COMMON SENSE
A Cop’s-Eye View of Seattle’s Undoing
T.A. Frank
April 25, 2022

This February, Bruce Harrell, newly installed as mayor of Seattle, made it official: His city is in decline. “The truth is the status quo is unacceptable,” Harrell said in his first state of the city address. “It seems like every day I hear stories of longtime small businesses closing their doors for good or leaving our city.” But it’s not just small businesses. Much of Seattle’s core looks like a pockmarked ghost town. Storefronts on both sides of Third Avenue, a major thoroughfare, are boarded up. Blocks from the Four Seasons hotel and the Fairmont Hotel, tents crowd the sidewalks, and drug users sit under awnings holding pieces of foil over lighter flames. READ MORE