Seattle was enlightened. We are one of only a couple major metropolitan areas that owns the entire watershed for its water source, and has had the foresight to keep it clean enough that we don't even filter it (http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2122 ).

Seattle was also first on the west coast for everything ranging from electricity to mass transit to tallest buildings. If you were west of the Mississippi and wanted the latest and greatest, you came to Seattle.

That was the late 1800's and very early 1900's...maybe even add in 1962 (worlds fair).

Was Seattle in the midst of a crisis in 1888 when the still small population of Seattle voted to secure the entire Cedar River watershed? Of course not...but they knew future generations would benefit from this.

When was the last time Seattle did something that was unselfish and visionary? We could benefit by looking back at some of the gutsy, unselfish decisions those early Seattle settlers made.

(I’m not claiming they were perfect, truly disturbing decisions born out of racism and fear were also made, some of which persisted until recently)

I'm afraid you are full of bs, too. Two words: Catherine Genovese. You must be too young to remember that and too blind to see.

A city is a city. Full of rats and samaritans both.

wow. hard to read as a born and raised seattleite, but this is a great post. got to get working, but i'll be back commenting soon.

thanks for posting this and thanks for doing what you could this morning.

I'm afraid. I moved here from NYC too. I was walking to work near Penn Station one day when a homeless guy collapsed in front of me. He was right in the middle of the sidewalk, so it took serious effort to avoid him, and yet by the time I got to him, at least 50 people had already gone right by. I mean, people are literally stepping over the guy. I checked his pulse and made sure he was breathing, and then ran into a convenience store to call 911. The guy at the counter wouldn't let me use the phone -- he told me it wasn't is problem.

I think your post says more about the urban-dwelling human condition then it does about Seattle or NYC. Sad either way.

Anyone know what happened to the smile guy?

I used to see that guy almost every day on the bus. I'd shoot him a scowl and wehn he saw me I'd wave and smile just to get his goat. I guess since I work in Belltown I've become apathetic towards most homeless people, but that apathy doesn't keep me from helping out a fellow human being. This city really brings out the worst in people. I can see it in myself all the time, and it makes me sick.

I know somebody would bring up Genovese, just like they bring up Cabrini Green when i talk about housing the homeless. The problem with that comparison:

1. That was 20 years ago.
2. Seattle holds itself up as the city where that would never happen. NYC doesn't. NYC may suck sometimes too, but a) it does it less often and b)you know it'll be tough as soon as you get off the train.

Seattlites need to begin to take some responsibility for their failures and the failures of their city.

Walk the walk or shut up.

I checked today at his corner and no word.

I also phoned the story into Nicole Brodeur at the STimes.

Anybody have any other ideas?

at the PI. She's a big supporter of the wet housing on Eastlake that DESC just opened and still has some compassion left in her.

Thanks for this post, Benny.

What? Who, exactly, do you want to "own up" to what you think are failed expectations? It isn't exactly like there is one person who personifies what Seattle "Is". The mayor? Who is he to speak for the nameless walker-bys? Me? Umm...OK...I'll respond to 2 of your complaints...

- the Monorail - I am f'ing glad I won't have to waste another penny on that piece of sh*t. I voted against it since I moved to Seattle in 2000 and I will vote against it any time some idiot tries to recuscitate it. It was a HUGE waste of money, and frankly, we would've been better spending billions on gold plated roads.

- 10 yr plan to end homelessness - nice thought, naive, but nice thought nonetheless. Look, there is nothing we can do to help those who aren't willing to help themselves. Unless you want to lock them all up, which would probably increase their life expectancy, but I'm guessing you're not willing to do that.

Seattle is no better or worse than any other city. I don't hear anyone here saying otherwise. Give me 1 example of someone who says shit can't happen here. Also, where do you get off on giving props to a city who will kick your ass for not conforming to Yankee tendencies? That doesn't exactly scream enlightenment to me.

Also, you may want to consider sample size. Just because one bad thing happens in front of your eyes, it shouldn't condemn an entire city...just a thought.

Your comment is exactly what I am referring to. So in a way, thank you. I was just starting to forget why this event pissed me off so much, and now i remebmer.

It is astounding to me the lengths that we will all go to rid ourselves of the guilt and pain of recognizing this problem. Seattle makes me mad for a simple reason:

You should know better.

Seattle, the home of the Kyoto protocol and the voter who has never rejected a tax increase, should know better. The Stranger responded to the 2004 election with a front page piece on the "Urban Archipelgao", arguing that Seattle and its coastal neighbors shouldn't be lumped in with the rest of the country, because our attitudes are so progressive. And yet people here are too afraid to touch a homeless person even when they see him quivering and bleeding on the ground near a busy intersection. You should know better.

Hey, you dont like the monorail. Fine. But your city, this bastion of modernity and progressiveness has a failure of a public transit system and is entirely car dependent. It is a city of sprawl with few pockets of density. Dont like the monorail. Fine. Then suggest something better. Because right now all i see is a city that preaches green but practices smog.

You prove my point on the 10-year plan. It is naive to think that a city filled with folks who share your attitiude ("there is nothing we can do to help those who aren't willing to help themselves. Unless you want to lock them all up, which would probably increase their life expectancy")would ever take this kind of a plan seriously. Lets face it, the plan calls for at least 4500 new units of housing for people that are chronically in trouble or in need. People like you will never make the sacrifice necessarry to funed that effort. And yet you lay claim to the crown of "progressive" status. You should know better.

In the end, you can argue about the sample size all you want, you can try to wash away your sins by pointing to the failures of other cities while saying "look, they're failures too." But you do nothing more than prove my point. Seattle does not deserve its crown.

I'd rather know that if I wear a Red Sox cap to a Yankee game i'll get an ass kickin, but 80% of those beatin on me rode the subway to the game, than be greated with smiles at Safeco while wearing an Angles cap, but be forced to swallow the hypocrisy of traffice and insouciance every day.

Seattle should know better.

I left Nicole Brodeur a message awhile ago, and I agreed to write an op-ed for Real Change for their next issue.

Also, the Smile guy ois back and cheerful as ever.

anger subsiding.....

ben. thanks for posting this and keeping the conversation going. i would love to read more posts about your thoughts on this... the event and the reactions here and other places.

Yeah Ben, I appreciate your insight. Please keep it coming.

I work in Pioneer Square, live on Capital Hill and I am confronted (to be honest bothered) by homeless people every day. At the same time, over the last six months I feel like ever city improvement project I’ve seen has also been a project that displaces homeless people (ripping up the park benches, remove underbrush, turning a park into a dog park).

To be honest, I’m not quite sure what I think