Re: everyone who says to turn off power.
I know a guy who works as an electrical engineer on the power grid, designing the substations that literally power this country. Getting this info from him directly:
He's never been to Seattle, but judging by the mess of power lines, the city's power structure was likely very poorly planned out. At least in area CHAZ is.
However, regardless of this, so long as everything is up to code, every so often there will be a breaker, which means one can easily remove power from specific sections of the city without disturbing those around it.
Shutting off power and water would be a very simple task in this regard. Alternatively what the NG could do is drop power from all but a small section of the commune, which would effectively force anyone who wanted to charge their electronic devices/locate a vein to shoot up some heroine into a small area, making it very easy to flush them out all at once.
Also consider that there would be no public streetlights in operation. You would still have the glow from the rest of the city, but the insides of buildings would not be a great place to seek shelter, as they would be pitch dark. So such a tactic would be most effective at night.
Generators are always a thing, but in a city like Seattle it's not like they will have the gas to maintain it. It's not like you can just hook a generator up to the fucking power lines, it doesnt work that way. At most they would have the capabilities to charge a couple devices at a time. But that would require organization and a lack of infighting about who gets to charge their phone first.
Situation is stupid as hell and I cannot wait to see it crash in burn on livestream. But given how simple it would be to shut this whole thing down with a flick of a switch, I say let them do what they wa t. Think of it as a child throwing a tantrum. Let the kid exhaust himself before sending them to bed without supper. They will see how horribly this pans out and for a vast majority, it will crush their spirits.
If you lads have any questions about the grid/optics of the power system, let me know. He's very knowledgeable and I dont know enough to ask him the right questions.