Safety should be the highest
priority. Local Chinese merchants should promote safety and community
events. Hidden by the facade of pagoda lanterns and dragons on utility
posts and the useless entrance gate at King Street and Fifth Avenue
South, there are old people and young children who are virtual prisoners
of their tenement rooms. The city should not use Chinatown as a dumping
ground for the homeless, the drug users, the inebriates and the
hardcore street people, but instead, should come up with a comprehensive
plan to solve social problems in a otherwise beautiful city. To put it
very plainly, the city, the entire city, belongs to the people, all the
people. No one should be allowed to be intimidated, harassed, or defiled
anywhere in the city, Chinatown or elsewhere. Police should do police
work, citizens should be good citizens, the corrupt elements should be
rounded up and send to prisons or whatever corner of the world in which
they can fester by themselves and not intimidate peaceful people of all
persuasions and income levels.
The point here is that less Asians
are living in segregated ghettos. This is a good thing. People are
mixing more, living next to people of other races, intermarrying. There
are still a few good restaurants down there, but I wouldn't expect, or
hope for Asians to start segregating themselves again. It would be cool
for the city or some developer to focus on making it more of a tourist
attraction and historic sight.
I've been to Seattle's Chinatown a
few times on game day and see more homeless and druggies there than
Chinese! I think it's just a spillover from Pioneer Square.
Our 9th congressional district in
the South Seattle suburbs and Bellevue/Eastside, including Lynnwood and
other Northend areas are prime examples as Asians flock to affordable
homes and better school districts in the suburbs.
Much of the Asian and Hispanic growth is due to immigration (legal and illegal) and population growth as the American white and black population birth rates have leveled off as their growth rates have stagnated.
Much of the Asian and Hispanic growth is due to immigration (legal and illegal) and population growth as the American white and black population birth rates have leveled off as their growth rates have stagnated.
I see Seattle's Chinatown of
having potential to become quality tourist attraction and a live-in
Asian cultural metropolis. But currently it's under siege by the
homeless and the street people. With all the drug use, drunkenness, car
prowls and other petty crime the Asian population no longer feels safe
in its own neighborhood that it established one hundred years ago. The
city and police have done little to remedy the situation despite God
knows how many cries for action from the residents. Until that changes
don't expect any improvements.
The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only, and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.
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