I’m heading back to DC in a few hours. I always have such mixed feelings about Seattle. On the one hand, there’s a lot to like about this town and this region. It’s my kind of weather, my kind of food, etc. But I’m always amazed at how pre-Giuliani so much of the downtown is. I’m baffled at how the business community and the tourist industry can cave to the drug-addict romanticizers and panhandler enablers. There is so much skeeviness and bummery going on right at the heart of why people come to this town in the first place. And, it’s not just to prey on the tourists, there are half-way houses, methadone clinics, etc all near Pike’s. I don’t folllow Seattle politics so I don’t know how the arguments play out, but I’d have to guess there are West Coast versions of the same jackasses who thought drug dealing, transvestite hookers, and robbery were what gave Times Square its authenticity and “charm.”