Yes it's an election year. That means the dems want to put on a good show for the public and maybe help you forget that many parts of WA have turned into a third world ghetto.

Through my regular commutes through Tacoma and Seattle, I would regularly see huge trash heaps and tent camps on the sides of the road. When they couldn't be seen, they still gave themselves away with plumes of acrid smoke billowing from the underbrush from the pallets and other scrap wood that they burn.

This has been going on since at least 2020.

Suddenly, in the last few months, I've started to see some of them get busted and cleaned up. You'll see WSP on the side of the road along with a few trucks and cargo trailers. All the trash gets pulled out of the hidden camps along side the road. Then they have Asplundh or other contractors come in and clear all the brush so that the camps can no longer hide in the thickets.

A few weeks back traffic was stopped on eastbound hwy 16 in Tacoma as several homeless fought with WSP over a single large tent, trying to prevent them from taking it. I guess fought is a relative term because WSP was basically hands off and just stood there as these bums tried to take their shitty tent back to... somewhere.

The park and ride in Tacoma off of 16 that had become filled with broken down RVs and other derelict vehicles with their hoods permanently left open, got emptied out for the most part.

Can't have the public being reminded of how bad things have become as their ballots are showing up in the mail this fall.

I wonder who gave the order to begin the cleanup?

These cleanups have been going on long before 2020. It’s a manpower issue as these transient camps keep multiplying and law enforcement officers and public works can’t keep up, but they do eventually get cleaned up and the transients just go find a new place to pollute.

Agreed. The spot just off of Yesler and 6th as an example gets cleaned up and then a few months later, is taken over again.

Meant to say that I agree with this.

Considering how "elections" roll here in WA (and now the rest of the country), I also tend to agree.

They probably let it go until it's really unbearable and borderline starting some disease-spreading tipping point, clean up, rinse and repeat.

There's a whole industry running under the "homeless" banner.  So, the politicians (getting money from it) won't let it stop.

It’s been going on at this location for probably well over 10 15 years. I used to work near there, and went by it a few times a week.

Going through PDX a few days ago, I was shocked! Shocked, I tell you. Up I-5, I would estimate 25-30 campers, if that. Last trip through there, last spring, I'd need a calculator to count them. Sumpin's up...

What will be REALLY interesting is what happens before FIFA World Cup comes to town.

I think what folks are actually seeing here is the normal homeless camp game of whack-a-mole.

People noticed the same thing last year in advance of the MLB All Star game.

I’ve noticed fewer prominent homeless camps along I-5. And downtown Seattle isn’t as third world-ish as it was in 2020.

Also a noticeable decline up in Everett.

Nope.