Courts, Politics, Society

Seattle Court Request For Clean Up Leads To Controversy Over Race and Resources

Judges asked for the emptying of trash cans and removal of homeless tents near the building.  One of the most curious objections came from Council member Larry Gossett  who reportedly “said he didn’t like the idea of power-washing the sidewalks because it brought back images of the use of hoses against civil-rights activists.”

That would seem to bar any power washing of government buildings.

The controversy however raises another more compelling issue.  If the judges are correct and staff and jurors fear coming to the building, such fears can have a distortive effect on cases and judgments.  Jurors who are fearful of being attacked at a courthouse may be more inclined or responsive to prosecutorial arguments.   Many prosecutors emphasize law-and-order themes in cases are that more likely to resonate with jurors who must run a gauntlet to enter the courthouse.

58 thoughts on “Seattle Court Request For Clean Up Leads To Controversy Over Race and Resources”

      1. Boeing moved their headquarters to Chicago a few years ago.

        That I was aware of. What I wasn’t aware of is that Boeing moved all their manufacturing out of the state as well. So despite this being fake news, would you be so flippant with the potential loss of jobs such a move would create? Or do you not carry about the little people?

  3. This is absurd. One councilman is able to thwart the entire city council from taking action? There are a lot of images from the 60’s that could trigger people, what else should they ban? No mention of the homeless problem itself and its underlying causes. They need to power wash this city council.

    1. I agree. Council needs to address the underlying cause and then take the power hoses to the buildings. A good start would be well maintained public toilets.

      1. The underlying cause is that some people fail at life rather thoroughly, and live as vagrants. Not much you can do about that but open shelters and soup kitchens and have local police see to it that they do not make a public nuisance of themselves.

        1. We do need good solutions. The best place to start with addressing life failure is birth control and easily availability of termination of pregnancies.

          1. The best place to start with addressing life failure is birth control and easily availability of termination of pregnancies.

            Hmmm? So the root of life failure is life. Well, who could argue with that logic? Of course the next logical step is to terminate all pregnancies and voila! no more failures. Or, let’s have government commission a study to determine who is more likely to produce children that will fail at life and just sterilize them and terminate their already existing children that will undoubtedly fail at life. Whatever we do, do not study the policies that contribute to life failures and the failed bureaucrats that endorse them. No, that would not be a good solution.

    2. Again, he’s a member of the King County Council, not the Seattle City Council. I suspect there’s a jurisdictional issue here.

      1. Again, he’s a member of the King County Council, not the Seattle City Council.

        Well that’s so much better! I’ll modify my question: One King County councilman is able to thwart the entire SeattleCity council from taking action?

        That is one powerful councilman.

  4. Someone should deliver a bucket and a large brush to Councilman Gossett and tell him to get to work.

  6. I’m in favor of the idea of Trump selling the entire left coast , Ca, Wa and Or to Mexico or Canada and paying down the National debt. The rest of us would be better off without them.

    1. Sell my Colorado. It is too beautiful for Russia to have. We did not vote for the dynasty.

      1. Russia never bothered you when they were buying the Clinton’s and Uranium One, did they? Didn’t bother you when Barack’s “flexibility” ceded the Crimea to them, did it?
        Now because the worst candidate in living memory lost to the second worst, you want to restart the Cold War or worse?
        Just because weed is legal in CO, you are under not mandate to smoke yourself stupid.

    2. That is all we need in Canada, more liberals. We are much farther along than you are to oblivion.
      Try reading our charter of rights and you are so lucky to have the Constitution. Our Supreme Court
      is corrupt and makes law. You need to take control of early education. The Constitution and Bill of Rights need to be engrained in your youth.

      1. I think the cartels could buy S. Cali, but not N. Cali. and they have no need of Oregon or Washington. I doubt that Canada would want to pony up the money for even Washington.

      2. Very good post Gary.

        You need to take control of early education.

        The California nanny legislature, in their infinite progressivewisdom, has introduced SB 328 Start the School Later bill that would require all middle and high schools to begin no earlier than 8:30am. They apparently have a study that shows:

        Adolescents who start school too early in the morning face significant health and academic risks. The single best way to address this is to start middle and high schools at 8:30 a.m. or later, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and other major public health groups.

        MoveOn.org has a petition to support this bill.

        I’d like to know what the school hours were for the medical professionals and politicians that support this bill? Also, how in the world did humanity manage to make it into the 20th century, let alone the 21st century without the benefit of the progressive philosophy?

        1. Olly – this is actually a pretty good idea, except the school day goes too late. Any high school teacher will tell you their first hour class is still asleep and the second hour class is barely waking up. 🙂

          1. #1, this should be determined at the local school district level. #2, Any high school teacher with sleepy students should first examine their own teaching skills. Odds are they just as sleepy as their students and ill-motivated (thank you unions) to improve. 🙂

            1. Olly – sleepy students are a continual problem through the day. However, periods 1 and 2 are the worst, then the period after lunch. You can be the God of teaching and it is still going to happen. 🙂

        2. As most public schools are essentially babysitting facilities for parents who cannot afford to send their kids to private school, shouldn’t the administrators ask the parents what the most convenient dropoff and pickup times are?

  7. Does Council member Gossett think that city maintenance workers will power wash the sidewalks while the homeless people are still on them?

