Protesters stand near large barriers as city crews wait to clear the streets — but not the campers — around the East Precinct (Image: CHS)
With reporting by Jake Goldstein-Street
The city’s process to begin the physical dismantling of CHOP began early Friday morning with a line of Seattle Department of Transportation trucks stretched down 12th Ave.
Like most moments around the Capitol Hill protest zone, things didn’t immediately go as planned. By 7:30 AM, things were on hold after the head of SDOT agreed to provide a “formal letter” to the camp explaining the day’s planned actions to clear art and barriers from the right of way and begin the the clean-up of Cal Anderson Park.
Like most moments around the Capitol Hill protest zone, it seemed clear the letter would be only a next step and the city trucks weren’t going anywhere.
UPDATE 6:15 PM: A marathon meeting between Mayor Jenny Durkan and camp organizers Friday afternoon inside 14th Ave’s First African Methodist Episcopal Church produced a lengthy airing of grievances and debate over a Sunday morning deadline.
Nobody from the mayor’s office spoke to media after the more than three hour session but those who attended said the mayor was clear — the protest campers can stay outside the East Precinct and the large cement barriers that protect that camping area can stay but the other streets around the Capitol Hill protest zone must be clear of barriers by Sunday morning.
Whether there is agreement on that deadline is another matter.
Independent journalist Omari Salisbury hosted an impromptu press conference at 12th and Pine following the meeting after he said he had been asked to attend by the camp representatives meeting with the mayor. but that the mayor herself asked him to stop providing live updates of the proceedings.
Salisbury described the Sunday morning deadline and said that the mayor met most of the camp’s demands by either explaining how the city is already doing things like in-patrol car video, or detailing her initiatives that she felt would yield better results in a kind of “working on, better idea, met, or out of her hands” approach.
Salisbury said there was also a lot of discussion of increasing the amount of human services being offered to help homeless and undershletered people clear Cal Anderson. Salisbury said there was no formal agreement on the Sunday morning barrier deadline but that there was not active opposition from the camp representatives as the meeting was winding down.
Mayor has arrived #chop pic.twitter.com/8BuNJcjO2K
— jseattle (@jseattle) June 26, 2020
Mark Anthony, a member of the CHOP camp who attended the session, said no decisions have been made about Sunday but that the camp is weighing its options. “I’ve already said the point of a movement it to remain moving,” Anthony said.
But Anthony said, for now the camp will “continue on.”
“The thing that we’re waiting for next is to find a solution that works for both the city and the protesters so we can continue at a new location.”
Anthony said the mayor won’t consider converting the East Precinct into a community center. Anthony’s proposal is to integrate the facility with a social services center.
As for concerns about another flare up of violence this weekend one week after last Saturday’s shootings, Anthony said much of Friday’s meeting was about safety and that there is hope for a better plan to create safe meeting spaces where camp volunteers can meet up with emergency responders and avoid potentially deadly delays.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
SDOT director Sam Zimbabwe drew a crowd Friday morning (Image: CHS)
Workers said they were there to clear out things like wood barriers and store art for pickup. One handed out donuts while a protester blocked a backhoe parked in the middle of 12th Ave with a bored city worker at the wheel. Nobody, they said, was there to sweep out the campers.
A large crowd formed around SDOT director Sam Zimbabwe as he made his case in an orange SDOT vest and black COVID-19 mask for clearing the right of way and making the area more “normal” for businesses and residents.
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Later, regular camp presence Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins also arrived for a smaller, calmer talk with protesters.
Friday is the deadline for Mayor Jenny Durkan and the city to document its CHOP planning or face an injunction threatened in a federal lawsuit brought by a group of Pike/Pine and 12th Ave area property owners and a small set of neighborhood businesses.
Thursday, some activists began the work to establish new efforts beyond the occupation. The Black Collective Voice, a group made up of organizers and protesters looking to reclaim what they see as a false narrative about the zone, said they plan to continue the fight for defunding the Seattle Police Department and winning new efforts to support Black and BIPOC communities.
“We will stay here as long as the people want to stay here,” Naudia Miller, the co-executive director of the Harriet Tubman Foundation for Safe Passage, said at a Thursday afternoon press conference on Pine between 11th and 12th. “Our movement to liberate Black lives is not restricted to one space. We recognize the importance of this space and we will continue to build off the relationships that we made in this space.”
But the stage has been set for exit. Miller said that occupying the East Precinct was never the goal of demonstrators who spent a week at 11th and Pine fighting to walk through the streets past the police building.
“Stewarding and protecting the East Precinct only became possible when the Seattle Police Department left that space,” Miller said. “What transpired after that was organic.”
The demands of CHOP demonstrators and this group are for the SPD to be defunded by at least 50%, for that money to be redirected to the Black community, and for protesters not to be prosecuted.
Seattle Police’s limited presence in the zone around 11th and Pine and Cal Anderson Park and growing criticism that the camp’s purpose of occupying the area and the “Seattle People’s Precinct” has brought criticism that the occupation is overtaking greater Black Lives Matter goals.
