SEATTLE — Brian Culpepper sat surrounded by tubes of paint and colored markers in his usual spot on the south side of Pine Street on Thursday, his artwork — inspired by comic books, Japanese anime and graffiti — displayed on the side of the building behind him.
He said it broke his heart and made his stomach hurt to see downtown taken over by drug users and others bent on lawlessness. He’s had guys offer to sell him handguns for $100 and recently shooed away a man who had laid out a tarp to hawk what Culpepper assumed were stolen goods.
But in the week since the Seattle Police Department flooded Third Avenue between Pike and Pine streets with officers following two deadly shootings and other incidents of street violence, Culpepper and those who frequent the area said it already feels safer.
