Dangerous downtowns?

Capability? Yes, absolutely.

Coordinated desire? Not even close. From my point of view everyone sees a valuable crisis to be exploited for other purposes.

 

Just like batteries that are built today, say some......

 

9/26/2023
Target says it will close nine stores in major cities, citing violence and theft (msn.com)

"We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance," Target said in a news release.

 

Have you read about Portugal's decriminalisation of drugs? They treat drug addiction as a health issue rather than a criminal issue. It's made a huge difference, reducing addiction and making what were very dangerous parts of Lisbon much safer.

 

And meanwhile other stores located right next to the stores closing say there is no issue

https://www.thestreet.com/retailers/lowes-has-an-answer-for-target-and-walmarts-theft-problems

 

Target seems to have the courage to say, out loud, the part that other retailers leaving parts of Seattle wouldn't say.

Lowe's and Walmart don't have any locations within miles of the two Seattle Target locations that are closing. The Targets that are near those retailers, are not closing.

Walmart did close one Everett store for this reason this past spring.

Walgreens? Three months ago, they announced the closing of 150 stores in the U.S., but did not disclose which locations. So the jury remains out on that claim. We don't know if the Walgreens store next to the closing Target in Ballard is staying open or closing. I don't see any Walgreens near the Target that is closing in the U-District.

 

It is worth noting, though, that those other stores don't have A LITERAL TARGET on them.

It is little wonder that the place facing problems with violence is the one that has a massive target painted on the front.

They only have themselves to blame.

 

"... the place facing problems with violence ..."?

Someone didn't pay attention to the numerous previous store closings in these areas. And to the many security videos of flash mobs and large organized groups performing mass shopliftings, overwhelming security staff with sheer numbers.

 

I was saying it had a big target on it.
Because it was Target.
And their logo is a target.
So it became a target.
For criminals who targeted it.

 

Interesting. I wonder what the differences were.

In other cases, the difference between success and failure seems to be how far you go in decriminalising/legalising, and in providing supplies and treatment to addicts. It seems, anecdotally, that the further you take this, the better it works, but if you go halfway you can make the problem worse. I'm not saying that was definitely Oregon's problem - I'm just speculating that it may have been. In particular, Portugal was able to provide heroin and/or methadone for free because it has a European healthcare system, and that drove the dealers out of business and removed the need for people to steal stuff to pay for drugs. It might have been difficult to do that in the US because your healthcare system is so different.

Or maybe it's different drugs? In Portugal, as far as I remember, heroin was the biggest problem: perhaps with crystal meth or fentanyl or something the same solution doesn't work so well.

 

Drugs are one element of the problem, but are a symptom of a much larger societal problem- much like a cough may be part of a symptom of pneumonia. What are the root causes that make people use drugs and become addicted?

9/27/2023
Over 100 masked teens ransack and loot Philadelphia stores leading to several arrests, police say (msn.com)

The one gentleman listed some root causes in his posts 60 and 78.
Post 42 list a document that details the causes and suggest countermeasures for these breakdowns of society.

The causes are not pleasant to talk about or bring up because they are going to engender very negative feedback.
Entitlements, breakdown of nuclear families, one parent households where that individual is doing everything they can do but is just overwhelmed, children conceived to get federal money, entitlement mindset, a welfare and support system designed to keep individuals and generations permanently dependent on it, loneliness, hopelessness, mental illness, medical issues, wandering through life with no purpose or higher goals, not having a family or support system - all are not pleasant or feel good topics- they are heartbreaking.

These are not enjoyable topics to bring up on a forum - imagine the negative reaction, social outrage and name-calling an individual would receive if he bought these subjects up on the national scale.

At work, we attended a leadership/management class where they brought up a technique they termed 'courageous conversations' where you would address issues head on in plain and simple conversations at work with employees, fellow managers etc. The conversations were very difficult to have about sometimes unpleasant/hard topics but necessary and important.

Our country is in dire need of National Leaders who are ready to have some very unpopular but necessary 'Courageous Conversations'.

These problems transcend politics.

 

Oooh, that's me! Exciting!

Does this mean my children have a life of crime ahead of them?

 

On the bright side, there'll be no dull dinner conversations when they come home for holidays (when they're out).

 

If 'Target' had been the first (or second, or third, or ... ) store chain to do this, the pun would have worked. But no, this was already a well established pattern before 'Target' was 'targeted'.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Police Officers Guild has been engaging in de-policing, and displaying growing contempt for the citizens it is supposed to protect, ever since local efforts to hold officers accountable for engaging in racism and abuse of force ended up bringing in federal Department of Justice oversight more than a decade ago. This contempt has only grown during and since the Pandemic.

‘Feel safer yet?’ Seattle police union’s contempt keeps showing through

 

Decriminalizing has to trail agressive positive enforcement measures and government controls and government sale of all substances to work. (Aka full reporting of everyone using with a community communication effort)
Black markets have to be eliminated and non-voluntary treatment has to be in place first or…

Done in reverse this happens.

Oregon's drug decriminalization gets poor marks on audit | AP News

As Americans it should be no surprise we have a chip in our shoulder and feel we are entitled/ owed much with no consequences.

However, People not on mind altering substances have done similar things as you note in the last 3 years, so I don’t think it’s purely drugs, I need only look at people on airplanes to see similar behaviors to those raiding a CVS for Mountain Dew and snack nuts.


China has made historical claims that they have no addicts but they also executed addicts and dealers on sight.

I personally think there has to be something between immense police state action and the proverbial all drug Olympics with no meaningful support structures or penalties for abuse.
It’s likely too much to expect our country with our toxic me first attitudes to be able to handle a good thing without a poke waiting.

no good deed goes unpunished.

 

I'm impressed with the level of organization seen in a few of the more sensational shoplifting episodes. Looks well planned.

Almost like the store manager predicted bad results for the quarter and arranged to bring in a good reason for it.

 

Yes, I'll get good advice on which cars are easy to steal and which drugs are good. It sounds like a win-win, tbh.

 

That would not surprise me.

 

mmm