elise81

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:37:14 -0800

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!!!)

Charles Redell

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:36:06 -0800

New York bests us again. typical.

TroyJMorris

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:44:01 -0800

Detroit doesn't have any problems.

Seattlest: What the Bums Say About Your City

elise81

Charles Redell

TroyJMorris