Responding to neighborhood concerns, Miller said “we appreciate your patience,” but “as Black People, Indigenous people, and people of color, we feel an intense burden every moment of our lives that I would say the burden of owning a business doesn’t compare to the struggles of living in a nation that is built on anti-Black racism.”
“We hear you business owners, we’re doing our best,” Miller said. “We are dealing with trauma always.”
Miller looked to counter narratives that CHOP is the cause of the recent gun violence around Cal Anderson Park and put the onus on institutions.
“Governing bodies have continued to fail at resolving these issues, despite clear direction from Black, Indigenous, POC community leaders who are of the communities who are impacted the most,” she said, adding that it seems to her that these bodies are more interested in getting back to “business as usual.”
Police presence around the clearance work outside the emptied East Precinct was minimal. One officer on the scene said he was there as an “observer.” A camp security volunteer part of the protest from its first days gave the officer an earful, worried about changes coming to the streets that might remove heavy cement barriers from the 12th and Pine intersection and expose campers to new dangers.
Camp sentries stood watch on the protest zone’s borders watching for vehicles and reporting strangers.
Residents and businesses in the area were also presented with a new challenge from the protest and the city’s response — the United States Postal Service has joined other services in ceasing deliveries in the area. Residents of the Packard Building were sent this message from building management saying USPS was directing people to pick up mail at the Broadway post office.
The smaller camp effort still stretches into areas of Cal Anderson but that part of the zone has been shrinking leaving a heavily used, and graffiti-covered park behind. The city is beginning to plan clean-up and repair efforts for the popular central park that became the center of the protest in recent weeks.
Leaders of the remaining occupation have, meanwhile, centered their efforts to camping outside the East Precinct headquarters.
Friday’s clearance effort follows an erosion of the sprawling protest camp as a weekend bout of deadly gun violence pushed Mayor Durkan to join SPD Chief Carmen Best in calling for an end of the occupation and the return of police to the East Precinct headquarters. It is time for demonstrators to “go home” and “time to restore order and eliminate the violence on Capitol Hill,” Durkan said. Durkan and Best have made it clear they believe it is too dangerous to march police in to retake the zone. Community outreach, social services, and time, so far, have helped. Friday’s efforts to remove some of the actual, physical structure of the camp seem likely to further reduce the protest.
UPDATE 11:15 AM: A statement from the city says Seattle Police has “no plans” to return to the East Precinct Friday after “city staff…initiated efforts early in the morning to continue the recovery of the Capitol Hill neighborhood.”
UPDATE 2:15 PM: Protest and camp organizers are at 14th Ave’s First African Methodist Episcopal Church for an afternoon meeting with the mayor’s office in which activists say they will present their demands for ending the occupation around the East Precinct. It isn’t clear if Mayor Jenny Durkan is in attendance but Deputy Mayor Mike Fong is reportedly at the church.
"SPD had no plans to return to the East Precinct today," a mayor's office spox confirms. More on city plans from them today: pic.twitter.com/rLh8urqbTG
— Rich Smith (@richsssmith) June 26, 2020
Folks from Seattle Parks & Rec here on the turf at Cal Anderson cleaning up in the #CHOP. #seattleprotest pic.twitter.com/37OD0rxndv
— Jake Goldstein-Street (@GoldsteinStreet) June 26, 2020
Demands being passed around the #CHOP before a rumored 2 p.m. meeting here with Mayor Durkan includes ending qualified immunity, defunding SPD, and removing youth felonies for non-violent crimes. #seattleprotest pic.twitter.com/DC8g58QCx6
— Jake Goldstein-Street (@GoldsteinStreet) June 26, 2020
UPDATE 6/27/2020 2:30 PM: A statement from Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office following the meeting does not mention the Sunday deadline but confirms the goals of clearing most of the streets and the park while working on preserving some elements for the long-term including community garden space in Cal Anderson. The statement said city workers would remain at the site Saturday and that “SPD had no plans to return to the East Precinct this weekend.”
This afternoon the Mayor and City department leaders met with black ministers and some of the organizers to discuss the restoration of the Capitol Hill area and long-term changes to transform policing. The City’s goal remains to allow any individuals to exceed use their first amendment rights while also preserving the public safety of local residents and small businesses. The Mayor suggested a series of steps that she believes can be taken in the coming days, including the removal of the barriers to create more access. She also believes in the planning for some of the long-term changes to Cal Anderson including art installations and the community garden. Over the weekend, the City will continue to dispatch a wide range of social services to encourage those living overnight in Cal Anderson to begin leaving the area or, if experiencing homelessness, to take an offer for shelter. Many individuals have already departed the area to join in community-led events across the City. For any individuals who have been attending demonstrations and may need City resources, the Human Services Department and Public Health — Seattle & King County have been on Capitol Hill leading outreach efforts with service providers and established a Resource Hub to connect individuals with access to shelter, health care, food resources, access to COVID-19 testing, and mental and behavioral health services. The city will continue to be on site tomorrow. SPD had no plans to return to the East Precinct this weekend.
In audio of Friday’s meeting, the mayor can be heard criticizing the camp’s safety and asking for help from the protesters she met with in clearing the streets around CHOP.
