U.S. News
Iconic Seattle Fish Market Closes Amid Surging Crime and Homelessness
Clear Facts:
- Seattle’s landmark Mutual Fish market is shutting down after 77 years due to rising crime and homelessness.
- Home invasions targeting Asian families and increasing crime against businesses have raised concerns among the city’s residents.
- Since the controversial decision to defund the police in 2020, Seattle has witnessed a significant spike in crime rates, with over 600 officers departing the force.
In a sad reflection of the times, Seattle’s iconic Mutual Fish market is bidding farewell after 77 illustrious years, a closure driven by an unsettling increase in crime and the persistent issue of homelessness.
Mutual Fish has been a beacon in the Seattle seafood scene, its pioneering spirit “inspired generations of professional chefs and home cooks,” as Eater Seattle highlighted. Yet, its doors will forever shut this month.
Operator Harry Yoshimura’s decision, though abrupt, is rooted in deep concerns. Describing the volatile environment, Yoshimura stated, “There’s more homeless people around and things like that. People getting shot up the street up there.”
He lamented over the grim developments in the vicinity, particularly violent crimes victimizing Asian Americans in their South Seattle residences. “Beacon Hill is real bad now,” he remarked.
Backing his concern, the Seattle Police Department recently reported multiple home invasion-style robberies aimed at Asian families in the area. They believe a group of three to seven young black men is responsible for 14 incidents since June.
#EXCLUSIVE: After nearly two weeks, still no arrests of the black teens involved in a violent stun gun robbery targeting an Asian American man in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood.
I spoke exclusively to 57 year old Dat Cao, a Vietnamese immigrant who is sick and tired of… pic.twitter.com/kUXnDf7vN9— Jonathan Choe Journalist (Seattle) (@choeshow) September 5, 2023
Residents’ patience with city leadership seems to have worn thin, especially with council representative Tammy Morales, with many accusing her of absence during the crisis. Fellow council member, Sarah Nelson, didn’t mince words, publicly criticizing Morales and stressing the importance of the upcoming vote.
She emphasized, “I need at least four strong, compassionate pro-public safety allies on city council because it takes five votes to get anything done. I need backup. Otherwise, nothing is going to happen, nothing is going to change.”
The pandemic’s aftermath added to Mutual Fish’s woes, with the labor shortage and forced closures severely impacting businesses.
Reflecting on the past, Yoshimura observed to Fox 13, “Pre-covid you know, all the good chefs were around, and we knew them all… It was a real happy community. You have a lot of small restaurants opening up, but a lot of the major restaurants, it’s real hard for them at the moment. Because in the evening, there’s not much traffic downtown.”
The fish market’s neighborhood, Rainier Avenue, has turned into a hotbed for crime since the 1960s, resulting in the shuttering of many businesses.
Following these closures, these empty structures have tragically followed the same fate: being occupied by vagrants, burning down, an encampment forming, and eventual eviction by landlords. A notable business succumbing to this wave was 7-11, which has been discreetly closing outlets across Seattle.
Additionally, Bartell Drugs recently closed its last 24-hour drug store in the city, marking its sixth closure in recent years.
Escalating crime and retail theft are pinpointed as the primary culprits behind these closures. This disturbing trend draws eerie parallels to San Francisco, which has also witnessed a massive business exodus.
Recent statistics add to the city’s woes. Last week, Seattle’s homicides for the current year exceeded the entirety of 2022. Notably, the first half of the year saw a 7% rise in homicides, placing Seattle among the top 10 cities experiencing such an increase.
Crime rates in Seattle have alarmingly surged since 2020, an aftermath of the council’s controversial move to defund the police. Over 600 officers have since departed, leaving the force ill-equipped to handle the city’s size, especially during large events.
We want to know what you think! Share your thoughts in the comments below.
A Clear-eyed Patriot
September 16, 2023 at 8:48 pm
When you want to defund the police, be careful what you wish for, you may live to regret it. Better to have increased funding to the police for the training necessary to bring about the changes about which they are being criticized. Then, allocate funding for on-the-beat officers especially trained to deal with situations that are not violent in nature. Now, you have neither.
Ephraim Ponce
September 21, 2023 at 7:46 am
The left wing wants a revolution. It wants things to get so bad that it can take over. It IS taking over. Defunding the police was stupid policy then, and is stupid policy now. Criminals don’t get dew eyed with sentiment, they don’t take a reduced police force as a call to clean up their acts. They take it exactly as you would expect them to. Don’t hold criminals? Don’t arrest them? Why should they stop? It’s what they know, and without consequences, there is no reason for them to ease off. That is what the left wants. That is what they wanted during the riots of 2020, when a Nazi created group, BLM, became a new violent criminal organization. I saw it first hand in New York. In the 1970s and 1980s, crime was out of control. After eight years of Guiliani and twelve of Bloomberg, the city became the safest large city in the United States. Under DisGracio, it went right back where it had been before them. And it is minorities that really pay the price. It is minority neighborhoods that get dangerous, it is minority neighborhoods where legitimate businesses flee, as is happening in San Francisco, Seattle, and everywhere else the left wing is in charge.
In the 1950s, the right wing saw communists everywhere. They did not focus on communists, they focused on anyone who had a conscience. Liberals were lumped in with Marxists, and they still are today. to the right wing. But now it really IS Marxism on the rise, and they are stripping people of all of their rights, starting with freedom of speech. The right wing in their tired worn propaganda continue to call these people liberal, when they are as ILliberal and regressive, in fact retrogressive, as it is possible to be. THEY ARE MARXISTS! They follow the Marxist playbook. Marxists call themselves progressives, but they deal from a strictly us vs them mentality. If you are “us” you can do no wrong, if you are “them” you can do no right. Traditionally it was focused on capital vs labor. But with billionaires in the drivers’ seats now, that will not work. But it is still ‘us vs them.’ And these party line hacks don’t want the police because they don’t WANT crime to decrease, and those who keep voting for these 5th columnists are voting for what is going on in this article.
Samson
September 21, 2023 at 8:02 am
The Liberals still haven’t learned their lesson, they still vote for stinking Democrats and then this is what you get. Every blue City is a sewer because of Democrats. All you have to do is take one look around. And believe me we know we lived in a blue state for 64 years and moved to a red State and it’s like a breath of fresh air of freedom.
Challange
September 21, 2023 at 8:41 am
If you think it’s Bad in Seattle…..Asian Tourist in Hawaii have been getting Mugged and robbed in Hotel elevators and in broad daylight on Golf courses by local thugs for the Past 30 years !!!! The reason???? Easy pickings…..Asians a small, and usually carry cash and have expensive Jewelry and are unarmed…..This situation is a Product of Under Funding Protective Police (Another Liberal Democrat Nightmare Program) !!!! Solution: PACK HEAT !!!!
David
September 21, 2023 at 10:16 am
I’d love to knownyoshimuras voting preference, political party affiliation. Did he bring it on himself?
Mr. Whisard
September 21, 2023 at 8:12 am
When are these people going to get the hint. Defund the police and
Then your community goes to s$@t. The entire
state of California as an example. Wakey wakey.
David
September 21, 2023 at 10:21 am
He’s doing exactly what they want by closing the business. Thank you for helping the government weaponize food and bring in the starvation phase.
Shelba Herring
September 22, 2023 at 12:46 am
When cities defund the police they get exactly what they don’t want, don’t want but what they deserve for being stupid demonRAT voters.