Hmmm...I was curious so I signed up to Next Door. All I found were posts by people looking for yard work, therapists, dentists, etc. The only hysteria I found was one person pissed off because someone didn't pick up after their dog. Perhaps your story is a slight exaggeration or I just live in the one nice North Seattle neighborhood.

What I find interesting is how people are attempting to vilify a very useful community communications service (Nextdoor), that is *entirely free* for anyone to use. You can't really make a social justice issue against something that is free and available to everyone.

The main benefit of the service is that it keeps outside advertisers, stalkers and spammers out by making sure you're a verified resident of a specific zipcode.

Considering even a homeless user could use the service from a library computer (as long as they had a postcard mailed to that library in their name), and minority neighborhoods can just easily organize by accessing the same systems through any web browser, cell phone or internet access point - it's not like there's a formidable technological or economic barrier for entry, other than proving you live in a neighborhood.

Rather than attempting to shut down something useful and powerful for neighbors to communicate with one another and city officials, why doesn't The Stranger act as an advocate to help bring non-vocal and/or minority communities onboard. There's nothing stopping a neighborhood from vividly detailing the crime, racism and injustices they may face, one picture and one post at a time. It certainly would make the voices neighborhood blogs in disenfranchised areas far more visible and vocal.

As we've seen, it's a very useful tool for communities to document, organize, and rally to have their voices heard by local government and to those geographically linked by proximity.

What are the North-end NIMBYs so paranoid about?

Maybe dumping bodies under the Ballard Bridge.
http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2016/02/24…

Quoth our dear Mayor: “Why, suddenly, when we’re having crime stats going down in the city overall, are we seeing a huge uptick in people absolutely freaked out about crime?"

The reason is simple. Property crime in the North end is out of control. Every single person on my block that I've spoken to has either been car prowled, burgled, had mail and stolen or all of the above. It's a nice neighborhood otherwise and we're not likely to be shot by a gang member here, but it's a very real concern that has been ignored by the police. Zero follow up on the car prowls. Burglary? "Call your insurance" Mail theft? "Call the Post Office".
This is why Murray will be a one term mayor. Completely clueless.
Unfortunately too many of our neighbors have been using "homeless" as shorthand for the walking dead meth zombies that we're constantly seeing prowling cars and breaking into houses. I wish they didn't call all the street dwelling criminals homeless because they confuse two very different groups and problems even if they might both not have a fixed address.

I'm beginning to think the stranger employs everyone in America who's somehow shocked that homeowners don't want homeless people prowling their neighborhoods.

@9:

Some of these people don't want ANYONE in their neighborhoods. Just this past weekend there were folks on the Ballard NextDoor group going into full-on freakout mode because they spotted someone wearing a neon-orange safety vest walking up their street in the middle of broad daylight, whom they described as "suspicious" and "prowling cars and houses". Turned out to be volunteers from the Ballard Neighborhood Association, who it was later explained were wearing ID lanyards and carrying clipboards and business cards, but apparently these people were too frightened to step outside of their no-doubt multi-locked barricaded front doors and bother to ask.

SHITSTORM

I enjoy using Nextdoor, but I gotta admit, the characterization of NIMBY hysterics rings absolutely true.

Here on Nextdoor's Central District community, aka Suspicious Van & RV Reporting Channel, there was an incident where a homeowner posted security photos of a couple of guys in the process of burgling their home. Next thing you knew, a small mob of concerned neighbors was trolling Facebook in search of the perps, copy/pasting links to the profiles of any random neighborhood kid they thought bore a resemblance, with captions like "These are the people we should be afraid of."

It was like the Reddit search for the Boston marathon bombers multiplied by itself raised to the power of an angry PTA meeting in 1953 Birmingham.

Homeless people using the library as a mail drop? Wha? Nextdoor.com is not open to everyone. That's bullshit.

I can't disprove these claims of unreported properly crime-- nobody can. Neither can anyone disprove that the property crimes nobody reports are the works of Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. Insane, yes. But anything is possible.

Don't expect normal people to be anything but skeptical of unfalsifiable theories. The simple fact is that crime is low, and lower than it's been in years. The mayor was talking sense and 90% of Seattle knows it.

Good luck with the tinfoil hats. You fools just blew another shot at credibility with your crazy talk. You never learn.

@3, no, same shit up here.
We did have squatters in a house that was a center for pervasive petty crime, car break ins, theft. It was on the news a few times. A bunch of people used Next Door to organize the bulk purchase of locking mail boxes.
Other than that, it's pretty tame.