“When I have Seattle Department of Transportation crews arrive in trucks to remove barriers out of the street and they’re greeted with guys with guns saying, ‘If you move that, we’re taking you out,’ that’s not acceptable,” the mayor said as the meeting moved into the city’s asks after around two hours of discussion.
“The reality of them being greeted by people with guns — they’re now saying they won’t come,” the mayor exclaimed. “How crazy is that…. that the actions that you’re standing for, which is an end to police violence, people are saying, well, we don’t feel safe.”
“I would like the goal to be Sunday morning with your assistance, the barriers come out of the streets — Sunday morning with your assistance,” the mayor says.
“We’re not going to move the tents or the people from the East Precinct, but we have got to have the barriers off the streets so people can move safely,” the mayor continues. “And we’re going to start working out a plan to not just clean the park, but I’d like you guys to help us redesign what it looks like.”
Headed into Pride weekend, the mayor also repeated her message that LGBTQ safety issues were another reason to close CHOP:
I want to talk to you a little about the area around Cal Anderson Park because it’s a really important place to the LGBTQ community. Many of us have said (it was) the only safe place people felt they could go. People are invested in it. There are people who feel they can’t go there and can’t be safe right now. But what you’ve done and what has been happening in there is now a new shared history of civil rights in Seattle, Washington. And however we resolve this, we have to mark that in certain ways.
“Let’s walk around and say where we can put up permanent art,” the mayor suggested as one way to create a longer-term legacy for CHOP.
“Is there artwork or some sort of flags around here you can display here or somewhere else?”
UPDATE 6/27/20 3:15 PM: Lawyers in the lawsuit brought by Capitol Hill real estate companies and businesses over the city’s allowing the continued occupation of the CHOP camp say they are waiting to take further action pending the outcome of Durkan’s Sunday deadline.
“Given Mayor Durkan’s representations to the protestors that the City will make substantial progress toward removing barricades on Sunday morning, we will certainly wait to apply for injunctive relief unless it becomes clear that the City is unwilling to follow through with its plans,” the letter sent to the City Attorney Saturday reads.
“Our clients were disappointed in the City’s token effort to remove barriers and take other actions on Friday morning. We hope the City acts with greater resolution on Sunday morning and thereafter.”
UPDATE 6/28/2020: Sunday brought no SDOT trucks but the clearance — step by step — continues:
Unclear how much of mayor’s initiatives out of Friday meeting will play out. But things like adding “permanent” community elements to Cal Anderson seem to be part of her direction
— jseattle (@jseattle) June 28, 2020
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bulldoze the #CHOP and take Sawant with it
One of the numerous “official” CHOP Twitter accounts – whose authenticity has been highly suspect – posted this much-reported letter a few days ago (https://www.yaktrinews.com/seattles-occupied-zone-chop-has-ended-according-to-organizers/). It said “full rehousing of SPD East Precinct … will occur early next week and will be preceded by removal of barriers and the reopening of streets to traffic.”
It has since been suspended by Twitter, it appears.
And yet, so far, everything it has said would happen has come to pass and on the timeline it described.
I’d really like to know what’s going on that we’re not hearing about and who in City Hall is doing it. Whatever BS is happening behind the scenes is a Pulitzer Prize waiting to happen if someone can unearth it.
I cite this as an example relevant to the story,but not the only instance of it being ‘on the money’. It was one of several of the ‘official’ accounts I’d been following during this saga. There is some grade A bullshit happening here that is inconsistent with how a city government is supposed to operate.
tl;dr — I feel like this is Santiago in the evening of September 10, 1973 — not Seattle on June 26, 2020
I love how the CHS comments section has been overrun with trolls who are against the protest.
Nice.
Really nice. And esp. if these “trolls” are the usual Boomer-types who live on the Hill and just can’t stand the kids getting rowdy and…potentially depressing their property values. Or inconveniencing them in the slightest.
Nice. Real nice.
This clearing out is a bad idea. What Durkan should do is declare the area along Pine St between at least Broadway and 12th Ave, and along Cal Anderson, a pedestrian-only zone from now on. With access available to fire and emergency personnel, blah blah.
Then reorient the protest so that businesses and ppl who live in the immediate vicinity can go about their lives.
This is the ideal solution. And before someone says on this blog, or hypothetically to Durkan herself, “oh, but Pine is an arterial!”
Yeah, the answer to that is “reroute everything wherever you need to and I don’t give a shit about the supposed inconveniences.”
But…Durkan just wants this to go away so she can let ppl forget it before she’s up for reelection and we can all go back to the way things were with an over-funded, militarized SPD with officers WHO RECEIVE LESS TRAINING THAN HAIR STYLISTS.
Le sigh…..
I think you are misusing the term ‘troll’ here. Just because we live on the hill and speak up for ourselves doesn’t make us ‘trolls’. You’ve been a terrible neighbor, with your destruction, obstruction and sense of entitlement at all hours of the day and night. You have done nothing to gain the support of people actually living in the area yet you demand their respect. And lets’ face it, you have NOTHING to do with BLM and you should be ashamed of yourself for diluting their message with your own selfish agenda. Get out of here and go find a productive way to be politically active rather feeling like you are owed something without having earned it first.
