HOW MUCH GRAFFITI IS ALONG THE FREEWAY?
Charlie Harger
Seattle's Morning News. I'm Charlie Harger.
The graffiti along Seattle roadways is the worst I've ever seen. I have taken to comparing Seattle graffiti to people with a poorly trained house cat. Ever go into a house like this? The homeowners don't even notice it, but for visitors, the stench is overwhelming.
That's what's happening here. If you drive through Seattle every day, the graffiti becomes a blur. You stop noticing it. But the amount of graffiti stench on Seattle roadways is truly overwhelming once you pay attention.
So how much graffiti is there along the freeway in Seattle? We decided to count it. KIRO Newsradio's Nate Connors and I set some parameters. We have decided to count the number of tags within Seattle city limits along I-5. Basically, the MLK exit in the South up to 145th in the north. We counted the tags, each individual one, from south and north and north to south. And then finally, we counted the tags inside the Mercer St. off-ramp tunnel from the freeway. Ever go inside there? That gateway to the Seattle Center, which all the tourists use every year.
I drove while Nate used a “clicker counter thingy.” I think that's the technical term.
(sound of rapid clicking)
Nate Connors
Oh wow.
Charlie Harger
Every individual tag scrawled along the roadway is counted as one, so here's a bit of our journey the other day. Every click you hear here is Nate counting a tag that defaces the public property you and I pay for.
(sound of rapid clicking)
Nate Connors
Well, I might need to take the day off, Charlie, after this.
Charlie Harger (in conversation)
Yeah, look at all those up there, man. And here. Better not file a workman's comp claim.
Nate Connors
Workman’s comp. Well, I've got it on video. Oh boy.
Charlie Harger
Guys, this is not scientific. This is just the best guesstimate we can give. There’s just so much, and it's so overwhelming.
Nate Connors
It is.
Charlie Harger
Here comes this overpass.
Nate Connors
This clicker is actually getting warm.
Charlie Harger
(Chuckes).
Charlie Harger (now narrating)
So do you have any guesses how many tags we counted? I went around the KIRO Radio newsroom to see what they thought.
Jack Stine
I'm gonna say 1,500, right around there. Yeah, 15 hundo. If Nate can click that fast.
Nate Connors
(Laughs)
Sam Campbell
OK. Um, I'd say 3,500.
Charlie Harger (in conversation)
OK, OK.
Sam says 3,500. Jack says 1,500.
Bill Kaczaraba
500.
Charlie Harger
500, OK. There seems to be a popular number, 500. All right.
Aaron Granillo
I'm going to go with 1,000. I like my 1,000 guess.
Charlie Harger (now narrating)
Nate added it up.
Nate Connors
Well, let's see what ballpark number we got out of this.
8,555.
Charlie Harger (in conversation)
(Whistles)
Nate Connors
So I think it'd be a safe bet to say 10,000.
Charlie Harger
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But OK. That's the number we counted.
Charlie Harger (now narrating)
You heard that number right. At least 8,555 tags off I-5 in Seattle city limits. Frankly, it was overwhelming. Nate could not keep up in spots, so our count is likely less than what's actually out there.
Nate Connors
I can't keep up.
Charlie Harger
State Patrol spokesman Chris Loftus says this has got to stop.
Chris Loftus
One, it's selfish. Two, it's unsightly and a nuisance, obviously, but three, it's dangerous. That's the big thing. If people can't see the messages that we put on the roadways, they are important. We put them there for a reason, to get people from here to there safely at the right speeds and in a safe manner. If they can't see those messages, you're decreasing the safety of the whole system.
Charlie Harger
Now people are being held accountable. I spoke to Casey McNerthney with the King County prosecutor's office. He says a prolific tagger, you've likely seen his work, will be arraigned in a couple of days.
Casey McNerthney
Prosecutors and the city attorney's office and Seattle Police and the State Patrol are in contact all the time, and there's a lot of things that are happening behind the scenes, which is frustrating for people because they want to know that these charges are being filed all the time, I think. They want to know if people are being held accountable for making the roadways and private businesses and all kinds of areas look like crap.
Charlie Harger
McNerthney says there is a lot in the works behind the scenes.
Casey McNerthney
I guarantee you that later on this year and into 2025, you're going to hear about more of these cases. It probably won't be as many as people want to hear about, but there are certainly significant investigations that are in the works. And that sounds so vague, and it's frustrating for people to not hear specifics, but when they hear those specifics, I think it'll be reassuring because that's where we can show all the work that has been done all these months that people don't know about yet.
