They may come from opposites sides of the political spectrum and occasionally butt heads. But as two respectable, mature radio hosts, they schedule when they butt heads.

KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross joined KTTH’s Todd Herman Show on Friday to debate how Seattle should deal with the homeless crisis.

Seattle’s “loose” approach to heroin, homelessness, and crime

“Now we are loosening up on heroin use,” Herman said. “We are thinking about creating an area where people can go shoot up, legally. We’ve loosened up on RVs &#8212 some are homeless people, but some are RV-based criminal gangs. And on The Jungle, we’ve let that fester forever.”

“I look at it as misplaced compassion on behalf of the citizens of Seattle being leveraged and used by politicians who want power &#8212 people like Ed Murray who want to be seen as a philanthropist,” he said.

Ross wasn’t having any of that.

“I think that’s crazy,” he said. “I hear these conspiracy theories that Ed Murray somehow wants to use poor people for power. I think, actually, we are pretty lucky with politicians we get around here. This is a thankless job for most people. I found myself immediately feeling like a criminal when I decided to run (for office). You don’t get rich this way. It’s not the kind of corruption you have in places like Chicago or New York &#8212 places where I grew up.”

“In terms of the homeless, I think once you’ve provided a reasonable alternative you have every right to sweep through The Jungle, close it up, fence it off,” Ross said. “I would prefer the state Department of Transportation sell the land beneath the right of way to a private company, take the money and put it into schools, refunded it to the people, I don’t care. Maybe put storage lockers under there, thrill rides (sarcastically), I don’t care what they do. Something so regular folks can have use of it, so it doesn’t become a local Afghanistan, which is what it is.”

Does Seattle crack down on crime?

Herman can agree with Ross’ sentiment on The Jungle, but argues there is a reluctance in Seattle to crack down on homelessness, or crimes, or related issues. He asked Ross where that comes from.

“The New Testament, Todd,” Ross replied. But Herman, in turn, wasn’t having any of that.

“The city is not religious, but it is very spiritual,” Ross explained. “There is an element in this town that says it is unfair to kick somebody when they are down. What they don’t like about conservative talk radio, for example, is that in the past they have gone after the least powerful among us &#8212 that being the homeless.”

“Whether they are shooting up or not, or whether they are welfare queens or not &#8212 they still have no power; instead of going after the people with power,” he said. “They don’t want to be in the position of kicking people out and leaving them with nowhere to go. There is a practical reason for that, too – while they’re in The Jungle, they are not in my neighborhood.”

Tent cities

Ross has recently reported on Seattle’s tent city approach. The city has reserved sites for tents to pop up, and RVs to park.

“They’ve set up these temporary tent cities. These, I think, are a bad idea,” Ross said. “Most people who have handled this in other cities, they think these tent cities are a bad idea. You have to either give them bus tickets out of town or find out whatever each individual’s particular problem &#8212 which is different for every person &#8212 and find them housing somehow.”

Herman doesn’t like tent cities, but has another approach.

“We take away that alternative with some firmness &#8212 that firmness is ‘you are not sleeping here tonight.’ Or as you said, putting storage units in The Jungle. And we give them a choice: you will get into a program where you have graduating steps to regain freedom and be productive and serve your soul, or we will store you like meat in a locker, so you are out of our way. We will put you in jail, or we are going to put you in mental treatment.”

“Yikes,” Ross responded. “Who is going to pay for that?”

“We will,” Herman said. “And I think we see a reluctance to take that approach. I wonder if it is ideological. Or if it is not popular to be seen as being cruel when you are just trying to get to the eventual kindness of people coming back into a productive role in their lives.”

But Ross argues that the problem with that stance is that we live in America &#8212 the land of the free.

“Let’s talk about the cases that people have the least sympathy for &#8212 people who are flat out lazy,” Ross said. “Every society is going to have lazy people. In a free society, you have the freedom to be lazy.”

“But they don’t have freedom to be lazy and access my life’s energy, my goods,” Herman quickly responded. “They can’t rip off my house. They don’t get to be my undeclared dependents forever. Because if I get to pay for their life, I get to control their life.”

Listen to the full debate here.