Speaking of the Homeless. (Portland, Eugene: middle-class, house, school)

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

The only panhandlers I see (and I live downtown) tend to congregate at Pioneer Square, in front of the Central Library (though now that the planters around the trees are larger they've moved on) and if you go down by lower Burnside.

I guess you also see people at freeway exits depending where you are.
There are people who sell Sheet Roots around town but I don't consider them panhandlers. The goal of that program is to enable them to sell something in order to MAKE money rather than panhandle for it.

If you think there are a lot of homeless here visit San Francisco sometime!

I have about a 5 block walk from my bus stop to my workplace. For those of you who are familiar with downtown Portland, the route is from 2nd and Taylor to 6th and Taylor. Along Taylor there are vacant buildings and in their doorways are homeless people using the shelter of the overhangs as a place to sleep. There are 2 regular areas where this occurs and several less protected (from the weather) doorways where homeless people often spend the night. There are teenage panhandlers who sit outside Carl's Jr which is on 5th and Taylor every day as well as a guy who stands in front of the crosswalk asking for money.

Along 5th and 6th street, there are benches where homeless people gather asking passersby for money. Near the Rite Aid which is about in the middle of Yamhill and Morrison is where the homeless lady who was written about a while ago here when she died used to sit greeting passersby and collecting food.

A bit further up on around Park and Washington there is a park that has been just about taken over by the homeless. The Unitarian Church up near 12th and Salmon is a hang out for the homeless. On my way to the bus stop going home, on 2nd and Main, I pass through a park on 4th between Main and Salmon across from the Courthouse. During the good summer weather especially late in the day there are many homeless people sleeping on the park benches and next to their meager belongings on the grass.
On my way home the bus goes over an overpass on the Morrison bridge. There was for a time a regular camp set up there with men women two dogs and a kitty. The cops removed them.

I am not judging. I am simply reporting on some of what I see on an almost daily basis. To say as Old Tintype has stated that homeless people are only around Pioneer Square is not correct. I do a lot of walking downtown on my lunch hour and I see this and more. With all due respect OT, the nice residences downtown are not near most of these places so even though you live downtown, you may not see all that happens there. Believe me as one who was very close to being homeless I notice these things.

I used to work next door to "Outside In." They do a great job although they are often threatened with being closed down due to lack of funds. I just hope the jobs are out there for those kids when they learn their trade.

By the way, does anyone know whatever happened to Dignity Village?

[oldtintype]

You're talking mainly about an area that is basically only a few blocks out of Old Town where yes, there are TONS of homeless people because the services are there.

I was responding to the reports of "homeless all over downtown" like there are 30 people on every corner. Not so. There may be homeless people in parts all over downtown but it has been exaggerated extensively apart from the few areas that are popular due to the services provided and the tourist spots where they know people will give them money such as Pioneer Square.

And yes, there's the Outside In kids who probably **** everyone off the most, but need help the most too. I think they're the ones who stand out more than anyone.

I actually moved recently but I used to live at SW 15th and Clay. Hardly a fancy area

[GB1]

I think there's a wide spectrum of homeless kids. Some of 'em come from sexually abused backgrounds, are "throwaways," are gay. Some are mentally ill. Some come from okay homes and just prefer the street life for their own reasons. And all groups are prime targets for predators, as well as at higher risk for drug use and sexually transmitted diseases.

That doesn't please anyone, I know -- not the talk-radio blowhards who paint them as a bunch of bums, nor the social-worker types who see them as eternal victims. But it's true, and they have very different needs and very different reasons for being in the life they live.

Portland actually has more resources for street kids than many other cities, which is a double-edged sword: it does great work providing help for some, at the same time it becomes a magnet for others.

In any case, the "10-year-plan for eradicating homelessness" in Portland is ridiculous hubris and a bunch of verbal antiseptic from a vast network of city bureaus that seems to run on feel-good fumes. LBJ's War on Poverty was 50 years ago and the poor are still among us. Portland may indeed do well at reducing the number of needy on the streets, but stating that a city can somehow eliminate homelessness is as ridiculous as stating it can eliminate poverty. A worthy goal, something to work on, but the forces involved are far greater than any municipality can tackle on its own.