Whoa!
Look at you with your Boomer attitude!
And let me explain the attitude of the absolute worst generation in American history.
It’s defined, as you’ve just shown, by this odd combination of self-centeredness, self-righteousness, and dismissiveness based on the false assumption of superiority.
It’s a typical Boomer attitude of (1) entitlement that masks itself by childishly calling others entitled, (2) primitive social dominance posturing by parading around as if you, the Boomer in question, are the arbiter of truth and “decider of things” (spoiler: you’re not), as well as (3) a completely misplaced, but very strongly held conviction, that you, the Boomer in question, are not just always righteous and morally correct but are always so, in the sense that you feel you are–literally–the moral center of the universe.
Again: the absolute worst generation ever.
So, yes, you are a “troll” my good Boomer. And I hope your property values collapse both because I’d like to see you and your generation f&^%ked over for once, and because then I could take advantage of your failure to scoop up some property!
Oh, and even if you are not, in fact, of the Boomer generation: your attitude is that of one, and there are PLENTY of Gen Xers who, while chronologically part of the generation after the Boomers, are psychologically EXACTLY LIKE THEM.
Making them, in effect, Boomers.
You can really tell how much identity politics has consumed PD, the other replier’s life. So hateful.
@PD, Let me re-word your comment slightly (replacing ‘Boomer’ with ‘Millennial’):
“It’s a typical Millennial attitude of (1) entitlement that masks itself by childishly calling others entitled, (2) primitive social dominance posturing by parading around as if you, the Millennial in question, are the arbiter of truth and “decider of things” (spoiler: you’re not), as well as (3) a completely misplaced, but very strongly held conviction, that you, the Millennial in question, are not just always righteous and morally correct but are always so, in the sense that you feel you are–literally–the moral center of the universe.
Again: the absolute worst generation ever.”
LOL, the Boomers and Millennials are the exact same people (obvious really since the Boomers raised the Millennials); both groups are the worst.
exactly but ‘they’ (the remaining protesters who are not a part of the BLMSeattleKC organized efforts) don’t want anything of the sort. It’s about getting more/new followers on social media by screaming louder than the next person on 1000 different issues. There is NO coherent messages any longer… 100 people with 100 different opinions on how bad they got it and why… Time to go home and if you have a legit concern – take it to the bargaining table and out of our street/park
It’s time.
Pack up your crap and get the hell out of our beautiful, now TRASHED public park we pay for.
Find another way if this is a cause that you really stand behind.
yes..yes and yes…!!!!! Well said. Black Lives do Matter and so does every other life matter…no matter what the color of the skin…Everyone knows that a horrible unthinkable crime happened with George Floyd’s murder but, what these people are doing in Seattle have nothing to do with that. Also, one bad Police Officer does not make them all bad. I wonder how they feel about the loss of the life of the 19 year old that was killed there recently. Two wrongs never equal right. Residents and business owners have a right to access their homes and businesses safely. No one should think they have a right to forcefully hinder other people from a peaceful and safe life..Sadly that is just what is happening.
PD – if you know so little about the cause you’re championing that all you can do is name-call and make personal attacks then perhaps you should educate yourself about said cause so that you can have an actual reasoned conversation about it. Otherwise you’re basically just having an online tantrum because you’re not getting your way.
I’m sorry that this isn’t your safe space where you don’t have to encounter people who have different points of view.
Signed,
A millennial Hill resident of 10 years
Say what you will about Boomers, but they knew how to have persuasive and effective civil rights protests. The problem with CHOP is that it seems to have more detractors than supporters at this point, and it’s not winning people over with its optics. In order to make change, you can’t scare people away. The protests were popular and persuasive. Strategically, they are working. CHOP really isn’t.
Agree Liz.
It’s only my opinion, but I think co-ordinated communication with local residents and developing some understanding would have smoothed over quite a bit. Judging by the comments here, a lot of like-minded people supportive of BLM (and initially open-minded to Chaz/Chop) became alienated.
But maybe cooperation is a GenX , by way of Boomer, hang-up.
The park (rather than a fenced slab of concrete covering the reservoir) is largely there because boomer Kay Rood organized the community to get it developed. (No, Cal Anderson Park is not a police department property.)
I strongly disagree. I live here in the CHOP, and I am a 22 year old woman, so I am not a “boomer”. It’s been ruining our lives and we want this gone, and the park cleaned up. They are noisy as hell, scary, and today barricaded a way to our garage again. We feel unsafe and a lot of our residents had to book Airbnb’s or hotels to get away. We don’t want this and we are tired of those partying campers trashing our neighborhood. But they feel we should be collateral damage to their protest.
Thank you for speaking up. From day 1, I inquired about who actually lives and works in this area. Nobody else seemed concerned, like everyone in the zone was ‘in on it’. Absolutely outrageous that y’all were forgotten in all of this.
> Responding to neighborhood concerns, Miller said “we appreciate your patience,” but “as Black People, Indigenous people, and people of color, we feel an intense burden every moment of our lives that I would say the burden of owning a business doesn’t compare to the struggles of living in a nation that is built on anti-Black racism. We hear you business owners, we’re doing our best. We are dealing with trauma always.”
