Tractors, Blackberry Bushes Cause Homelessness
On Saturday, a tractor clearing brush from under I-5 near South Massachusetts struck and killed a homeless man in a sleeping bag, hidden away in the blackberry brambles. The accident is "sparking," as the P-I has it, "a policy review."
"This is a horrible accident for everyone involved," Transportation Department spokesman Russ East said. "We're going to take a look at our practices and procedures. We're asking, 'What do we need to do to make sure that this doesn't happen again?' "
First, you are not just "sleeping" if you can't hear a tractor with an 18-foot arm coming at you, even under a noisy overpass.
Second, homelessness is not a Transportation Department issue. The fault lies with the city's criminal acceptance of homeless people setting up camp in unsafe areas and with more-heart-than-sense advocates who claim it's a right. We do have a 10-year plan to "end" homelessness, but there's bickering over whose backyard it should end in. If people are alone, poor, and haven't showered, it's not a crime if they die while Seattle is enjoying its beloved process.
The fact is that our economic system manufactures homelessness -- while providing most of us with the motivation to get to work in the morning. Homelessness doesn't pick downtown. It happens on your block, it happens on our block, it happens in West Seattle and Redmond. It happens during floods, it happens because of freak accident, it happens when venture capital dries up, it happens when you elect Herbert Hoover. One of the best resources any neighborhood could have going for it is a functional shelter open to anyone who needs a bed.
Really, is there more shameful evidence of civic inaction than someone being killed because the city will pay to clean up brush before providing a working shelter system for homeless people? Is there a more useless "empowerment" response from the homeless aid camp than insisting that people sleeping illegally in bushes need to be given alerts about grounds upkeep?
Is there someone else in charge up there?