[Maroon197]

Portland is one of my absolute favorite cities in America, and I have to say, I was really troubled on my last visit to see that the street kid/homeless problem downtown was actually worse than during any other past visits. It'd be fine if they kept to themselves, but the street kids were especially vocal and aggressive (not in a dangerous way, just in an obnoxious, harassing way). This last trip I took was also my wife's first visit to the city, and frankly, it's extremely sad to see one of the coolest parts of the PDX area so overrun that it made my wife uncomfortable to the point that it left her with a sour opinion of Portland in general. The city NEEDS to take measures to fix this problem somehow ala Times Square in NYC.

[SeattlitefromNC]

Originally Posted by Maroon197

Portland is one of my absolute favorite cities in America, and I have to say, I was really troubled on my last visit to see that the street kid/homeless problem downtown was actually worse than during any other past visits. It'd be fine if they kept to themselves, but the street kids were especially vocal and aggressive (not in a dangerous way, just in an obnoxious, harassing way). This last trip I took was also my wife's first visit to the city, and frankly, it's extremely sad to see one of the coolest parts of the PDX area so overrun that it made my wife uncomfortable to the point that it left her with a sour opinion of Portland in general. The city NEEDS to take measures to fix this problem somehow ala Times Square in NYC.

I am curious as to why people are so eager to shove the problem of poverty away from their sensitive eyes.

It's not as if Portland has not broadcasted its role in this issue. Gus Van Sant was making movies romanticizing the street kids in the early 90's, for goodness sakes. I have a hard time believing that there are people out there who did not know that Portland has a significant street kid phenomenon, and that this phenomenon has been going on for at least -- AT LEAST -- 20 years.

As for the "aggressive" street kids, I recommend that any of you who believe that they are "aggressive" should spend some time in San Francisco sometime. There, the bums will STEAL your camera and sell it back to you if you try to take pictures in an open area. They violate your personal space with impunity in SF. I found the homeless there to far and away more aggressive and threatening than anyone I'd met before -- in Atlanta, NYC, DC, Chapel Hill (NC), Seattle, AND Portland.

As to moving to a place where you will not see street people, I would think that any urban area has street people ... Portland is just more open about this. But in this area, I'll second the recommendations for Lake Oswego and parts of Vancouver, WA.

[oldtintype]

Yeah, SF and Berkeley have a terrible problem with aggressive panhandlers. That's why when I hear people claim Portland is the worst anywhere I have to laugh. Compared to SF it's nothing. Not that it's a great thing to compare it to but...

[suncat]

Originally Posted by Minervah

With all due respect OT, the nice residences downtown are not near most of these places so even though you live downtown, you may not see all that happens there.

One nice condo building downtown, The Eliot, is sort of surrounded by these problems. It's right across from the "Psycho Safeway;" in fact, it used to BE the "Psycho Safeway," until the old one was torn down and the new one was built. On top of the Safeway is a nice apartment building, Museum Place. That little area has become an odd mix of well-heeled retirees, yuppies, hippies and meth-freaks.

[suncat]

Originally Posted by SeattlitefromNC

It's not as if Portland has not broadcasted its role in this issue. Gus Van Sant was making movies romanticizing the street kids in the early 90's, for goodness sakes. I have a hard time believing that there are people out there who did not know that Portland has a significant street kid phenomenon, and that this phenomenon has been going on for at least -- AT LEAST -- 20 years.

It has been going on a long time, but it is worse now, IMHO. And I may take some flack for saying this, but I think movies like 'Drug Store Cowboy' fed Portland's reputation. More came, word spread some more, and so on.

[suncat]

Originally Posted by Maroon197

The city NEEDS to take measures to fix this problem somehow ala Times Square in NYC.

I agree, but I doubt the city will do anything.

[TechmanOR]

The city council agenda is very welcoming of them, so much that apparently within their community, it's a sought after place for transients to come.
Homeless move easily from Portland to suburbs | KATU.com - Portland, Oregon | News

In my opinion, the law enforcement is quite tolerant of their criminal activity and I would guess it is an attractive point for them.