Survey of Street People in Seattle

The Pacific Northwest; where business and social awareness are drip brewed into the culture. Is it possible for a region of our country where Board Room discussions include balancing market share with global impact that all social ills are resolved on the way to riches from corporate dividend payments and green investing? The agents of Street-people.com http://www.street-people.com will visit the Pacific Northwest touring Seattle & Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon to see if the end result of all that high end coffee are towns so wound up that they have solve the social problem of panhandlers or they just have bums who need $4 for a double espresso instead of $.99 for a cup of coffee.

"Our road trips have become very popular with our readers and we receive a lot of response from fans of the site" commented one of the founders. Teams of agents have visited various cities including Nashville, Boston, New Orleans, Atlanta, New York, and Hartford. The website was created by two downtown office workers in Memphis, TN and has developed a strange collection of followers. The site creators have been the guests of students during college football weekends during which the students held a Bum Olympics inspired by the site, sorority girls hoisted banners for their favorite site on Good Morning America and the creators have been offered monthly columns by magazines in Dallas, Memphis and San Francisco.

"Being panhandled is something everyone that lives in a city understands. Our site is an outlet for that part of our culture showing that some people really need aid and others are just scam artist." Under the banner of The Online Home for the Homeless, without the urine smell, the site features a gallery of homeless people complete with photos and stories. Past interviews include Ray, King of the Singing Bums, to "Wheelchair Will" who uses a wheelchair as a prop to garner more handfuls of change from passersby.

The stories come from official agents who search out street people to learn more about their culture and special agents who earn code names by submitting stories to the site. The site has been featured on news programs, radio and magazines and was named one of the Top Ten radio interviews in 2008. "We feel the site uses satire to talk about this social phenomenon and we plan to have an interesting visit." added the founders.

We are looking for tales and stories from residents to include in our survey of Seattle street people culture. Do you see the same street people all the time? What do they say to try and get you to part with change or a dollar?