No. Just no. There is no patience. Patience was two weeks ago. Now, we are fed up and we want you gone.
All this has done is brought destruction, humiliation and misery to Capitol Hill. 99% of the “art” is just graffiti. Look at any of Omari’s videos or any picture. Buildings and streets and structures just covered in meaningless graffiti. Not to mention legitimate public art, like the fountain in Cal Anderson, made ugly by 100 different people spraying graffiti all over it. There is nothing beautiful here. It’s just a collapse in law and order temporarily turning that area of the Hill into the worst kind of slum.
How many people have been shot now? 5? And we’ve had all our worst vagrants show up in their tents with drugs, sexual assault, spreading of disease (not just COVID) and complete lack of respect for the environment or community. Cal Anderson Park is going to be a complete disaster for quite a while after they leave. The amount of filth and destruction caused by this “Organized Protest” will be its legacy.
And oh, the humiliation this brings upon us. The entire nation now looks at Capitol Hill, Seattle and thinks of these morons and their “Autonomous Zone.” I live here and people think that’s what I am. We are a national laughingstock right now and providing daily fodder for the right-wing media. CHOP may singlehandedly be boosting the GOP by a percentage point or two, just because they can point to us and say “if you don’t vote for Trump, you’ll end up like Capitol Hill.”
And nobody has time for your lame excuses about “dealing with trauma.” Get out.
Also, stop blocking I-5 every single night. Jesus Christ what are you accomplishing. Nobody is listening to your message when you do that. You are just antagonizing truckers and night-shift workers while wasting SDOT’s time and energy.
The play book of these protesters is tone deaf and out dated. They are not winning anyone over or convincing anyone. At this point, its really them admiring themselves in some sort of activist mirror.
and breaking shit, and spray painting private property the whole way down and all the way back… not a protest, just kids wanting to ‘rage against the machine’ on streaming platforms
Ok, so your comment is TLDR.
But that dumb&^s fountain in Cal Anderson (1) hasn’t been working in ages so it’s just…a pile of concrete and rocks, and (2) is never properly cleaned anyway so it’s a f*&^king algae pit this time of year.
So…I’ll take the damn graffiti.
So if something needs repair in your home, you cover it with graffiti and call it good?
PD, you and your friends clearly don’t have the sense of responsibility or the motivation it takes to organize, populate, and maintain a successful community. That’s all you’ve proven with CHAZ/CHOP. You should consider yourself lucky that you were allowed to try, but you have failed. You’ve lost support and embarrassed yourselves. It’s time to go home. Playtime is over.
I suspect this comment will be one that ages pretty well in a few years from now.
I don’t think we can avoid being right-wing laughing stock (other than by not doing anything whatsoever progressive). But, yeah.
Unfortunately Eli, you are correct. You all were before, but now Seattle will always remain the laughing stock of the right, and justifiably so. Remember though, it falls on the leadership that you(r) residents elected. Lol, that is what is so hard for us (me) to understand? How do they remain in power when they truly do not care about the majority of people? You know, the ones that pay taxes and are law abiding… No, they cowtail to vandals, insurrection, and god knows what else, to make a few happy? All the while, letting the looters, vandals, and felons get away with anything that they wish…
Hmm. All is for not though. Seattle will change soon, because Businesses are finally wising up and leaving and it will get worse (loss a billion dollar investment company recently)! Lets see how your Mayor and Governor handle the budget when tax revenue disappears??? I look forward to witnessing this, and the awakening it may bring to the residents of Washington state. Stay safe and the best of luck to you and yours.
“kowtow”
“all is for naught”
Smead Capital Management has 12 employees and decided in January to move to Phoenix because the CEO/Chairman/Founder likes Phoenix. Maybe they can bring some sort of virus vacuum to help the overrun hospitals in Phoenix? I’m guessing that *not all 12 employees* are going with him.
Personally, I’m OK with right-wingers twisting events or projecting their own cognitive biases onto us, in order to laugh at us.
They don’t vote in our city.
As Jeff Bezos said: ‘If you cannot afford to be misunderstood, don’t do anything new or innovative’.
Amen! Be gone CHOP. All you have done is strengthened the cause of the far right, and bred the contempt of the very people that could have been your allies.
Local resident and strong Black Lives Matter supporter here. No longer am I supporting the CHOP. These mostly white extreme fringe authoritarian (no photos policy, bullying, gun-toting) people need to go.
Also, notice how so many of them aren’t even from Seattle (see Converge Media interviews)?
End it now or just continue giving swing state voters more excuses to vote for the greater of the two evils.
Yeah. Was just down there and saw lots of white people, some armed, yelling at anyone taking their photos, with their tents just parked there. Not even pretending that they care about black lives.
I wish the city had interceded and worked with the black community to build something that truly helped and supported the black culture. Instead these weird homeless hippie white kids have taken over.
Its a lot of white, fringe element people with a few young activists of color added in. Converge Media has a very telling video out yesterday where he spoke about having been at the closed door meeting with protesters and the mayor. He read the demands the remaining protesters had and talked about the mayor’s response. Most of the list is already being done in WA state and some things were beyond the mayor to put into place. So, poorly informed fringers as well as jerks.
