Why I will not visit Seattle any more

Reason #473,289 - London Daily Mail:

Crime-ravaged Seattle is now so dangerous it can no longer protect its own workers: Security guards are hired to walk county staffers to station or ferry (but you're on your own if you work in the private sector)

• • King County employees will now have security guards escort them to their cars or public transportation hubs each evening after work
  • Those given the option to use the guarded 'walking bus' work in offices in Downtown Seattle, and in the city's Pioneer Square
  • Both have become a hub for homeless encampments, many of whose residents are dangerous
  • The move comes amid a surge in violent crime throughout Seattle, including a 35% increase in shootings
  • Seattle's former police chief Carmen Best, the city's first black female top cop, said that residents are eager to see more cops on the streets
  • She resigned in August 2020 after the City Council slashed the department by 100 officers following pressure from Black Lives Matter protests
  • The city has since lost another 250 officers, including 100 who were ousted for not getting the Covid-19 vaccine

Seattle has become so dangerous that the city can no longer protect its own employees, with security guards now escorting them after they finish work.

King County's new 'walking bus' will debut on November 15, and see council workers based in Downtown Seattle and nearby Pioneer Square escorted to a nearby train station and ferry terminal each evening before being left to continue their commute home.

And how bad is it?

The walking bus announcement also makes no mention of spiraling crime in the Pacific Northwest city, which has seen a recent 35 per cent spike in shootings this year compared to last, and a 76 per cent increase compared to 2019. So far in 2021, 73 people have been killed and another 283 have been injured by shootings in the city.

I worked in Pioneer Square for almost three years before I moved to the farm.  I moved in 2003.  Even then, I had my car broken into several times (parked in private parking garages) and would not be there in the early morning or outside the "tourist areas" at night.  Now?  Hell no. And this is despite one of my favorite surplus places being a few blocks away.  I am not going there.