Seattle seniors beg city for help as ‘absolute anarchy’ erupts outside LGBTQ housing complex
Frustrated Seattle residents say their once-vibrant neighborhood has become a nightly nightmare of roaring engines, fears of gunfire and massive street takeovers, warning that the chaos has reached a breaking point as city leaders struggle to contain the growing problem.
"It was a wonderful community," Rick Grossman — a resident of Pride Place apartments, an LGBTQ+ housing community for seniors located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle situated in the Pike/Pine Corridor — told KOMO News in an article published Monday. "We’ve got disenfranchised people over here, many of them have been victimized all their lives and they came here for safety."
But Grossman said residents feel anything but safe.
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"We’re just asking for the city to enforce laws," Grossman said. "People are advertising on social media 'come on down here because it’s open for anything' — that’s what’s happening. You have absolute anarchy down here."
KOMO News reported that Grossman said the area becomes chaotic when bars and nightclubs close in the early morning hours, pushing the crowds into the streets and creating "takeovers" in the city.
"It's craziness. We've got people down here doing street takeovers," Grossman said. "There was a party bus out here last night blasting music. My floor vibrates, my windows vibrate, and it impacts my heart."
Grossman wrote a letter to the office of Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson outlining his concerns about the situation at Pride Place, which KOMO News quoted.
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"These conditions are intolerable — our dignity and health are being destroyed," Grossman wrote. "This noise is not incidental — it is the result of purposeful amplified street activity, including unlicensed vendors, vehicles with modified exhaust systems, bullhorns, stadium speakers and large crowds drawn by social media promotion."
He added, "This past Saturday night, for example, we had a four-piece band with drums and an amplifier, an unlicensed food vendor blasting music through big speakers, and a homophobic preacher using a bullhorn and speakers at the same intersection — just yards from our homes. Calls to 911 received no response."
KOMO News reported that people in the neighborhood have taken photos which show powered speaker setups with subwoofers in the trunks of cars, and that cars with excessively loud exhausts tear down the street all night.
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Diana, who requested that KOMO News not share her last name for fear of retaliation, told the outlet that ear plugs don’t even help.
"It’s so loud, even with a noise machine and ear plugs," Diana said.
She added, "I was woken up by, inside my bathroom with the doors shut, through triple pane windows, by extremely loud music by a party bus across the street. Two o'clock in the morning, why are they allowed to do that?"
Diana also said she had woken up to hear gunshots from outside.
According to KOMO News, the Seattle Police Department is sending out officers to patrol the area as bars and nightclubs let out, and the Capitol Hill Seattle blog reported that police are increasing foot patrols as well as increasing meetings with staff at bars and restaurants.
Fox News Digital reached out to Wilson and the Seattle Police Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
An FBI crime report for 2024 released in August found that Seattle was ranked fourth-worst out of the 30 largest American cities for total crime.
In August, The Washington State Standard reported that the total number of individuals counted as homeless is a 4.4% increase from 2024 and a 25% increase overall from 2022. Additionally, the year-over-year increase was approximately consistent with the 4.07% rise from 2023 to 2024, but below the 14.8% jump between 2022 and 2023.