So these people have converged in a neighborhood they don’t live, show no respect for the community, and then claim they are against colonialism? Sounds like a microcosm of colonialism. They claim the black lives are in danger in this region? Give us the facts of who is committing violence against blacks? these facts are readily available and it shows it to be untrue that white racists and the police make up a disproportionate amount of violence towards blacks. We are in a recession due to covid-19 yet note that all the activist demands involve more funding for the black community. Blacks make up 6% of this city and county. They get far far more than every other group does. There should not be more funding for the black community while budgets are being cut left and right and already a disproportionate and unfair amount of funds are being delegated for the black community. Please tell me I’m not the only one who resents this extortion and how most of Seattle is being shortchanged because of the very selfish and greedy demands of the activist industry.
“Blacks make up 6% of this city and county. They get far far more than every other group does.”
How much do they get, as a percentage of every other group, precisely?
The squeaky wheel always seems to get the grease doesnt it?. Blacks get more than they deserve and will get more if they keep this crap up. End it and be done. No one will like the outcome if the Feds are forced to intervene.
I agree. But the problem is that local media won’t print or make public the facts because right now it’s both dangerous (ie you will get fired)and the majority of public papers are biased in their reporting. People have to actively seek other info and most just look to confirm their own biases. The best part of this blog is hearing from the people and watching the shift from support to “telling the truth” evolve.
The over whelming feeling by the silenced majority is the blacks are acting selfish for and are excluding the needs of other races by their demand for all benefits to go to only the small, 2nd generation, African descendants. Isn’t that total racism? Bottom line: the tide is turning and more people are speaking out.
They also insist they speak for black people. The black community I have known that is beyond college students and the activist industry have told me many times they don’t need or like them. Local media never takes the time to go out into the whole community. This blog does better than many though.
capitol hill is happy to support people with legitimate ideas and concerns – especially BLM…and of course more services for the homeless, addicts or people that need mental health help. The rest of the people camped out at cal anderson and east precinct have got to go, though…they are useless to any cause and are now costing the rest of us our jobs, freedom of movement and liberty in general. it’s time to clear up and clean up so we can get back to normal and help causes that need it.
I am a gay, brown skinned Latino person of color who is NOT a boomer, and I wish this movement would not paint all racial and ethnic minorities as so oppressed that we are incapable of doing anything for ourselves. My family has been in this country since before there was a United States, but we were taught to work, go to school, raise our families, and be a contributing member of this society no matter what the white majority thinks of you. There is no excuse not succeed in this country. Yes, it is harder with brown skin, and I have many people act like I am a foreigner and don’t belong here, but it should not be an excuse for failure. And yes, I have had some bad encounters with the police in cities that have a much larger Latino population than Seattle.
Boomer is no longer about age or color. It’s about attitude. So they’re going to say your point of view is invalid and that you’re really a boomer. Sorry.
Boomer is simply an insult designed to stifle opinions they don’t want to hear. The other side must be denigrated, and what they dislike must be discounted; blurting out ‘Boomer’ at someone accomplishes this for them.
Are you kidding me? The city after warning these little terrorists did not forcibly remove them from CITY OWNED STREETS AND PROPERTY and gave them additional time? Is the Mayor of Seattle really that spineless? The world has seen the destruction of an area of Seattle that has been left without law enforcement and has had multiple shootings , murder , assault and rape. Its over bring in the National Guard and have them physically remove and arrests these idiots immediately.. Do not give into ANY demands as no one who represents these groups is not in any way connected to local , state or federal government. The USA DOES NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORIST PERIOD. Mayor Jenny really needs to be removed and now. She does not have the desire, willingness or ability to follow the law. If anyone dares to fire any weapon at the Police or National Guard then they will pay dearly for their actions. Enough is Enough.
So many racist bootlickers in these comments, you all are terrible people.
I live 1 block from CHOP/CHAZ and I love the energy these kids are bringing to the neighborhood, reminds me of the hill 20 years ago.
If you all are too scared to live in the city, GTFO and move to the burbs where you belong.
We got the terrorist pigs to stop teargassing the neighborhood every night. And now they need to stay until the demands to defund are met.
So many party-line lies that it is not worth the time to even begin to delete the copy and paste lies you import. Lets just say you don’t live where you live and take it as there first lie… then it continues to the end of your diminished response. I regret your life is being wasted this way but I’m not going to save you.
Bull, you don’t live here. If you did there is no way you would comment. However, perhaps you also have a drug problem and now you can get access with ease…. just saying… hope your parents kick you out soon.
Nice name, ACAB. If you really lived a block from CHOP/CHAZ you would be experiencing constant load noises that prevent you from sleeping, packages/mail not delievered, armed vigilanted patrolling in front of your place of residence, open-air drug use and violence, and your home would be absolutely covered in graffiti.
But nothing to worry about since you don’t actually live here or you wouldn’t be writing this comment.
Is that you Kshama?
These comments are hilarious, the faux news sheep are out in force. Clearly none of YOU actually live on the hill, if you did you’d know these businesses have been boarded up and covered with street art & graffiti for months now and yes my building included. Sorry if you can’t comprehend that someone who can afford a $2400/month 1 bedroom actually enjoys some neighborhood character.
