Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, March 3, 2009
City Anti-Tourist Hate Crimes Surge in Seattle
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 3:30 PM
Well, that's what I took away from the window displays at the old Adidas store in downtown Seattle...
There are six huge window displays in the empty Adidas begging Seattleites to stop hatin' so hard on the tourists, seeing as tourists pour money into our local economy and create shitloads of jobs—you know, those shit-paying service-industry jobs that are pretty much all we've got left. Do Seattleites need to be cajoled into being nice to tourists? Did I miss a big news story while I was out of town? Are tourists being beaten in the streets of Seattle? Are deranged sit-on-stranger pervs on our buses targeting tourists?
1
its true look at how seattle gets all haughty when tourists want to complete their visit to quaint capitol hill with the traditional sitting on the dan savage
2
i'm nice as pie to tourists, even the cruise ship gapers. this smells like a make-work project at the Chamber of Commerce.
6
Weird. Other than flipping off the ducks and pushing people out of the way at the Market, I've never seen a rude gesture or discouraging word aimed toward tourists in Seattle....
8
Bless them if they want pay $70 for a cab from the airport and spend a week seeing our two or three sights. If they want to move here, they can come by and take a look at my house.
10
Something that's always bothered me is how far does one have to walk away from one's neighborhood before transforming into a tourist?
11
It's not about being nice to tourists, it's about the hotel/motel tax and other revenue generated by tourists being transferred in to the state's general fund and pretty much wiping out the industry's ability to expand. The convention center turns away more business than it says yes to because Seattle ranks in the top ten for desired convention destinations and 48th in convention space. I"m part of the peripheral industry and it has a direct impact on a huge percentage of us.
13
Tourism-related jobs are not solely low-paying service jobs. Many of them pay far more than you pay your staff.
17
It is a make-work project. They did it so the windows wouldn't be glaringly empty on 5th and Pike--that is, the heart of downtown--and to make it look occupied to discourage bums from sleeping in the doorway. I work in the same building and overheard the building manager say this to the office manager.
18
Just as long as they don't start acting like they're in Paris or Bruges, I'll be happy...oh wait. Nevermind.
19
What about the signs that tell tourists to go straight to the Needle, so they can get above the filthy/dangerous streets and see the natural beauty of the area? Starting them off in Westlake/Rainier Square is just going to depress them.
Also, can we get a weekly bus schedule for Dan, so we'll all know where we're sitting?
Also, can we get a weekly bus schedule for Dan, so we'll all know where we're sitting?
21
@9: Yes. You got a problem with bananas?
@10: far enough so that on the way back you have to stop somewhere to buy a souvenir t-shirt.
@11: I suppose we could just build another big box over Pike-Pine the rest of the way down to the waterfront, would that make you happy?
@10: far enough so that on the way back you have to stop somewhere to buy a souvenir t-shirt.
@11: I suppose we could just build another big box over Pike-Pine the rest of the way down to the waterfront, would that make you happy?
23
Seattle residents were lovely when I visited. Except Erica didn't say hey to me when I ran into her in a bar. For serious.
24
@21, actually building another convention space that is the size of the one we currently have over by the paramount and bus station would work out just fine.
28
I'm visiting Seattle for the first time from Boston/Montreal, and I have to say that while your customs are strange, everyone's been super nice to me, wandering around with a map, looking confused. Nothing like Boston.
29
Hell...they built that fucking ugly sky bridge over Pike at the Convention Center (a sky bridge that makes that whole block dark and blocks that grand view coming down Cap Hill) so tourists wouldn't have to be bothered with crossing the street. What more do they want from us?
31
Your an ass Dan...there are shit tons of jobs directly related to the tourist industry that are a bit more than "shit-paying service-industry jobs".
32
I live in Atlanta; I've played tourist in Seattle twice now, and both times, you people were perfectly lovely to me. I even read The Stranger on the bus ride from the airport into town. Genuinely: thanks!
33
@29, considering that you likely have never been to a convention there, nor did you actually pay for it with your tax dollars, maybe you should shut the fuck up.
35
I was at the conference when the city unveiled this campaign. I'm an event planner and coincidentally, I work for one of the businesses featured in those ads as a weekend job. I think the point of these ads is indeed to promote tourism in the city. Tourism is our main industry. Each of those 200+ cruise ships brings $1 million in cash to the city. Those conferences at the convention center (which, btw, is not big enough for most large conferences these days) keep me in business. As well as signage vendors, catering companies, bus companies, photographers, entertainers, bell hops, valets, hotels, maids, etc. So yeah. Be nice to anyone who wants to come here and spend their money. What's so wrong with encouraging that?
