Posted by speckx 5 days ago
Also; Free Ballard! End the century of Seattle tyranny! https://www.seattle.gov/city-archives/exhibits-and-education... (JK, mostly)
Most north Seattle neighborhoods north of Ballard are more affordable to buy in than Ballard. Exceptions being North Beach / Blue Ridge, Windermere, Laurelhurst and similar.
I can’t tell if this is a ‘whoosh’ over my head or what, but saying Laurelhurst is more affordable than just about anywhere besides Medina is wild. They literally had enough sway to have the hospital reroute their flights (it was actually a children’s hospital and they got enough flack about it only this year did they relent [0]).
[0] https://www.kuow.org/health-care/2026-05-08/seattle-children...
When he was young, a year ago, a neighbor saw his family helping him as he fumbled.
And so this neighbor says they cut open a hole in their fence at ground level for him.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Da5pCzqjhx1/ https://www.instagram.com/reel/Da9V4-FOjc_/
So some are appearing to enable this one critter.
Also locally - Seattle - local agencies are celebrating, and sometimes incorporating him into their business, including city sanitation departments spicing up pro social sanitation messages about using garbage cans, claiming Jimothy would want it that way. Some of these messages make less obvious sense than others, IMO.
You might enjoy this satire [0], lengthily titled: "I’m Jimothy, the Short-Spined Raccoon Who Has Taken the Internet by Storm, and the Collective Weight of Your Adoration Is Breaking My Already-Compromised Back"
[0] https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-jimothy-the-short-spi...
So it’s not really a bad thing, IMO.
Homeowners are generally legally liable for anything that occurs on their property, especially if it can affect neighbouring properties to any provable extent.
There are carveouts and exemptions, but that isn’t a magical deflector shield.
So it doesn’t take a huge imagination to see how it could have negative externalities.
I'd also be hesitant to give people the idea that racoons are safe to interact with, even stray cats can be dangerous, but racoons can do much more damage. I feel like the ideal situation is they capture him and find an animal sanctuary away from the public. Wild animals with genetic issues don't usually live a great life
This ideology that all stray animals need to be siphoned up and neutered on the spot is bizarre to me. Sure there is a balance to be struck as you can't have a hundred thousand cats in a small area, but this idea that stray cats and dogs are simply not allowed to exist and reproduce naturally is insane.
These programs aren’t about people feeling good about themselves. The middle ground you suggest IS neutering and spaying all the animals you can find. The more extreme end of control is culls. It isn’t something you can ignore without pretty serious second order effects.
It ends up being pretty grim for the animals and sometimes humans too when stray population isn’t controlled. I’m talking about the conditions these animals end up enduring, not the culling which is its own grim process.
As someone who had to help get a stray cat population under control the ugly way (limited budget in a developing country), I would much rather that strays get fixed before it gets there.
Tolerance(A) = { 100% if A ≠ B; 0% if A → B }
Sprinkle on anything to suit your taste.
I also want to put a bird feeder outside a window we have, but I know that'll mean bird poop on a walkway that other people use
Same with some technology, I want to use X because it seems better but I know that'll mean it won't get the same support as Y so we have to use Y
Or anywhere outside of Seattle, I suppose.
The url is literally popsci.com though so I'm not sure what gp expected.