Also, if you did live here you’d know the city is freaking loud, the Cuff and other bars thumping all night long, constant sirens & those drunk shrieking woo-girls every Fri/Sat. The volume level at my place hasn’t changed at all and if it had, I’d still prefer that to tear gas seeping in, that Sunday night, May 30th was an absolute nightmare.
Also, if you lived here you would know Cal Anderson is always full of homeless and folks using drugs, sure there are more people now, but other than that, nothing new there. Everyone around here knows- Always avoid Cal Anderson after dark, duh.
Also, if you lived here you’d know that shootings happen in this area, that is not new either. Someone was recently murdered in the upper QFC parking lot. Open carrying has not been as dramatic as portrayed, yeah I’ve seen a few folks carrying, but I literally walk through the area at least twice a day on my way to and from work. Not a single person has been the slightest bit threatening to me.
Also, f*ck Sawant, she doesn’t give a crap about district 3 and I sure as hell didn’t vote for her. She’s just after political clout to advance her career.
Sorry if all this is so mind blowing that someone could have actual nuanced opinions and not fit into your black and white world view. I loved my neighborhood before and love it enough more now, we got some gritty, edginess back on the hill, makes me happy :)
love it *EVEN more now :)
So do you empathize with your neighbors or not? Seems like your not really supporting the community, but the outsiders that forcibly took and keep public land. Wether there was crime before or not doesn’t mean that you should accept it and do nothing to protect people.
Oh and don’t worry- 76% of Seattle did not vote in the last election- I suppose that explains a lot about the quality of leadership.
But we should be able to walk thru the park at night, now, before, and in the future. Let’s get that under control so sveryone can enjoy THEIR park. And I completely agree with you about Sawant.
Being a hateful person who judges others based on broadbrushed assumptions, in my opinion disqualifies you from ever being considered as someone capable of nuanced opinions.
Over the life of the park the number of shootings has been less than one per year. Now it’s three per week. Gritty!
Just the right number of murders for your edgy IG lifestyle? (Sexual assaults seem to be trailing, though, but given the rent you pay, I’m sure you’ve taken it up with the manager.)
“… Sorry if all this is so mind blowing that someone could have actual nuanced opinions and not fit into your black and white world view….”
Hahahahaha. Are you? Are you really sorry? Do those only apply to you, or are OTHER people also allowed to have ‘actual nuanced opinions’ too, without them automatically being branded ‘Boomers’ or racist assholes?
Oh sigh, everyone’s privilege is really jumping out. All these thugs (oh you mean black people?) and lowlifes (oh you mean homeless people?) have these experiences regularly, just not in your precious backyard. The CD has multiple shooting every week, homeless encampments have always had a huge sexual assault problem, again hidden from your precious eyes. Those of us that work in social services know the disenfranchised suffer the most in this f’ed up society. I’ve never been able to close my eyes to it and maybe now the disparities that are intrinsically built into the system will get some notice since some whities are getting scared and inconvenienced.
BTW, I am a white women & I walk through the protest area every single day, alone & have never experienced a hint of hostility. I’m trying to be empathetic to people that may have never had to see the seedy underbelly of our broken society but it is hard because these are just people, people that we have failed.
Bottom line- our society has serious, fundamental, institutionalized issues with white supremacy, unchecked militarized police state and an utter disregard and contempt for the mentally ill.
The actual protestors that are still out there are trying to make some of the societal changes happen & how could I not support that?
So yeah, I’m pretty disappointed that the overwhelming response is – get these icky, undesirables back to their neighborhoods so I can continue to pretend these issue don’t exist.
#BLM
@ACAB
You don’t know what you are talking about….. The CD does NOT have “multiple shootings every week” – not even 25 years ago when there was still open drug dealing (the dealers would even say good morning to you) and prostitution was there that level of gun violence. I’m quite sure I can count and not even have to use my toes the number of times I’ve been able to hear gunfire in the entire time I’ve lived here. Do you know how many murders the CD had last year? 1…. is that 1 too many – yes it is, and sure there have been incidents of gun fire that have not resulted in deaths, but it is definitely NOT the kind of daily occurrence you are trying to make it out to be….
And as far as the ‘grittiness’ of Capitol Hill goes… yeah – the hill has changed and yeah – in the 90’s/early 2000’s it was certainly less upscale – but it was *never* dangerous – just different. I never felt I couldn’t walk around alone/at night safely. Yeah – instead of $10 ice cream cones, curated cocktails and boutique cycling gear you could get $1 Chinese food from Magic Dragon, burgers from Jack in the Box and incense sticks from the local head shop – but there were never people armed with AK’s roaming the streets… Don’t try to romanticize this…. it’s a mess.
@ACAB, if you truly do live in the area and “love the energy these kids are bringing to the neighborhood,” you are likely in the minority.
I live near, but thankfully not in, CHOP. I do know a number of people who live there though, and some that own businesses there too. Not a single one of them is happy with what’s going on.