@15: Don't you think though that an uptick in property crime is more likely than the Loch Ness monster existing though? It is not like it is statistically impossible for one type of crime to go up while crime in general goes down.

I looked into it for a moment, and according to the FBI, Seattle experienced a 6% jump in car theft from 2012 to 2013 (a driving force behind going from #3 most property crime in the nation to #1), so it is not like it is impossible. More likely than the Loch Ness monster at least.

Theodore, you misunderstand.

All the data is there on the SPD website, and it shows the Mayor is quite right that crime is way down. The property crime rate is half what it was a couple decades ago. There's no way to read that data as saying anything other than we have much less crime now than a generation ago. All kinds of crime.

And we know homelessness is up. So we have much less crime and many more people on the streets. Given that, *only a loon* would say that the homeless are responsible for what crime we do have. It's backasswards.

The way the paranoid hysterics overcome these inconvenient facts is by pulling straight out of their ass the hypothesis that there is more property crime, but it's *unreported*. That literally more than twice as many crimes are happening but you never hear about it. Totally unfalsifiable! Hence my Bigfoot theory. Maybe the *unreported* crimes are the work of invisible unicorns riding Bigfoots. You can't prove they're not, right?

Of course if things like package thefts are really a major issue, then why is that brick and mortar shop you used to go to gone? Why has online shopping taken off, if everybody's package gets stolen? Does it *look* to you like everyone you know has lost their car stereo and their 66" TV? It looks to me like people's houses are crammed with more stuff than ever. The reason they can't find parking is because the white homeowners of north Seattle *own* more cars than ever.

But maybe there are invisible crime victims too. The Little People have been getting their Little Houses broken into at alarming rates, and they never call the cops, because Little People. You can't prove it's not happening

Murray's point is that he was elected Mayor of the *real* Seattle and the real data say the white people of north Seattle are not experiencing a great increase in crime; they are seeing much, much less crime than in years past, and a small group of online kooks is seeing ghosts and faeries.

@19: Well, your stats are not exactly right, and the interpretation you are using is not really getting at the heart of the matter.

I took your advice and checked the SPD website. The data shows only spans from 2008 to 2015, and it shows roughly 5,000 more reported property crimes during that span.

So while total crime may have dropped overall in the last few decades, a look at a specific data set (the last 7 years) shows a significant uptick in property crimes.

The two statements are not necessarily at odds, and can both be true, which is my point. There could be a total drop in all crime over a long span of time, but there can still be increase of certain types of crimes during that span.

Yes, property crime way up north is so bad most people don't bother reporting the little stuff.
I think this low level stuff should be taken as it is, direct observation. People can be taught by police feedback what is or isn't suspicious and the reporting will get more accurate. Brushing it off, all of it, bad idea. People will take the law into their own hands.
I will say that using Next Door helped the police collect data on the neighborhood discussion of the house in the link. And without neighbors coming together with their paranoid accusations this mound of filth and the criminals that caused it would probably still be there. The police didn't do shit. Criminal squatters have rights in this town. http://www.kiro7.com/news/neighbors-batt…

@8: 16 is right about you. The nextdoor effect on people like you is that you think the people in your bubble are at all representative of the city. Take, for example,

This is why Murray will be a one term mayor.

Back on planet earth, Murray consistently has a favorable rating of around 70% percent. Back on planet earth, a citywide council candidate who served as the mayor's legal council and whose campaign made perfectly clear there was virtually no significant daylight between her and the mayor got almost four times as many votes as her "angry neighborhoods fight back" opponent.

It's a free country, and you're welcome to live in your own bizarre fantasy world. Pretending safe, affluent North Seattle neighborhoods are like Beirut in the 80's seems like an odd choice for a hobby to me, but there's no accounting for taste. If you do choose this route, though, you can't exactly be surprised when no one takes you seriously.

Yeah, take the law into your own hands. That angry white man tantrum shit worked out so well for Cliven Bundy. Maybe you'll get a cell next to his.

Theodore, the website has data going back to 1996. There far less crime now than in 1996 -- and the population has increased significantly. That's why I said *crime rate*. Both the absolute number and the rate per population are down.

The *small* uptick you detect since 2008 all but disappears if you factor in population increase. The *rate* is pretty much flat.

The problem is privileged, entitled white homeowners have an unbelievably low tolerance for nuisances and inconvenience. Police resources should go where the real need is, south side gang and drug violence, not old white people whining about dog poop and abandoned couches.

