What the Bums Say About Your City

"babysitter" courtesy of Seattlest Flickr pool member dieselhorst

Seattle's homeless are in for a treat as the City of Seattle's Homeless Needs Assessment (HNA) and University of Washington will send out 500 volunteers three-by-three, into Downtown Seattle tonight from 9 p.m. to midnight asking everyone they see, "Are you homeless?"

The survey will be conducted throughout certain pockets of the city; volunteers are asked to avoid drunk people (there goes Belltown), don't wake anyone up, and knock only once on campers and cars before they begin gathering additional information about the needs and issues that the homeless face to find permanent housing.

Something can be said about the homeless who reside around large metropolitan cities--they help define the personality of the city. The bums of Salt Lake City, reserved, quiet, keep to their own park; San Francisco, a loud in-your-face style of begging and will follow you; Detroit, ruthless and want not only your change but the kitchen sink too--just run away quickly; and New York City, the perfect bum personality and balance, sometimes a little crazy, stays out of the way, but is the creative type who has a gimmick, and generally makes a lot of money.

What about Seattle? The bums found throughout Seattle offer crazy--sometimes insightful--tangents, combined with a "reach-out-and-touch-someone" mentality that transcends personal space boundaries. But those of us living under a roof seem to accept this behavior. So what does that say about us as a city?

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By Kim P. in News on April 13, 2009 10:35 AM

Comments [rss]

elise81

I am going to say for the sake of my comment... bums and homeless are not interchangeable. You do not have to be homeless to be a bum...

The Detroit bums I encountered (when I lived there) used to just ask for food or empty beer bottles... especially after tailgating at Ford Field/Comerica or leftovers as walking back from Greektown restaurants as we walked home to Trolley Plaza.

Not saying that Detroit doesn't have their fair share of crazy bums and crackheads, you don't just see them. You see, most Detroit "bums" are out of sight from most, not in the downtown "tourist" area or the New Center/Wayne State Univ area. When they are lingering in the tourist/downtown area (within in the People Mover limits, mostly), they usually get harassed by police and relocated to other areas... like Cass Corridor or Brightmoor neighborhoods.

Seattle bums, on the other hand, are very visible in the tourist/downtown/areas that make the city tourist dollars. I interact daily with Seattle bums, as they keep asking me if I want to buy drugs, yell some incomprehensible gibberish, ask me if I want to pay them to park in a lot instead of the machine, taking a shit in front of me... A few times I broke up a BJ pulling into my garage from the alley... but then again, I live in Belltown... all just a few blocks from the Cruise ship Port, Pike Place Market, Westlake Monorail, and the Space Needle.

So, as to what this says about Seattle as a city... They want to scare the tourists that are used to minivans and suburbia far, far away... (and their dollars, too!!!)