First it was the constant noise, all night. People congregating in your doorway, so you can’t get into your building. The roadblocks that meant deliveries/care workers couldn’t get thru. And once the occupation started, a lot of lowlifes began coming in, people not interested in any protest/cause, but saw it as a place where they could set up camp without being moved on. It’s become increasingly dangerous for the residents, especially women. My Asian friend who asked folks to stop smoking outside her window was told “F off, n-word,” and she began to be hit with racial abuse every time she left her building (she now uses the back door to avoid the cruelty). There are a lot of criminal types out there now that are looking to abuse and harass people (especially women), leaving trash, urinating and defecating in the open, trying to break into cars and buildings. Even the church that provided meals to the homeless closed up shop as it was too dangerous. And all the rape attempts have meant no woman I know will walk thru the area.
I doubt you did live here 20 years ago. The “energy” you claim to feel there now, is nothing like it was in 2000. People that lived there were not afraid to leave their homes. They are now. Business owners didn’t think the area was so unsafe they’d have to shut down. They do now. CHOP has added to the street trash, vandalism, and crime of the area. If that’s kind of the “energy” you like, you must be a masochist.
But, why is your opinion more valid than those living inCHOP?
Mayor Durkan really passed the buck on this. The “rights” of the CHOP idiots left are no longer the issue. Their time is over and should have been 2 weeks ago. Send in the National Guard and do whatever is necessary to remove these bogus agitators who have nothing to do with the legitimate BLM movement. Seattle should be better than this.
The vast majority of people I know support BLM but have really been turned off by this invasion/occupation. Good job protesters you have managed to rapidly diminish support for a good cause.
If the Seattle chapter of BLM wants to garner support- maybe they should go in there and get these guys out. I have heard they are using funding to initiate their own community policing organization. Although I wonder if they will wear body cameras as well as carry guns…hmm it will be interesting to see…
The most frantic are the loudest
Make no mistake, a world with defunded or dismantled police departments will look just like CHOP….with all the dirtiness, chaos, sexual assaults, trash, and murders we’ve seen in the past couple weeks.
It’s a total myth that boomer homeowners only care about their property values. No, we care about the state of our city and are opposed to an ineffective “occupation” that has needlessly trashed a wonderful city park, which will remain scarred even after a cleanup, as well as surrounding buildings and businesses. The occupation is a very selfish and immature act.
The City and Mayor Durkan does seem to be moving towards evicting all the campers in the near future, and re-claiming the East Precinct. This is happening later than it should have, and very slowly, but at least it is happening. Good!
The protesters who remain in the occupied zone no longer have a message. It’s just all about them.
The people of Seattle and Washington did not consent to restrictions on photos, individual speech, and what appears to be in some cases CHOP’s “security” physically removing people. No one elected the people in CHOP to control public areas or to make public laws, and no elected official appointed these individuals to enforce these false laws. Many of our laws are inequitable, and this should be addressed. But CHOP is not a model for equality, equity, and democracy. Mayor Durkan has been derelict in her duty to preserve the constitutional rights of her constituents, instead bending to a small group of tyrannical twits. The names George Lloyd, Breonna Taylor, and all of the other unjustifiably killed black citizens have been drowned out by CHOP.
*George Floyd, with respect.
Citizens of Seattle didn’t give a shit about anything until they were minorly inconvenienced by protester.
Did they care about the violence police carried out on innocent lives? No
Did they care about the violence, tear gassing, pepper spraying and beating of peaceful protesters? No
Sit the fuck down.
I live in CH and support the protests and CHOP. Something very important happened there on Wed. 6/17/20. A rally of unionists was held where members demanded that the police union be thrown out of the MLK Labor Council. At the same time the MLK council delegates were debating the issue, and they voted to kick out the police union/SPOG (Seattle Police Officers Guild). An historic decision. Police attack strikes. protect scabs and are not in solidarity with labor. https://www.thestand.org/2020/06/mlk-labor-delegates-vote-to-expel-seattle-police-union/
Clean up your mess and Go Home……you made your point but nobody cares….your goal was to obtain property that you don’t own and hold the true owners hostage…..if you want an area free from police and not controlled by government go buy 50 acres and set up your own nation…..you will still have to pay taxes etc….get out of Seattle and take your trash with you….and for our spineless mayor…..you need to take your own salary and clean up the mess as you LET this happen !!!
The mayor has been way more than generous to CHOP. I read this morning that those remaining have damaged the concrete street barricades to make them more difficult to remove. CHOP is down to a handful of faux Marxist pricks and at this point the mayor should just bring in whatever needs to be brought in to arrest them. Get those camping n the park connected with services whether they like it or not and get these mostly white zealots who oppose everything about society out of everyone’s way. The black community is neither served nor honored by them.
As of Sunday evening has the zone been cleared out?
As of this post, all cement barricades remain, and some have been relocated by the occupiers to entirely close off 12th ave to thru traffic. Zone is still occupied by armed criminals.
Credit to the guy Arthur Denting that Bulldozer.
We’ll see which one of us rusts first!
So many hearts and minds are being changed.
America was just aching for this MadMax Utopian vision brought to us from the ‘peaceful’ ‘new left’.
Utopia at last!