re: Seattle is circling the bowl

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Probably some Amazon or Microsoft rich people there they can tax

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Nope they are fleeing... because of the Utiopian dream... 'Tax the wealthy'

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Washington’s new “millionaires tax” imposes a 9.9% income tax on households earning over $1 million, effective January 1, 2028, with first payments due in 2029.

Overview
Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed Senate Bill 6346, creating the state’s first income tax on high earners, targeting households with income above $1 million per year at a 9.9% rate. The law is designed to generate approximately $3.5 billion annually from an estimated 20,000–30,000 households, with a significant portion residing in Seattle and surrounding King County districts. The tax threshold is adjusted for inflation starting in 2030.
-- Wikipedia

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I was there recently. It's doing great.

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I'm sure the coffee was fantastic and the seafood was fresh but the latest NMLS and CBRE data is spelling doom for the city of Seattle. You have a crumbling tax base and continued budget short falls are expected (sounds like a Liberal Democrat run city to me). The business rental market is setting records as well. Not the good kind.

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The Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NMLS) released its March 2026 Market Snapshot on Thursday, showing active listings surged 29.3% year over year to 15,049 homes while closed sales barely budged, rising just 0.2% from a year ago. The median sales price fell 1.5% year over year to $640,000. More homes are sitting on the market, prices are softening, and the buyers who once kept Washington’s housing engine running are increasingly hard to find.

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it’s not enough to reverse a pandemic-era slide that pushed office vacancy to another record high, reaching 34.7% in Q4. The latest numbers from commercial real estate firm CBRE underscore how hybrid work and shrinking office footprints continue to weigh on a tech-heavy market like Seattle. The vacancy rate is up about two percentage points from a year ago, and a fivefold increase from before the pandemic.
Downtown Seattle lost 257,879 square feet of occupied space in Q4

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FredBear

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FredBear, I know this is difficult to grasp, but people do travel.

And they think this requiring-a-passport-for-voting thing is going to work out for the GOP.

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Seattle Police Officers Guild
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“…we are hundreds of officers short. And we have people working extra shifts all the time to just get to minimums. So we are working, delays are sometimes significant. We're trying to improve that as best we can, but people are — we are stretched thin." - Kent Loux President, Seattle Police Officers Guild

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Give Seattle what it asks for!

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What impressed me most was they had a pretty good handle on the homeless situation.

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Lol.

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‘Totally out of hand’: West Seattle homeless encampment cleared after years of crime, drug use Apr 15, 2026, 9:24 AM

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LINK

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After years of complaints about crime and violence, City of Seattle crews are sweeping a homeless encampment in West Seattle on Wednesday morning. Neighbors said the encampment is the source of crime, drugs, and violence that have been intermittent for several years. Seattle City Councilmember Rob Saka represents the area and said the homeless encampment has become a health and safety issue for the public. “There’s a huge public safety challenge there,” Saka said. “It’s public safety related, it’s public health related. Now, with an overdose death situation there, it’s totally out of hand.”

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Rantz: Seattle is a homeless magnet because neighboring cities crack down on camping Apr 14, 2026, 6:10 AM

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Homelessness rising in King County despite high-cost efforts to address the issue By Brett Davis | The Center Square Feb 12, 2026

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LINK

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I didn't even want to walk on some of the main downtown streets.

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no kidding …

And if you do anything, they surround you and beat you and burn your house

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But "circling the bowl" is not consistent with what you see on the ground in Seattle.

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Just curious, what do you see on the ground in Pioneer Square, or downtown Seattle? Those areas used to be fantastic, safe, artsy, fun. What do YOU see now?

I visited Seattle three times and have some CSBs.

First, in 2009. A close friend since college, and former roommate, frat bro, etc, was flying out there for a paid visit before starting a one year fellowship in hand surgery. His wife had to stay home because their young daughter had become ill so he asked if I wanted to hang out with him on the trip. The city was very nice then. Clean. Very little litter. Quiet. Orderly. Lots of people in suits and jeans and hoodies. Mostly all white people with a couple black people here and there.

Second was four years later in 2013 when my company sent me out there for a couple days of meetings. The place was still nice but a little more rough around the edges. A few more homeless people. A few mentions of places to avoid because of drugs and crime. But still pretty clean and orderly.

Third time was last year when I took my parents out there. They’re older now and it’s harder for them to get around but they love to see the country. So I took them on Amtrak’s Empire Builder train from Chicago to Seattle. Great way to see the country go by outside a big window and relax. Seattle is rough now. Trash everywhere. Graffiti. Tons of homeless people. Tons of people stumbling around like zombies obviously out of their minds on drugs and mental illness. And a lot of just plain weird and goofy people who look unstable. Loud. Dirty. Lots of people from all over the world now, from South and Central America, Asia, and who knows where. A lot of places look like you don’t want to be there.

It’s incredible how much worse the place looks from just about 15 years ago.

I don’t think I’m going back.

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‘Totally out of hand’: West Seattle homeless encampment cleared after years of crime, drug use Apr 15, 2026, 9:24 AM

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Lol, maybe that's where they were moving them to. I didn't see this downtown.