Running at Green Lake in Seattle, WA

Just my Take on the Place wrote:

All in all it was ok. I felt safe enough.

Obviously you are not a lone female or walker after dark. My sister is now unable to use it after work. But it is all part of the Great Leap Backwards.

I have a good friend (non-runner) in Seattle who is currently non-housed. I don't believe that he's sleeping near Greenlake. Yes, my friend is very willing to work, but has found himself in a really bad spot. He was infected with Covid-19 a few months ago, so a job offer (coffee shop) fell through.

Greenlake is a great place to train. I usually train there when I visit Seattle.

Instead of spending trillions of dollars on pointless military excursions in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, we should be feeding and housing our non-housed citizens.

I lived there in 1984 due to my first job in Seattle. Used to incorporate Green Lake into a daily 10 miler before work. Back then, hardly anyone around, quiet, no encampments. Biggest worries in Seattle, back then, were if the sea lions ate too much of the salmon in Ballard. I like my memories and would not want to see it now.

It's atrocious. I'm in Roosevelt and the grass median on 15th and Ravenna has become a homeless encampment. Next to it is Cowen Park and over the Summer it had become a literal garbage dump: there was some corner up behind the baseball diamond where a huge mountain of trash was building up and was cleared out only recently. The inner loop of Green Lake had been graffitied with "Defund SPD" over the Summer and homeless continue to set up tents under the trees around the lake. As OP mentioned, the West side of the road has become RV encampments because that road has been closed down due to coronavirus. The 2k XC loop in Lower Woodland Park now winds through homeless tents and runners need to be careful not to trip on extension cords. The homeless on my street will get drunk and defecate on the sidewalk in broad daylight. There are used condoms and needles in the Honey Buckets at RHS track.

I lived in Greenwood in 2001-2005. Really liked it. Always told my wife I wanted to retire up there because it was the most beautiful city I had lived in.

Went back for a conference last year and the place is a dump. Really sad.

10 years ago, sure. Now? Seattle is a dump. Why try to run around Greenlake when you have to dodge and shift every 10 feet?

jamin wrote:

It's atrocious. I'm in Roosevelt and the grass median on 15th and Ravenna has become a homeless encampment. The homeless on my street will get drunk and defecate on the sidewalk in broad daylight. There are used condoms and needles in the Honey Buckets at RHS track.

Welcome to Capitalism.

mayeroff wrote:

jamin wrote:

It's atrocious. I'm in Roosevelt and the grass median on 15th and Ravenna has become a homeless encampment. The homeless on my street will get drunk and defecate on the sidewalk in broad daylight. There are used condoms and needles in the Honey Buckets at RHS track.

Welcome to Capitalism.

Seattle is run by socialists. That is their actual preferred self-designation. A U.S. Caracas.

Turd Wurld Shuthole wrote:

Just my Take on the Place wrote:

All in all it was ok. I felt safe enough.

Obviously you are not a lone female or walker after dark. My sister is now unable to use it after work. But it is all part of the Great Leap Backwards.

1) Male

2) Runner

3) Late afternoon around 3:30pm.

4) Don't think I really want to run there after dark. It looks kind of sketchy.

There's a webcam mounted on top of the boat rental/coffee shop place.

It looks like sh!t as does much of the city. In my neighborhood, if a taxpayer leaves their car in a 2 hour parking spot too long, they get a $60 parking ticket. But if someone pitches a tent in the same spot, they can stay there 3 months free of charge

Hardloper wrote:It looks like sh!t as does much of the city. In my neighborhood, if a taxpayer leaves their car in a 2 hour parking spot too long, they get a $60 parking ticket. But if someone pitches a tent in the same spot, they can stay there 3 months free of charge

Move?

Seattle's homeless friendly policies are just white PMC guilt over the massive income disparities in Seattle. The reality is that Seattle is not the great leftist bastion that people want you to think that it is. Everyone in Seattle knew that when Amazon was buying up warehouses just north of downtown and piling in 50k plus jobs into the city (with probably an equal number of Amazon support contractors coming into the city) that there was going to be a housing crisis. In 2018, activists tried to get a head tax to pay for affordable housing. It got through city hall but got repealed within a month after Amazon and other business interests squawked. Thus, people in Seattle let the homeless go wherever they want because they know that the homeless crisis is entirely their fault, but they are not willing to take on the big business interests that pay their big salaries. So, instead, they do the white PMC guilt thing and are nice to the homeless.

Just my Take on the Place wrote:

Hardloper wrote:It looks like sh!t as does much of the city. In my neighborhood, if a taxpayer leaves their car in a 2 hour parking spot too long, they get a $60 parking ticket. But if someone pitches a tent in the same spot, they can stay there 3 months free of charge

Move?

That's what I did. When I visit my relatives there it is heartbreaking to see what city and state government ineptitude has wrought on a once great city.