36
I'm not sure how many Seattlites actually hang out by the old Adidas---isn't that mostly a tourist audience? Seems like the wrong message in the wrong spot.
I'd think it'd make tourists more aware that Seattlites are shooting mind bullets at them.
I'd think it'd make tourists more aware that Seattlites are shooting mind bullets at them.
38
Dan, there is a piece of legislation in Olympia being put forth right now to allow the Convention Center to greatly expand in size. They are currently only one out of four Convention Centers in the country that operate in the black and reportedly turn away more business than they currently have. However, you know how much those folks in Olympia like to give Seattle the opportunity to expand their Convention Center during a massive recession? Probably not much.
So that's why they are trying to drum up excitement for tourists, because most people barely think about them.
ALSO, I know the tourist center or whatever it's called (those Metronatural people) also want to move their tiny hovel of a tourist office out from under the basement of the Convention Center out onto the street in the Central Business District where an actual tourist might find it. So it may be part of that effort, too. If you have ever been to that little pamphlet hut, you'd see why. It sucks.
So that's why they are trying to drum up excitement for tourists, because most people barely think about them.
ALSO, I know the tourist center or whatever it's called (those Metronatural people) also want to move their tiny hovel of a tourist office out from under the basement of the Convention Center out onto the street in the Central Business District where an actual tourist might find it. So it may be part of that effort, too. If you have ever been to that little pamphlet hut, you'd see why. It sucks.
39
Dan, there are so frequently so many problems with your grammar and editing in your column and your blog, and even your comments on others' blogs. It makes it difficult to comprehend the points that you make. Could I please offer my services? You would not be sorry.
40
@35: Nice is never a problem here in person! We've got too much nice. Both generally, and specifically because the tourists are so unusually well-dressed and not yet depressed.
@37: Thank you.
@38: No idea about actual stats, but my national convention met in Seattle in 2005 in the Westin rather than the Convention Center. (?) Verdict: most crowded convention ever.
@37: Thank you.
@38: No idea about actual stats, but my national convention met in Seattle in 2005 in the Westin rather than the Convention Center. (?) Verdict: most crowded convention ever.
41
Enough with the Convention Center arms race already.
The downtown hotel industry insisted that the Convention Center be put over the freeway to be closer to their customers (instead of by the former Kingdome, which was what the convention industry types wanted because there was more space and much easier loading access) even though they were warned early and often that it would be much harder to expand, so let them reap the whirlwind (and no, I'm not anti tourist, but convention centers are like stadia, and we'll never be able to keep up with the Joneses. Nor should we try).
The downtown hotel industry insisted that the Convention Center be put over the freeway to be closer to their customers (instead of by the former Kingdome, which was what the convention industry types wanted because there was more space and much easier loading access) even though they were warned early and often that it would be much harder to expand, so let them reap the whirlwind (and no, I'm not anti tourist, but convention centers are like stadia, and we'll never be able to keep up with the Joneses. Nor should we try).
42
I only take tourists downtown for one medium sized day. Elliott Bay Books --> Seattle Underground --> Pike Place --> Needle. Really, all they actually give a fuck about is seeing the fish get thrown around.
But we spend a lot of time (and money) at Capital Hill, Fremont and Ballard bars and restaurants...
But we spend a lot of time (and money) at Capital Hill, Fremont and Ballard bars and restaurants...
43
Lloyd @10, I'd like to know too. I don't feel like a tourist in Ballard, usually, but I do in South Park or West Seattle and even the U District these days.
People who hate tourists should spend more time touring themselves. Though I have to say I'm currently a tourist, and the elderly white folks in Vallarta are enough to try even the most patient people in the world. Who in the fuck comes to Mexico and only wants to eat fucking spaghetti?
And all rational people hate cruise ships, no matter how much money they bring in, because of the extraordinarily low quality of humans they transport, and most of all their gazillion tons of human waste, most of which ends up on or in our seafood.
People who hate tourists should spend more time touring themselves. Though I have to say I'm currently a tourist, and the elderly white folks in Vallarta are enough to try even the most patient people in the world. Who in the fuck comes to Mexico and only wants to eat fucking spaghetti?
And all rational people hate cruise ships, no matter how much money they bring in, because of the extraordinarily low quality of humans they transport, and most of all their gazillion tons of human waste, most of which ends up on or in our seafood.
