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- PT Cruiser bandit: Police were called to the Broadway Market QFC early Sunday to a report of gunfire and a man down in front of the grocery store at Broadway and Harrison. An officer arrived to find out a gunpoint robbery attempt had occurred — but the man down was only passed out and high or intoxicated.
According to East Precinct radio dispatches, around 3 AM, a male suspect attempted to hold up a victim outside the QFC and fired a round in the air during the altercation before fleeing the area in the unsuccessful attempt. Police were looking for the suspect and his getaway car described as a white male in a red hoodie, khaki pants and carrying a silver handgun. The silver PT Cruiser he left in was reportedly last seen headed southbound on Broadway. The man who was passed out was able to leave the area without medical attention, according to SPD radio.
That area is often populated by a motley assortment of street vagrants, panhandlers, drunks, and mentally ill people. It is routinely littered with all manner of junk. I walk by as rapidly as possible. It is a great example of the “broken windows” theory in that illegal behavior attracts more illegal behavior, as evidenced by this recent robbery attempt.
Why is QFC management not calling the police? Sitting/camping/panhandling on the sidewalk is illegal in Seattle, but QFC managers turn a blind eye.
Those “street vagrants, panhandlers, drunks, and mentally ill people” continue to hang out there because some of us with empathy will give them change, buy them a snack, or at least stop and chat with them and treat them like human beings. And we’ll continue to do so to your chagrin. I think it’s time for you to move to the suburbs.
People like you are part of the reason for problems in the area. Don’t give panhandlers money! A guy who lives in my building is a frequent panhandler on Broadway. He gets full SSI and food stamps, and only uses the money he begs people for “for food” to buy cigarettes, drugs and alcohol. And maybe it’s time for *you* to move to the suburbs!
You think you are helping them by giving them cash. You are not. You are enabling their chronic antisocial and illegal behavior.
And, by the way, the “move to the suburbs” advice is getting a little stale. I’ve lived on Capitol Hill for 37 years and I’m not going anywhere.
Yep, more transplants from the burbs moving into Capitol Hill, jacking the rents up, and then giggling to themselves about the street people antics, as if they get some sort of self-satisfaction for living in a “gritty” neighborhood. Some of us want the neighborhood to be a nice place to live, don’t want scumbags leaving needles and Dick’s wrappers all over their front porch, want those who need help to get the help they need, and don’t necessarily want to turn the neighborhood into Bellevue. It’s not an either/or.
‘a motley assortment of street vagrants, panhandlers, drunks, and mentally ill people.’
As a ‘mentally ill’ person who has a home and isn’t that motley (at least not once I take a shower), let me tell you: you’re kind of a jerk.
Obviously my comment was not meant to apply to all mentally ill people, but apparently you took it that way. Most people with mental illness do not hang out in front of the QFC and cause all the problems there.
And, by the way, name-calling is not a very effective way to state your opinion.
I was a little unclear on whether this guy was an a**hole or not, but the PT Cruiser definitely seals the deal.
Ha!
It is good to know that sitting, camping, and/or panhandling on the sidewalk is illegal. I hope that is true. I’m going to check that out. Several times in the last few weeks there’s been an encampment on the sidewalk right by Black Coffee of numerous people including dogs and other things. It’s been disruptive but I figured nothing can be done. And QFC doesn’t seem to do anything about trouble right by their doors. The one at Broadway and Pike often has a gauntlet to walk out either door which makes it really hard to shop there, especially later at night when they close the door on Broadway. (And before someone accuses me of being heartless because I don’t want this going on–I should have a right to walk down the sidewalk and exit and enter stores without constantly being harassed by vagrants. They have places to go that will provide food and shelter. It doesn’t need to happen.)
Exactly! Those who condone sidewalk/doorway camping seem to ignore the fact that street people have many options for shelter, at least at night. And there are food programs in Seattle where someone can get a hot meal 3 times a day, 7 days a week.
Businesses (such as QFC) CAN do something about the vagrants at their entrance doors….if they are sitting on the sidewalk, panhandling, using drugs/alcohol, littering, or camping. All it takes is a simple call to the police, and they will respond, if not always right away. But many businesses just look the other way. And unfortunately the police will not accept a call from a passerby….only from the business owner/manager.
Yet few ever bat an eye when being constantly harassed by advertising.
I actually asked the manager at Broadway QFC one day why they didn’t do something about the dregs that camp out in front of the store, and he said there’s not much they can do unless they “harass” people. Now, maybe I am being thin-skinned, but I constantly feel harassed by these folks. There’s one particular guy who has been asking me “You got some money for some food” for the past 13 years. Almost every freaking time I go there he asks me, even though I have firmly told him to buzz off a few times. To me, this qualifies as harassment. QFC needs to do something about this. Maybe it will take a violent altercation between one of these panhandlers and a customer to finally make them see that it’s a real problem. Seattleites in general seem to whistle past the graveyard until something bad happens and then this finally nudges them out of their blissful slumber
From this, it sounds to me like QFC (sensibly) would like the gauntlet of panhandlers and loiterers to scram, but the SPD isn’t making it easy to roust them. The police aren’t unaware that this is a problem, but I don’t think they’re making it their business to enforce the anti-loitering law.
It seems misguided to blame QFC for this, and assume they’re “cool” with it. They have enough problems with people trying to steal booze from that store and doing weird stuff in their public restrooms.
Between the bums and the save the children people that area is a ghetto gauntlet! I order my grocery with amazon to avoid it all.
[…] only as a dark colored SUV. Police are investigating the incident. Police are also investigating a gunfire incident in a reported attempted robbery on Broadway early Sunday […]
Welcome to Capitol Hill, all of the commenters. I’m sure you’ll LOVE your stay.
I have lived on Capitol Hill for 32 years and have seen the homeless situation fluctuate over the years. When the homelss camps were in West Seattle the past couple years I noticed a huge decrease in the amount of the homeless drunks out on Broadway. It was never better up here. There was much less vagrancy. As soon as the homeless camps were moved to the central area a few months back it has vastly increased the amount of the homeless camping out in front of the stores on Capitol Hill. As soon as the city moved it to the central area ,within a day I saw homeless vomiting , stumbling drunk , laying on the sidewalk in front of QFC. The past few years the only guy out front was the well behaved guy who sold the homeless newspaper. I’m compassionate and understand that some people are in situations beyond their control but cant the city spread the homeless camps throughout the city so no one area has to burden all the responsibility? Capitol Hill and the Central area are already the dumping ground for halfway houses for the mentally ill and substance abuse individuals as well as transition homes for violent convected criminals. I think when we get the new mayor this is something we should work on, spread the pain throughout the city please!