Is all of Portland really this depressingly bad? (Tigard, Adrian: RV park, houses)

[oldtintype]

When you were in CA you must not have visited Berkeley or San Fran.

[scone]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

When you were in CA you must not have visited Berkeley or San Fran.

Wrong. In fact, I used to live in the Bay area, and spent a lot of time in Berkeley and San Francisco. Portland has a serious problem with this issue, and fewer resources to deal with it than the Bay Area.

[oldtintype]

It certainly doesn't have smaller numbers. I'm there regularly and they have an enormous problem. Resources or not it's much more spread out and much more epidemic as well. Unlike Portland though you can totally avoid one of the biggest addict/homeless area and never see any of it (like the Tenderloin). We have it thrown in our face because of the small size of downtown.

There is also a large number of young hustlers/prostitutes in SF who tend to be junkies and/or homeless to the likes we've never seen here.

[Minervah]

I found this article on crime in Portland interesting. It may explain in part why Portland has the specific problems it has in regard to crime. I think as the city grows, law enforcement doesn't so we look worse than other cities.

I want to mention that I don't equate all street people with crime. But it sometimes gets old always running the gauntlet getting past the ones who continually ask for money everyday. I have given them food for them and their pets, but never money.

It was particularly bad way past Old Town where the largest concentration is today. I used to work at 12th and Jefferson. There were abandoned stores and a vacant lot across the street from where I worked. Everyday I literally had to walk over people sleeping in doorways on the sidewalk.

Then a big condo was built and further down the street a huge Safeway with another condo upstairs. Across from that grew a big beautiful condo and a new YWCA. I wonder, where did all those homeless people go after they were moved out when the new buildings were built?

Anyway, here is the URL for the article on crime I mentioned:

Willamette Week | “Manhunter” | July 2nd, 2008

[gypsydoc]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

I think you've simply visited the wrong areas and obviously have a really negative attitude based on those observations. Most of Portland IS clean and friendly, not "desperate and dirty." But obviously you've made up your mind based on visiting areas of Portland that I can't fathom why you went to see anyway. I mean who goes to the trailer parks in the boondocks? It's a shame you didn't start out with a proper tour instead of visiting the worst the city has to offer and then declaring that to be the entire city, because it's not. I laugh thinking of Sellwood, Laurelhurst and some of the other 50 areas you obviously didn't visit.

I've been to DC and Portland is nothing like that. I also find it interesting that you visited the small section of Portland comprised of African Americans and have declared the city to be full of tar shacks like Mississippi. Uhh...kind of off base on about 700 levels.

I again, can't believe you managed to miss the other 90%+ of Portland that is not full of "mentally ill bums and desperate people." But each to his own.
As for the man ripping off his shirt, again, how do you manage to meet those people? I just got back from walking my dog and said Hi to about 10 people and got a pleasant good morning in return. I think your observations are so off base it's actually sad. It's too bad you didn't plan your trip better.

AMEN, and ditto,... Oldtintype, It's like this description of Portland is from another planet. I wish you well... I promise if you should say hello to me, I would not drool or start rending my clothes... When I first read your disappointment and anger about what you had found here, it is a huge puzzlement. It's a shame you didn't prepare better... If you were a member of AAA Travel Club, there are many resources to make for an amazing introduction to Portland. Best wishes for the rest of your journey.

[tawnyfawn]

Don't move here. Maybe you should consider moving somewhere else if you felt so "uncomfortable" and "unsafe". Portland prides itself on being overwhelmingly liberal, thus the progressive standing it has in the nation as far as the Green Movement. This also applies to a very large and tolerated homeless adult/youth population. Yes, yes, ugly things come with that, but it's to be expected. It's a great place but don't believe all the hype. You will be sorely disappointed if you are expecting to move here and shove the place into a little suburban box. That's not what we want and people like you moving here with your noise complaints and whispery calls to the police about suspicious characters lurking on the block mess it up for the rest of us. Move to North Carolina.

[checar]

Originally Posted by tawnyfawn

That's not what we want and people like you moving here with your noise complaints and whispery calls to the police about suspicious characters lurking on the block mess it up for the rest of us. Move to North Carolina.

Huh?
I call the police about loud drunk twenty-somethings at the drop of a hat if it's after 11PM. Never had to do it anywhere else. Suspicious characters lurking on my block? You bet I'm calling the police, and it ain't gonna be whispery.

[swandiver]

I have lived in small and mid-sized cities up and down the east coast so I haven't really seen that many homeless people. Most of them were troubled mentally.

But the amount of homlessness that's being described in Portland (as I plan my move there) can't just be because of drugs and mental illness. It's beginning to make me wonder. It sounds like the only people who are experiencing the benefits of the city are upper middle-class white people who want to show the world how eclectic they are and how cool they are because they're not scared of said homeless.

When I hear about that many people living on the streets, I think a few things: 1) The job market must really suck or they are not spread out very evenly along the skill spectrum. 2)There is a severe lack of affordable housing. 3)That there is severe bias by landlords and management companies against the working poor (Got the money? Well then, let just run that credit. Because we all know nothing improves a credit score like not having a place to live.)

No matter how great or liberal a city claims to be, a large homeless population is a glaring, neon sign indicating a large gap in opportunity between rich and poor.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by swandiver

I have lived in small and mid-sized cities up and down the east coast so I haven't really seen that many homeless people. Most of them were troubled mentally.

First off - what's described on the internet and what actually exists are two different things. If you believed the OP, then there are huge gangs of predatory homeless on every street corner. That just isn't true at all.

Second, the temperate west coast has a different set of attitudes and conditions for the homeless and how they handle them. Look at any larger city on the west coast, where it's possible to actually live outdoors all year long without literally freezing to death, and you'll find the homeless. In the east, south and midwest there is very little tolerance for homelessness, although the rising number of middle class and lower middle class families who are homeless because of the real estate bust has changed that attitude a bit.

Portland's made some attempts to deal with the homeless on their own terms, instead of the "lock them up and make them move along" theory, so it does mean we have what you might call "resident" homeless. Unfortunately there is no one single way to deal with the problem, as people who are homeless are that way for a huge variety of reasons, from temporary financial problems to mental health issues to drugs and combinations thereof.

To generate a set of beliefs about the problem from a distance, based only what what you read on internet forums, is not reasonable, nor is a blanket statement about the attitude of residents toward the problem. See for yourself and then generate an opinion.

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by swandiver

...
No matter how great or liberal a city claims to be, a large homeless population is a glaring, neon sign indicating a large gap in opportunity between rich and poor.

Many are homeless because they choose to be and it has nothing to do with an opportunity gap. I worked with organizations trying to give opportunities to homeless in Dallas and in LA and found most really just wanted a handout and a place to hangout. Too many times I heard the excuse they can't get a job without an phone/address but when given an opportunity to work the honest ones will speak out saying 'there is no way I'm gonna sweat all day long for a lousy thirty bucks'.

It is a problem nationwide but it seems more obvious in Portland because policy and public attitudes allow them to be more of a negative impact.