Charlie Harger
WASHDOT says it's doing the best it can, but they do not have a dedicated budget, nor a big enough budget to handle all the graffiti. And it's very difficult to clean that graffiti off road signs. In an email statement, Tina Werner at the state DOT tells us generally it costs anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 dollars to replace a single large overhead sign. That includes fabrication, material, shipping, and what she says is the traffic control required to do the work. And if you have driven through downtown Seattle recently, there are easily a dozen signs that are badly tagged and likely need to be replaced. Last year, WASHDOT says it spent $847,825.10 on graffiti removal statewide. They do not have a dedicated budget for this. Werner says it's almost impossible to calculate how much a total cleanup would cost. Again, there are at least 8.555 tags along I-5 in Seattle alone.
Nate Connors
Oh wow.(sound of clicking fades out)
CRIME AND GANGS IN THE SUBURBS
Less than a week ago, I reported on the explosion of shootings and stabbings in Auburn, and how so many in the community worry for their safety.
Brittany Reid helps run the Auburn Community Facebook page:
Brittany Reid
There was gunshots here. There was a stabbing there. It’s been a lot of violence.
Charlie Harger
I told you last week how I met with Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus at a Starbucks.
Mayor Nancy Backus
I’ll say it. There are gang wars going on.
Charlie Harger
Just 12 hours after that interview, a man was stabbed to death on the sidewalk just outside that same Starbucks.
In the past month, there have been multiple drive-by shootings along M Street, a road that transforms into 37th Street, lined with schools and daycares: places that should be safe for children, not a backdrop for gang violence.
Residents have been reaching out, sharing the terror captured on their security cameras.
This is a drive-by in the dead of night, three weeks ago:
NATS
Sound of six gunshots captured on security cameras
Charlie Harger
Here's another drive-by... this one in the middle of the day:
NATS
Sound of eight gunshots captured on security cameras
Charlie Harger
And this is early Saturday morning. I couldn't even keep up with the number of gunshots:
NATS
Sound of dozens of gunshots captured on security cameras
Charlie Harger
Now, imagine if that was your neighborhood. Imagine living with that kind of fear every single day.
Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus says they're looking to hire at least eight new officers. And, when you count the number away at training, on leave, or otherwise unavailable -- she believes the city is down 30 officers available for patrol.
In other words: there aren't enough cops and the criminals are getting bolder.
People like Brittany are left in fear for their lives. The bullets are flying, the violence is escalating, and now those schools are back in session.
Think about that: kids are walking to school in the very neighborhood you just heard all those gunshots in.
Brittany Reid
Crime maps. Look at those. Check out the schools. Don’t come here. The crime map will tell you “don’t come here.”
Charlie Harger
We cannot ignore this growing gang war.
We can’t just keep counting the gunshots. Auburn needs to count on something else—action, before it’s too late.
A DEADLY YEAR ON WASHINGTON ROADS
The news that came from the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission last month was sickening.
810 people in our state died in car crashes last year.
810.
It's the highest number in 33 years. And think about that -- fewer people used seat belts back in 1991, and car safety systems such as airbags, cameras, warning sensors and the like didn't exist, or were nowhere near as prominent.
810 people. Dead.
I can use words like "sickening" and "horrifying" to describe this turn of events. And they are.
But the word I won't use is "surprised."
This is not a surprise at all.
Anecdotally, I can tell you that I have been driving on Washington roads for the past 33 years, and without a doubt, the driving I've seen in the past year is the worst I have ever seen it. People have lost their way following the pandemic. They're either getting themselves killed, or killing innocent drivers with their bad decisions.
Just this week, the Snohomish County Prosecutor said there was a 143-percent increase in felony traffic crimes compared to 2019.
When traffic isn't jammed up -- it's Mad Max on the interstate. My drive in the morning takes me through the south end. So, let's say there's a jam-up at Southcenter, but then I-5 clears up through Boeing Field. It's not unusual for me to see drivers going 80 or 90 plus through that short stretch at 6 or 7 in the morning.
If you're driving right now, look at your speedometer. Is it over the speed limit? Wait. Are you the driver who's able to drive fast but it's all these other clowns on the road who are dangerous?
More adults are using pot than alcohol now, according to a recent study. So we have a surge of a legal drug that stays in your system. Guess what? Pot is contributing at least a bit to this surge. There's also the illegal usage of fentanyl, which contributes to the crash numbers.
I could go on and on about this. People driving down the center median at speed in order to bypass traffic? Not unusual to see anymore. Young people under 18 knowing that even if they're charged with reckless driving, they're probably not going to jail. There's a downtick in people wearing seat belts.
People are making bad choices, and it all adds up to a number-- and that number is 810.
810 people dead, because apparently, traffic laws are suggestions.
Until we start viewing traffic laws as life-saving rules that need to be followed instead of mere suggestions -- it's hard to imagine your drive getting much safer.
