Lars Larson: ‘When even the presence of police doesn’t deter criminal violence … you know it’s bad’
Lars Larson
The Northwest Nonsense
I guess you could say Portland and Seattle are doing a “bang up” job of making their downtowns safe … lots of bangs if you’re foolish enough to go there.
This past weekend, two people shot in Portland’s Old Town-Chinatown, a man and a woman. They’ll survive, we’re told.
In Seattle a few days earlier, a man in a wheelchair, shot in the chest. He’s on the mend too. That shooting happened on the shiny new waterfront development that Seattle just spent 800 million bucks on.
Prospects for the two cities seem dim lately.
The “Big Pink” bank tower in Portland fire-saled at a nearly 90 percent discount from its value just ten years ago. The new Ritz Carlton hotel and condos in bankruptcy. Big retailers fleeing and those who can’t afford to leave boarding up their storefronts against Antifa terrorists who have friends at City Hall.
Nordstrom hints it may not keep its signature store at Pioneer Courthouse Square much longer because of crime and filth.
Police have been defunded. And this seems telling to me…police were actually watching the crowd where that shooting happened over the weekend.
When even the presence of police doesn’t deter criminal violence … you know it’s bad.
Also read:
- Letter: The Great Reversal – Cortes cuts local taxes, then loads schools and hospitals with unfunded state mandates
Shauna Walters argues that Sen. Adrian Cortes has reversed his local anti-tax record by supporting state mandates and new taxes in Olympia. - Letter: Part One – Inside Ridgefield School District’s failure to protect students
A Ridgefield parent and Rob Anderson describe how student complaints against a high school coach were handled by the school district. - Opinion: Business is already leaving Washington
Mark Harmsworth argues that recent and proposed tax policies are pushing Washington businesses to consider leaving the state. - Opinion: The income tax proposal has arrived
Ryan Frost of the Washington Policy Center argues that a proposed Washington income tax creates a new revenue stream rather than delivering tax reform or relief. - Opinion: ‘If they want light rail, they should be the ones who pay for it’
Clark County Today Editor Ken Vance argues that supporters of light rail tied to the I-5 Bridge replacement should bear the local cost of operating and maintaining the system through a narrowly drawn sub-district.
