Awesome post, Cienna! Freaking hilarious.

The Pioneer Square Community Association needs to have its ass handed to it, preferably snugly wrapped in the latest issue of Real Change.

Do they not realize that they are trying to discriminate against a legitimate business, on the basis of that business' clientele? Who in the sam hell flippin de Jesus do they think they are?!?!?!

Whatta buncha dicks.

She adds that the community is on "really good terms" with all of the social service providers in the area.

This is the neighborhood association equivalent of "I have black friends".

Be-yotch.

Smith needs to go talk to Harris. I guarantee she'll come out of the meeting wanting to help them move boxes. Harris is a very inspiring speaker, and he's doing good work at Real Change.

Hmmm.... Leslie Smith's comment doesn't change the perception that business owners in the PSCA are a bunch of stuck-up, ignorant WATBs who haven't matured since High School.

Real Change doesn't just happen to employ the poor and homeless. It's a non profit in the business of organizing begging, the apparent entrepreneurial delusions of Mr Harris and his crew notwithstanding.

Solution #1: Real Change needs to open itself in Pioneer Square as an art gallery. They can then employ people to do performance art around the city (which will mostly consist of standing and holding a paper).

Solution #2: Re-brand as the Real Change Football Club. Outfit all vendors with Sounder scarves.

Take on the Whiny Nabobs of Negativity!

@5: Doesn't happen. I've dealt with neighborhood associations since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and Smith is exactly the type of self-serving shriekbeast that populates such orgs to keep everything happening on their terms and nobody else's.

The type that will go up to an elderly neighbor and say "oh, if you can't afford to paint your house in the approved colors of the neighborhood, you should just sell it" with a smile. Or in the case of a couple of kids, "you don't need streetlights, you need a curfew."

Legally the Pioneer Square Community Association can do four things by my estimation and research:

1. Jack.
2. Shit.
3. In theory, they could pressure the prospective landlord from not leasing to Real Change.
4. In theory, they could pressure the prospective property owner to not sell to Real Change.

#3 and #4 if done open the door to lawsuits by Real Change back at them, which they would very likely have pro bono support on, given the massive PR firestorm this would cause. If that happened, the Pioneer Square Community Association is instantly out a LOT of cash in legal fees, even if they somehow won, since Real Change likely lacks the bread to even pay back the PSCA's fees.

#1-2 are far more likely.

Oh, and the City of Seattle & McGinn, and the Council, have as much power to stop Real Change from moving in as they do to stop me from opening a bookstore in the old Elliot Bay Bookstore location, or from my opening a medical clinic there, or from moving into that space as an apartment:

1. Jack
2. Shit

So why the Pioneer Square Community Association went to them is beyond me.

@ #9: Hilarious! And if our "neighbors" in Pioneer Square are so damn nervous about Real Change, mayhaps they should make a real change in their lives and move to a gated community.

I agree, they should move to a gated community.

Maybe GITMO?

The PSCA (piss-ca) is just jealous of all the publicity the Downtown Seattle Association is getting due to having their own Councilmember writing an ordinance for them.

Leslie Smith sounds like Seattle's answer to Sarah Palin.

The interim status of her position should be finalized with an immediate replacement. This is going to be 100% blowback as a PR disaster.

No shit. Opposing Real Change just comes off as total whack...especially from a group supposedly representing the entrepreneurial spirit. You really don't get much more front-line, pull-yourself-up-by your-frayed-shoestrings than Real Change vendors.

I am blown away by the mass amount of ignorance, intolerance and one-up-manship by nearly everyone involved with this story.
1st off I doubt anyone who has commented (or Cienna for that matter) have lived and or worked in Pioneer Square.
2nd Did anyone read the original blog post from thenewP2?
Pioneer Square/Leslie/PSCA are not opposed to what the Real Change does or with them necessarily coming to the neighborhood, what they oppose is the number of social programs already taxing the life out of Pioneer Square. Nearly ALL the social programs are in this neighborhood and unfairly drain the business and residents that are trying to live their lives peacefully and or profitably. This is obvious to anyone after attending just one public safety meeting held by the PSCA.
I "think" I have read that within a 5 block radius of the Real Change that there is a vendor on every corner. That means EVERY corner of Pioneer Square is going to have yet another person "grovelling" for your money. The PSCA and especially Leslie are doing everything they can to get more residents and business to move into the neighborhood and to change the perception that the neighborhood is unsafe. Notice I wrote perception. Yes crime is down, yes the Sounders have brought more people that walk THROUGH the neighborhood but it hasn't changed the perception of Pioneer Square being a neighborhood of transients. It doesn't take much more than a glance at 2nd Ave S after 8 pm to see numerous people sleeping on the streets. We don't want a gated community and a gentrified Occidental Park we want a neighborhood that can show off its historic value to families that don't HAVE to be constantly accosted by homeless people, drug addicts (not that they are the same/some are some aren't), drunks and beggars.
If the Real Change wanted some Real Change they could move to Bellview and make REAL money. The people that do tend to spend any time in Pioneer Square don't live there and tend to treat the neighborhood like a garbage can whether it is for sporting events or to visit the night clubs. If anyone has any REAL suggestions on how to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood, I along with all other www.PSCA.org associates would LOVE to hear your ideas.

Also if you haven't done so you should read or re-read the original post before calling "us" racist or insensitive to the homeless plight.
http://www.thenewpioneersquare.com/real-…

Okay Gconscious, I actually took the time to read your overly long and semi-literate post. Short answer: you're full of shit.

Longer answer: I have lived in PS and currently work there. And if you've read any of the posts here, you'll see that many are from folks who either live(d) and/or work(ed) there. And they think you're full of shit too.

(PS. for the love of English, go take some remedial writing classes. Learn about paragraphs and basic grammar. And it's Bellevue, dipshit.)

Speaking as someone who used to work in Pioneer Square:
The Real Change folks have never sexually harassed me, unlike others in PS.
The Real Change folks are accountable to professional standards, unlike others in PS.
The Real Change folks are actually providing a pretty decent public service (the newspaper), unlike many of the hoity-toity, snotty businesses in the area.
So, y'know - I'll take the Real Change folks any day of the week.

It's that kind of stupidity from the looney left which explains why you ALWAYS lose.

Comparing one person to another person = LUNACY!
Winning the presidency = LOSING!
Republican = GENIUS!