Seattle's Tourism Woes Began Before CHOP- Anarchy-Riots (op-ed)

You've probably seen ads on Facebook, and other social media, that pop up and invite people to Visit Seattle, or some other type of vacation.

They're part of an $8 million dollar promotional plan using CARES Act money by the city. KOMO TV this week did a story, which was picked up by various other outlets, wondering if CHOP, anarchy, Antifa, fires, riots and more have 'hurt' the city's image. Especially the Visitor and Convention Bureau and tourism.

Although it's clear what they're asking, the question is almost laughable to anyone who's been even halfway following the news.

Seattle's problems actually are rooted over 4-5 years earlier. You may remember former Mayor Ed Murray (who resigned over a teen sex scandal) declaring the city a "sanctuary city" much like San Francisco, which did that in 2013. In January 2017, a series of legal battles began between city leaders and the Trump Administration over the immigration part of this declaration.

But even before that, the impacts of the sanctuary policy prompted a group of long time Seattle residents to create the nationally known Facebook site "Seattle Looks Like S**T." It was created in 2016, and now has over 65,000 likes, and over 70,000 follow it. It contains post after post of shocking, even frightening images of filth, squalor, vandalism and just plain ugliness that are enveloping the city like a black cloud.

This policy, plus a never ending stream of far-left city council members and other leaders, have created the petri dish that's allowed situations such as CHOP and riots to happen, much like Portland. Their policies, tax hikes, and seemingly blatant efforts to run businesses out of town (Amazon to Bellevue?) have resulted in the situation facing Seattle tourism and convention officials now.

In fact, it's all over social media, including Reddit. Following the Federal designation of Seattle as an "anarchist jurisdiction" a series of new postcards are being made and sold online. Click here to see one of them on Twitter.

But back to the KOMO story, and others that have appeared this week. Kudos to the Seattle officials working to try to get people to visit, book conventions, and fight hard to retain some sort of vibrancy to the city.

As for the media asking the question if all this 'summer of love' activity has hurt the city? Kind of late to be asking that, it began years ago. Too bad you weren't paying real attention.