World Cup Soccer is coming to Seattle. Preparations underway.

On By rushbabe49In Authoritarianism, business, Culture, DEI, Economics, Fun and Games, government, Media and the Internet, Politics in the Age of Trump, Progressive "Thought", social media, transportation, Travel and Vacations, Washington State Politics

Seattle is well-known for its prodigious homeless camps, open-air drug markets, police shortage, and Aurora Avenue prostitution. Seattle is also known these days for its Socialist Mayor, Katie Wilson, who was elected with zero political experience and a history of depending on her parents for support even after marriage and a child. Here are some of the ways Seattle is preparing to host the World Cup.

First, a story on MyNorthwest.com. The title is 5M pounds of trash, 600K needles removed in Seattle ahead of World Cup. Here’s a quote from the article.

In 2025, the city expanded its illegal dumping camera pilot. Officials said it reduced incidents at some hotspots from dozens per year to zero.

The program launched in 2023, using motion-activated cameras.

“These cameras are installed in areas with frequent illegal dumping. When motion is detected, the camera plays a deterrence message,” a post read on the city’s website. “If motion continues, it captures images of the individuals or vehicles for review.”

How very Seattle. Even with the “illegal dumping cameras”, 32,000 volunteer hours were still needed to pick up the 5 Million Pounds of trash. And the World Cup is still 6 weeks away; trash picked up from homeless camps usually returns within days.

It also seems that Mayor Wilson has restricted the use of police surveillance cameras for the World Cup, so if a crime occurs, the police will not be able to see it. Here’s a quote from that article.

Following a directive from Mayor Katie Wilson, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) will not tap into closed-caption television (CCTV) cameras to monitor the hundreds of thousands of soccer fans expected to travel to the city during this summer’s World Cup, unless an incident is deemed a credible threat.

“But for an event that big, why not use every available tool that you have?” KIRO host Ursula Reutin asked SPD Chief Shon Barnes Tuesday morning.

The police chief has to abide by his boss’s edicts, so thousands of soccer fans will mob Seattle with no monitoring. My guess is the reason the Socialist mayor has forbidden the cameras is that she fears ICE using the cameras for their immigration enforcement (Seattle is a sanctuary city in a sanctuary state). How easy would it be for a terrorist to infiltrate that crowd of soccer fans?

Getting support from Eastern Washington.

By the way, police in Seattle are unhappy at the lack of support, and sometimes outright hostility shown them by the City Council and the Mayor herself, who tend to see police as “pigs”. Seattle has found it very difficult to hire and retain police officers for this reason.

How many soccer fans coming in through Sea-Tac will gasp at how much it costs them to get to Seattle from the airport?

Fans should watch out for the mobs of retail thieves.

Getting ’em coming and going!

Seattle street vagrants do NOT have to accept shelter when it is offered. Will that change for the World Cup? Will homeless be shoved into shelters against their will? If so, will they stay? Most of them prefer to live on the street with no rules except their own desires. It’s anybody’s guess if they will go away while the fans are in town.

Finally, one reminder.

Good luck, Seattle.

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