I can't figure out why these loons don't get a clue from the last election. Seattle obviously supports O'Brien and Murray and the current program of (halfway) trying to help the homeless, rather than some kind of Rudy Guiliani/Mark Sidran "civility" bullshit. If you think paying $700,000 for a house entitles you do some special services from the city, or a certain level of comfort and convenience, you're obviously wrong. Don't like the deal? Go complain to whomever you handed over your $700k to, not me.

Sell your fucking house, move to Bellevue, and leave us alone. The city welcomes people in need far more than you whiny nimby assholes. It's not me alone saying it. The Mayor is saying it, the voters are saying it. Get a clue. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

#8 AND #11 are absolutely true - I live in the aforementioned neighborhoods and it's honestly TRUE that property crimes are up - and yes, because they are unreported. These crime maps mean NOTHING to me because I know that my car has been burgled 3 times in less than year and no, I don't call the police because the contents of my car have been turned inside out and I'm missing two raincoats. Every single person on my block has been burgled on some (lower) level. And #8 is correct that we are infuriated that the term "homeless" is used to describe the addicts who are committing these crimes. Its detracting from the real conversation because as KCTS has recently highlighted, we have a serious f*cking drug epidemic in this city and clearly NO ONE knows what to do about it. And unfortunately we also have neighbors who are very much overreacting and they are the loudest, conservative NIMBY's that Heidi Groover is so obsessed with but the neighborhood is full of compassionate, hard working people who are just tired of having their sh*t stolen, having to be watchful of needles everywhere, and pedophiles living in the parks.

Elvis broke into your car. Elvis is everywhere. He doesn't just need boats, he needs raincoats. I wouldn't report it either if an invisible Elvis stole my raincoats.

It's TRUE because I wrote TRUE in all caps, therefore your argument is invalid.

You should want this in your backyard: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news…

@26: I never said the crime rate was rising, simply that your average person does not care what the crime rate was twenty years ago if they see more property crime happening to them than they did three years ago. Both statements can be factually true.

For example, firearm death rates are at their lowest level since the eighties, but that is little consolation to people living on the south side of Chicago right now. Would you tell them, "Hey, this is not a big deal, firearm deaths are way down since1985!"

Nor am I saying this is not a made up problem by those awful people who hate nuisances. Simply that there can be less crime than there was 20 years ago, AND more crime than there was three years ago. The statements are not necessarily exclusive.

Crime is about the same as it was 3 years ago. That's reality, regardless of the hype.

One of the reasons the police are powerless to solve this "problem" is that it is an imaginary problem. You can't fix what isn't broke.

Don't ask me to weep for a white homeowner whose garage got broken into last year when I'm preoccupied with the family whose child was killed in a drive by.

There is no way to spin this where the north side whiners don't look like ginormous assholes.

Yep, what #31 said 100%. Every time they open their mouths, when taken in context of the needs of the entire city they sound like princesses whining about a pea under their 10+ mattresses while others who go without food or shelter are told by these assholes that they somehow deserve it. And I love how the assumption that the car prowls were the fault of the average homeless Joe that the city's encampments and policies are trying to assist. These f*cking NIMBY's never seem to offer real solutions, only complaints. Shitty privileged attitudes from shitty hothouse flower citizens. Where's the empathy for those who have NOTHING? Broken human beings, and I don't mean the homeless...

@31 the city has been trying to address the issues of crime (especially gangs) in the CD and Rainier for a long time and a lot of money has been spent on it. that issue will always be with us until structural issues of racism & ecomonic justice are addressed.

but how does that preclude another neighborhood asking for basic police response to home break-ins and car crimes? i feel sorry for people who have their stuff stolen and houses broken into. that really sucks when people take your stuff and mess with your house. no matter how rich or poor you are.

Kind of makes those of you who live in shitty neighborhoods with drive-by shootings whish you'd actually done something about it, eh?

The broken windows theory suggests that if you'd cracked down on Erica C. Barnett when she was ripping off grocery stores it wouldn't have escalated to all the murders and mayhem you now get to enjoy.

Stay classy down there!

The broken windows theory is the basis for stop and frisk, mass incarceration and oppressive "civility" laws. Note that Seattle has elected a mayor and council who don't believe in and never ran on that debunked Rudy Guiliani bullshit. Broken windows is why Bill Clinton put 100,000 more cops on the street with a mission to jail people for a decade for holding a dime bag.

Fuck broken windows. Seattle said no to that crap. Move to Bellevue, assholes.