    1. I do believe we really are going off the rails and the Left Coast (such a perfect moniker) is leading us off the cliff to national insanity. These times seem so much like the 30s. One has to wonder how this generation of idiots will respond to the next Pearl Harbor. Terrifying to think. Will be tragic to experience it.

    2. I don’t think Mr. Gossett’s ever done much actual thinking in his life.

  10. The councilman is an enabler to the homeless problem in Seattle, which is the worst I’ve ever seen. Born in West Seattle, 1960, still living in the metro area. They should run this idiot out of office.

    1. I concur with that.

      Occasionally I come up Airport Way into downtown Seattle. The area around Royal Brougham is inundated with homeless encampments and it extends from there in many directions including entire Nickelsvilles under I-5 and the various off-ramps. They are filthy, and discarded hypodermic needles are easily seen. Average individuals do not want to deal with this, and as a result people avoid retail businesses where transients congregate, furthering the blight. I agree that these people are in need and are outcasts for many in society, but some responsibility needs to be assumed on both sides. Allowing a free pass for homeless to do whatever they want while punishing anyone who is in the council’s sights is not a way to manage a city.

      1. Darren Smith – Has anyone followed the councilman home to see where he is staying? He could be in one of those tents.

  11. If the judges are that concerned, they could come out and power wash the sidewalk themselves. They could set up a rota to do it. Senior judge goes first, to lead by example. And their staff can join them to pull down the tents, carry off the garbage, etc.

    When someone else does not do the job, then you do it and make them look bad. It really isn’t hard.

    1. I agree with Paul. I was thinking of making a similar comment. And. A power washer is not a fire hose. So do not use a fire hose and give anyone some claim of grief. And when the tents of the homeless burn down do not use a fire hose then either. The councilman needs to be power washed and soon. Power to the people.

    2. So next you will want doctors cutting the grass at the hospitals if the landscapers don’t do it? There is a concept called highest and best use of talent. Using a trained judge to perform maintenance tasks that he or she cannot even do efficiently may sound nice but is a waste of taxpayer money.

      I suspect these same judges helped create the squalor they now complain about with a generation of judicial activism.

      1. ti317 – it is called OTJT. You can learn to use a power washer in 5 minutes. BTW, judges, if they get training, get a 2 week course. Supreme Court justices get no training.

        1. Can you name a Justice who got no training in law school and the practice of law?
          Do you want the person who just had to power wash the sidewalk operating on you?
          Admit it. It was a cute notion with little seriousness behind it.

  12. How is keeping sanitary standards offensive? Surely not all of the homeless are POC – maintaining a safe and clean environment is equal opportunity. There is something seriously wrong with snowflakes

  13. ”…including one who reportedly said that the use of hoses might be racially insensitive or traumatic.”

    Yup, properly maintaining the public cleanliness of the courts building with regard to human waste, which naturally would include a power wash, better policing, removal of tent city and so on, is racially insensitive.

    THIS is why someone like me, who was amenable to the Civil Rights era, has long since bailed. It’s become a strange game, no keeping up with it NOR keeping up with the demands of POC.

  14. The councilman said he didn’t like the idea of power-washing the sidewalks because it brought back images of the use of hoses against civil-rights activists”
    ~+~
    And that folks explains perfectly the dysfunction within the idiocracy that governs Seattle & King County. Two tenets that often permeate Seattle politicians, stupidity and incompetence, are regular features of what they do. It’s been a problem for many years. Right now it seems they are in a contest to see who can spill out the most senseless rhetoric and asinine policies against the public.

    The politicians there most of them spend inordinate amounts of time being social justice warriors. If that was all they did and failed to accomplish anything else they would be rather benign; a joke, but benign. Unfortunately it happens that occasionally they make policy that is untenable and damaging, often wasting city revenue in misadventures in social engineering.

    Now, the mayor, accused in yet another sex scandal allegedly involving a step child, and the city council implemented a Tax The Rich strategy and declared a city imposed income tax on individuals making 250k per year and 500k for families. The law is completely unconstitutional because income taxes were declared unconstitutional in the 1930s. State law preempts cities and counties from levying taxes on net income. But, they said they are prepared to spend and fight in a battle they are certain to lose. Statewide ballots recommending a constitutional amendment to allow income taxes have failed nine times over the decades and shows no chance of winning statewide.

    And their misadventure in working toward this $15 an hour minimum has failed to benefit the plight of low income families. A UW study commissioned by the city found that income to the lowest tier fell as employers reduced hours, hired less, and laid off more. But the council didn’t like this truth so they hired someone to scrub the numbers for them.

    It’s a good that the citizens and businesses of Seattle are proficient at bettering their condition themselves because if the politicians controlled everything there would certainly be failure.

  16. I remember many, many mornings of walking to work in San Francisco, seeing shop owners out there scrubbing their front steps and sidewalks with bleach and a broom. They had to remove the sticky, smelly urine residue from the night before, as they didn’t want their customers to walk through that, into a grocery store or restaurant. The San Francisco Federal Building has custodians to clean the entrances with hoses and disinfectant. I think they were just regular hoses with spray nozzles. Seattle could surely do the same. The histrionics about hosing civil rights workers is just stupid. That was at least a half-century ago, and Seattle isn’t Alabama. Damn, some of these politicians are living in a time warp!

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