Belltown Babylon or Belltown Gomorrah?
Robert L. Jamieson has a big, big problem with the way things are down in Belltown and a pretty strong idea of who's to blame:
If the fates had cast Greg Nickels as mayor of New York City when Times Square was the pits, overrun with crime and grime, the renaissance of the one-time eyesore would have stayed a dream.
"One-time eyesore," huh? Apparently Robert Jamieson hasn't been to New York recently.
Jamieson's been on a kick, we've discovered, after discovering the "free-for-all around Second and Bell" on a given Friday or Saturday. He started it last Tuesday, and returned to it today with info from his new "neighborhood gadfly," Constance Rodman.
"I can't tell you how many times people have had their store windows shot out," she told Jamieson. "Bullets are flying. It's the Wild, Wild West down here, especially Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights."
Wow! We're starting to miss working down at The Belltown Messenger, when we used to get Rodman's paranoid rants (you've come a long way, baby!). Not that she doesn't generally have a point, Mr. Jamieson, but we'd take her "analysis" of the situation with a healthy dose of salt, and be sure to do some hardcore fact-checking. (Exactly how many windows have been shot out?)
Back when that was our beat, Belltown was on the upswing, building high-rise condos with trendy bars and restaurants pushing out all the old dives. But to judge from Jamieson's columns and the sheer level of insanity in the comment threads, it's become a gritty underworld of drugs, hookers, and racial tension. What happened?
In reality? Nothing. Trust us, that stuff has always been there; the only thing that's changed is the rich people, the trendy nightlife, the bridge-and-tunnel crowd from Bellevue and Redmond, who are the largest part of the problem. They do operate with impunity, get in drunken fights, get tossed from bars (who actually do try to inform one another of troublesome operators who need to be cut off, to keep them from simply skipping down the block--we've seen that happen at the Rendezvous and the Viceroy, to name names), drive drunk--sometimes the wrong way down Second, and make a fuss. But is that Jamieson's problem?
"When cops aren't around," he writes worriedly, "the drug dealers, panhandlers and addicts mingle with diners – some buzzed – going in and out of Belltown's swank restaurants and bars. It doesn't take much to spark a confrontation, sharp words and fists. And City Hall seems clueless."
"Some buzzed," huh? Nice understatement for drunken white guys. It's sort of like how black people "loot" and white people "find," but there you are: poor "buzzed" white people are running into scary black drug dealers, and all hell's broke loose.
Jamieson should be ashamed for being a proponent of the barely concealed racism of this entire argument; really, where's the reasonable side of this entire debate? Jamieson's taking pot shots at Nickels and the City Council and SPD for not taking down anyone and everyone who might look scary in a place white people go, reporting baseless rumors of rampant gangland violence, while barely touching on the very real issues of bars serving too much booze to drunks, rampant drunk driving, hooliganism, and overt racism and homophobia. Take a moment to read the comment trail from his article. Here's some choice cuts from people all too willing to take Jamieson at his baseless word:
"I saw one on Saturday night harass a group of white men, and then tried to punch one through an open window because they ignored him";"Vigilantes cleaned up the old west, wild or not, by hanging horse thieves and cattle rustlers after summary kangaroo trials. Why not do this with the -- how shall I say it? -- lowlife scum, rampaging in Belltown, or anywhere else for that matter?";
"Whenever my crew and I drive by there in the evenings (some days too), it's the usual crowd hanging out- though it would be so un-PC of me to assume that they are selling/using illicit substances"
Here's our favorite:
"I saw five blacks beating the heck out of a white guy with a baseball bat. I took off running to try to find a cop and there were none anywhere. The guys disappeared into the shadows of the night as quick as they arrived."
Like ninjas, they can disappear into the shadows! 'Cause, you know, they're black.
And finally, we'll let writersonastorm sum it all up for us: "Lighten up Robert, diversity makes us strong (or so you liberals keep telling America). Welcome to the society you've created."
Huh. With friends like this, Robert, no wonder you have such a bad time when you're in Belltown.
"Heart shaped hole" by Seattlest Flickr photog. ChrisB in SEA.
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