44
@41, except you damn well know that you aren't going to pay for it. A bond will be issued and repayed with hotel tax. This is not like a stadium at all.
45
@44,
Whatever - we'll still be left with a mid-sized facility that won't keep up with the Joneses no matter how many more times we expand it (and the WSC has had its eyes on eastward expansion that would threaten the Elektra Apartments in the past, so there's no reason to believe that they won't look that way again the next time expansion boosters come with their hats in hand).
Whatever - we'll still be left with a mid-sized facility that won't keep up with the Joneses no matter how many more times we expand it (and the WSC has had its eyes on eastward expansion that would threaten the Elektra Apartments in the past, so there's no reason to believe that they won't look that way again the next time expansion boosters come with their hats in hand).
46
@41
That's just it. The hotel motel tax isn't paid for by residents of Seattle. Unless you decide to have a slumber party in the city and stay in a hotel overnight. The convention center operates in the black, doesn't hold the city or state hostage for improvements to it's own building, and feeds the industries where most of us work. By most of us I mean, tech, aerospace, health care, NOT just the service related businesses that support them.
It's absolutely about keeping up with the Jones. But in this case, the keeping up part is a balanced, well thought out proposal that doesn't cost us anything more. Why is this a bad thing again? I mean, I know I'm effected by this, but still...
And Fnarf @ 43. As much as I agree with you that hording masses off of cruise ships are annoying, they're propping up the tourism numbers right now when people elsewhere are shutting their doors. We say it as a mantra at my job, difficult guests are better than no guests. Even the spaghetti tourists that go to Mexico.
The sky won't always be falling. And we won't always have to be scrambling, but when it gets better, we should be ready.
That's just it. The hotel motel tax isn't paid for by residents of Seattle. Unless you decide to have a slumber party in the city and stay in a hotel overnight. The convention center operates in the black, doesn't hold the city or state hostage for improvements to it's own building, and feeds the industries where most of us work. By most of us I mean, tech, aerospace, health care, NOT just the service related businesses that support them.
It's absolutely about keeping up with the Jones. But in this case, the keeping up part is a balanced, well thought out proposal that doesn't cost us anything more. Why is this a bad thing again? I mean, I know I'm effected by this, but still...
And Fnarf @ 43. As much as I agree with you that hording masses off of cruise ships are annoying, they're propping up the tourism numbers right now when people elsewhere are shutting their doors. We say it as a mantra at my job, difficult guests are better than no guests. Even the spaghetti tourists that go to Mexico.
The sky won't always be falling. And we won't always have to be scrambling, but when it gets better, we should be ready.
47
@46: For the most part I agree with you about the convention center. However, if they do expand, it means construction over I-5, and that certainly does cost us.
48
@47 Really? I thought the new expansion would be a block away at the future vacated location of the bus tunnel lot?
49
Let's see. The Pike Place area closes down at 6pm, unless you're a Native American drinking out of a paper bag. In fact, very little of Seattle has foot traffic after dark. Excited about seeing the Boeing assembly plant, I was surprised that the only place nearby that served breakfast was a tavern -- people under 21 must go hungry, I guess. And all the retail clerks seemed freshly stunned, like a halibut which had taken a 22 bullet between the eyes. Plus, at the Bumbershoot festival, some clown took a picture of my wife's ass as she bent over to tie her shoe.
50
Completely off topic: Dan, you are the man! Love you, your column and seeing you on Bill Maher's show, Real Time! Thanks for all you do!
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
Hating People Doesn't Make Them Thinner by Jen Graves
-
Los Angeles Gay Bar Bans Bachelorette Parties Until Marriage Equality Is Attained by David Schmader
-
Fill in the Blank by Grant Brissey
-
This Reminds Me of the Great Calculator Scare of the Late '70s/Early '80s by David Schmader
-
Idiot Tries to Defend Bigoted Anti-Gay-Marriage Preacher on Anderson Cooper by Paul Constant
-
SL Letter of the Day: Putting It In by Dan Savage
-
Six Moms with Too Much Time on Their Hands and a Shitty Website Decide to Fight Gay Superheroes by Paul Constant
-
Why Mayor McGinn's Wife Canceled Her Family's Seattle Times Subscription by Eli Sanders
-
What the Hell Is Wrong With Seattle's Pride Parade? by Dominic Holden
-
Meet the UW "Swagga Suit" by David Schmader
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (50) RSS