I lived in the Seattle area for 46 years and moved away in August of 2011. I was visiting there for the first time in a little over a year and was appalled at what I was seeing. Back when I lived there I called it a gold plated garbage can. Truth be told, it’s even more beautiful than it was - at least from certain angles. But those angles all involve looking up.
Meanwhile, I experienced something I’ve never experienced before, there or anywhere else. I was on westlake at the south end of Lake union, stopped at a light with several other lanes of cars, and a street person was walking in and out of the cars looking for money. And when the light turned green, He was a serious traffic flow problem.
That city has become such a pit. It used to be so beautiful.
BTW, I used to bicycle commute downtown for almost two decades. It was a fun challenge because the city is quite hilly. I was surprised to see all the electric scooters. They are common where I now work in Louisville, but this city is quite flat.
I hear you. Hubby and I moved to Seattle in the early 1980's. We went to do something downtown soon after we had moved there. It was at night and both of us commented that we felt very safe walking there at night. No longer. I have no desire to go there even during the day.
Hubby works downtown and he knows firsthand the problems down there with the "homeless". He told me that several years ago, when he was walking to work, he had to step over 5 men sleeping on the sidewalk in his short walk to work. That was when it hit him that something was terribly wrong.