@phunglubungluheadinthesandwaaaahbabybaby, The reported property crimes in the North End are up, and the unreported crimes are a reality. I had a package stolen and didn't bother to report it after the previous reports went nowhere. My friend reported her car being broken into the first time, but not the subsequent three times because they didn't steal enough to make it worth it. My neighbor had so much mail being stolen that she finally had to stop getting it delivered. She stopped reporting it after a while too. It's a really common thing up here. But I guess we should forget it completely since we're not being shot at regularly?

@36

And why did people report crime in 1996 but not now? Are there proportionately more unreported crimes now than in 1996? Why would that be? What changed?

Should you forget it completely? Yes, indeed, you should forget it if it's so unimportant to you that it wasn't even worth reporting. Does it matter to you or not? I can't tell. On the one hand you want the police to do something, but on the other hand you can't even be bothered to make a phone call because it's really not that big a deal to you? Which is it?

Did people in 1996 have vastly more free time to report minor property crimes than now?

Your friend whose car was broken into four times either can't figure out how to lock her car, or how to not to leave valuables sitting on the front seat, or she's got an enemy. She pissed somebody off. Can't imagine why, you all are so warm and charming.

Go through life making enough enemies, and they will fuck with your car, your home, your pets. What comes around goes around. I didn't make that up, everybody with any sense knows it.

Anyways, what do you care what I think?

Your problem is that Seattle's extremely popular mayor doesn't believe your bullshit, nor does District 6's extremely popular council rep. Maybe Burgess believes you but I haven't heard a peep from him. Have you talked to Tim? There's your problem: I'm an anonymous internet smartass, who cares if I mock you? But nobody who matters, nobody in power, gives a shit about you northside nimbys either. Why is that?

First step for you guys: if these crimes are such a big deal, get off your lazy asses and start reporting them. And learn some basic crime prevention if your car gets broken into four fucking times, asshole. Jesus, must have solid wood for brains, am I right?

The Mayor is a door stop of knowledge about crime. The crime is UP. Having a neighborhood forum to talk to each other about it, some how elevates it into view and McMurray has to respond. He responds so eloquently, so absolutely classy with lame ass attacks on the people he's bleeding with daily road tax, err tolls, everywhere.. and NO cops.. not one single cop was to be seen on a non-emergency basis for over one year in our little hysterical area.
My car and truck have been stolen. My bikes, my lawn ornaments, and so has mail.. This dumb ass doesn't even seem to understand what the issue was with the mail carrier. We had a mail carrier completely out of uniform, no ID, no way to know who was sticking their hands in our mail boxes, and carrying a beater black backpack kinda put people on edge, where we have been being ripped off on a regular basis.
What a dick move. Someone needs to take away his toys and send him home...

Yeah, that's true. Mayor Ed Murray sure has raised road taxes really high. Can't argue with that. When is he going to stop? I pay like over $9,000 in road taxes to Murray every year. Is this even legal?

It's bizarre (beyond being politically clueless and tone-deaf) that the mayor would accuse residents concerned about crime of being hysterical, given that just a week earlier, in his state of the city address he said that "many people" have told him that they no longer bother reporting property crimes because they think police won't respond. He also acknowledged that Seattle has one of the highest rates of property crimes in the country.

So for him to then turn around, in response to a blogger's own hysteria about being kicked off NextDoor (which was completely justified, since she was violating the site's rules) and say that Seattleites are hysterical is ridiculous. The reality is that property crime is out of control in some neighborhoods, including Ballard.

And it's not hard to figure out why. Seattle is in the midst of a heroin and meth epidemic. Drug addiction = property crime. Junkies have to feed the monster somehow, and the most messed up among them sure as hell aren't going off to work every day, earning a paycheck to fund their steady supply of black tar. They're doing that by stealing - breaking into cars and homes, ripping off stores and helping themselves to pretty much anything that isn't nailed down, from bikes to packages to mail. (One north Ballard resident looked out her window a while back to see a car driving off with her shed on its roof).

So anyone who thinks property crime isn't up, regardless of what the city's stats might say, either doesn't understand how addiction works or has their head firmly lodged up their ass.

Phungubunga'phunkychicken, Why are you so intent on proving that these crimes aren't happening? ...to the bizarre extent that you'd accuse a friend of making enemies that only want to rifle through her car's glovebox on a weekly basis? For the record she does lock that car and the way they were getting into it was with a key fob cloner so yes, the doors were locked.
The reason that people are so up in arms over this, and at the same time not reporting a lot of it, is because of the frustration. The police don't seem to care much about it and the reports weren't doing much especially when they take up your time and yield no results.