Not Guilty by Reason of Poverty

….you’re a business owner five years from now who has an applicant whose address is known to you as low income or public housing. Are you going to take a risk on this person, knowing that the city doesn’t punish certain crimes committed by poor people?

With friends on the Seattle City Council, poor people don’t need any enemies, do they? You also have the question of what will happen to businesses in lower income neighborhoods as a result, and what happens when someone gets used to making a living with crime, and what happens when business owners know that petty thieves won’t be punished by the courts—what vigilante justice might occur.

Again, with friends on the Seattle City Council, poor people don’t need any enemies.

Another sad result is that these poor neighborhoods could really benefit from more businesses and more jobs. Now if a business opens and they have their valuables stolen with no recourse, they will likely close or relocate to a place where the rule of law matters. The ones that will be hurt the most will be the poor who are stuck in this neighborhood. Not only will they have fewer job opportunities, but they will have less access to the services that these businesses provide. If only the poor are left in these areas, then the victims of this policy will also likely be poor as well. It breaks my heart how these policies end up hurting the people they claim to help.

In Portland, where the police have done very little to curb the abuses of rioters, many business owners are reporting that their insurance rates have quadrupled, and their new policies do not cover the consequences for civil unrest. Yes, that’s going to leave a mark on the employment prospects for young people in those areas—“Sorry, son, but the money I would have used to hire nice young people like you just went to my insurance agent and the lumberyard so we could put up plywood when the rioters come. Send a note to the city council asking them why they’re not going to enforce the law against rioters.”