We started our walk out last night going around Virgil Flaim Park. More than half the empties were found there. We found 51 empties total. The rest of the route was the usual - 125th > 30th > 127th > Post Office > Parking Lot > 30th > 127th > 28th > Library. The amount of trash and empties has stayed relatively constant - no noticeable increase or decrease. Many of us since the beginning of the month have noticed a significant decrease in loitering in the business district.
Virgil Flaim Park has a nice children's playground, a 1/4 mile loop around the perimeter, picnic benches, a basketball court, and a large open area where people play soccer. It is a really nice park. As the weather gets warmer, we are going to start scheduling some neighborhood socials over there. Drop us an email if you are interested in helping out with this.
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Your comment: "Many of us since the beginning of the month have noticed a significant decrease in loitering in the business district" -- is interesting. I wonder what we could attribute that to? The increase in non-loitering people because of Elliott Bay? The closure of the shelter? The nice weather? Just interesting to see if it keeps up that way. I do have to say that last week when I went to the Post Office, it was the first time in years that I did not see one loiterer outside or in that area. It was notable, in a good way.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of loitering has also been noticeable in front of the unopened Pho restaurant across from Kaffeeklatsch. Also, I have not seen people publicly drinking in front of the post office for a few days now.
ReplyDeleteThe Monday after the shelter closed I talked with a fella that stayed there. He was asking me for money so that he could get a greyhound ticket back to Memphis. I talked with many other people who were staying there and during the conversations I would ask where they are from. No one said Seattle. The answers ranged from Spokane and Yakima to places even further away, like Texas, Minnesota, Tennessee, Fiji. I'm not sure what conclusion to draw from this limited data set, but it seems to imply that the services attract people from not only outside of our neighborhood but from outside of our city, state, and country.
ReplyDeleteThe guy from Fiji and the guy from Memphis were two of the 20 or so people that spent their days loitering and using the UGM shelter. The shelter closed and they are both gone.
Great reporting on finding out where many of these folks are from.
ReplyDelete"....seems to imply that the services attract people from not only outside of our neighborhood but from outside of our city, state, and country."
I always suspected something like that.