It is not the vast majority of Seattle by land area or population. There's a lot elsewhere to do and see in Seattle that doesn't involve this area. Most of the other troubled areas are considerably safer than this specific location. I live in another troubled area. I'm not thrilled about it, but it is an order of magnitude better than 3rd and Pike.
Anyway, I'd suggest not being in fear of taking the family to Seattle.
"Hey, guys, we're going to Seattle! What would you like to see?"
"Let's go to Pike Place, I've heard a lot about that!"
"Ehh...okay, but we'll have to stick to the inside of the market. Don't wander out, it's not safe!"
"We could go to Pioneer Square!"
"Holy crap, no way! It's scary down there."
"The art museum...?"
"Maybe, first thing in the morning, before things start getting...weird..."
"We could, er, have lunch in the historic International District?"
"Uhm...you're comfortable wielding a knife, right?"
"What about, uhh...the arboretum?"
"The arboretum! What a great idea! We'll go to the Arboretum. See, I told you Seattle is a great place to visit."
Point being: about 90% of the stuff tourists come to see in Seattle is within that hot spot. And it is bigger than 9 square blocks, though it's still only a small part of the city, much less the municipal area.
The previous comment is very misleading. I walk around this area all the time. It really mostly is 3rd between Stewart and Pike. I’ve been mostly avoiding that area for some time now. Everything else is normal big city stuff.
PS: My girlfriend is from NYC and she’s amused about most of the stuff people freak out about here. I wonder if maybe people aren’t used to big city stuff here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b...
Is it possible that these other cities also have violence, but it is just happening out of sight, creating a general feeling of ‘this is a safe city’ for visitors?
San Francisco has a lot of poor people, i.e. homeless, and a lot of which have either mental health issues or substance abuse issues. That doesn't necessarily make them dangerous, but the more people like that you see on your walk to work, the more it can contribute to someone's general feelings of being unsafe.
Vancouvers East Hastings and LAs public transit system (Blue line at night) are both examples of poor people who are (mostly) not dangerous. You could navigate these areas with very little chance of being assaulted but I doubt many would opt for such a route if given other options. There are areas though which are both poor and dangerous, certain parts of Detroit comes to mind
If a homeless person pushes you or spits at you, what are you realistically going to do? Call the police, wait 15-30 minutes for them to show up, and hope they can find a guy who's long gone? And even when they do bother to catch the person, the prosecutors in Seattle have a track record of dropping misdemeanor cases. It just seems like a waste of time, so you end up writing it off as an unlucky experience and moving on with your day.
Other cities may be more violent on paper, but perhaps that's because they have smaller homeless populations and their crimes are perpetrated by people who can be reliably located and prosecuted.
BS. I have caught the criminals that broke into my house and stole over 15k in computers and cameras, and that they had a crime ring, storage units, etc. Cop response, "we can't get warrants on the weekend". I filed a complaint to the city, got a call from the union, telling me I can't file a complaint against officer friendly because he is about to retire in a month.
This is one incident, I have more. Same goes for the Portland police. They don't do their jobs, even when they are done for them. In Portland, I also caught the guy that broke in my car. The detective that was assigned my case, "don't do my job!" and then he just dropped it. Name and address of perp and a witness that would testify.
A couple months ago I was talking to an off duty cop that was doing traffic for a construction site on Capitol Hill, she thought I was out canvasing to recall Sawant. She said her attitude and the attitude of Seattle cops is that the liberals in Seattle can drown in their own shit, she is moving out of the state because she doesn't feel respected. Good riddance!
I want my children to be trusting (I expect them to be scammed some number of times and survive the experience) so it does make me consider where I want to live where they can experience independence, other children, and end up secure people.
I just wanted to say, when I was a kid I saw a lot of homelessness and I think it helped foster some sense of humanity. One thing I still think about from time to time. I saw a kid, around the same age as me at the time, with no hands begging for money. I distinctly remember this feeling of "that could very easily be me, just a few variables different".
I guess the reason I'm saying this is as a parent, I don't wont to hide this from my kid. And this is not to say that I think your comment was to hide this from your kids. This is just what I thought about after reading it. It just gave me a lot to think about and I am not sure of a way to safely do this but I think its important. This is the system we actively participate in and endorse in one way or another. I don't want my kid to look away at the ugly parts.