home of the city's Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.DEMOCRATS REPORTEDLY FORCED TO 'GRAPPLE UNCOMFORTABLY' WITH WORLD CUP SUCCESS UNDER DONALD TRUMPAndrea Suarez dismantles a tent as garbage lies piled at a homeless encampment on March 13, 2022, in Seattle, Washington.(John Moore/Getty Images)"Too many on the left have confused tolerance with compassion, as if letting someone use fentanyl on a sidewalk is kindness," Harger said.
"Too many on the right are right to demand order, but sometimes talk as if removal alone is a solution.I don’t buy either one.
It would be nice if either were demonstrably true."Harger continued, "They’re not.We’ve spent a decade and billions of dollars on one, and the overdose count went up every year.
The places that tried the right’s version just moved the same people to a different sidewalk."According to Seattle.gov, in 2024, the city of Seattle spent $153.8 million on homelessness services through its Human Services Department.SPENCER PRATT SAYS HIS POLICY WILL FORCE HOMELESS OUT OF LA AND INTO CITIES LIKE SEATTL...