To: Portland (downtown) From: DC Suburbs

[Nell Plotts]

The neighborhood with a lot of organizations that serve the homeless is Old Town, bordered essentially by Burnside, Broadway, 2nd and near the Greyhound station. As those types of areas go across the nation ours is tame. Now and again someone has a bad drug experience or gets off their meds and there is a policing problem.

[Minervah]

Some of the homeless people can be aggressive. It all depends upon why they are homeless. Just be aware of your surroundings and who is near you. Most will take no for an answer when they ask you for money but you may get the occasional persistent person. Unfortunately that may be the one who is on something and can be a bit aggressive. During the many years I worked downtown though, I have only had this happen to me a handful of times.

Also sometimes the younger kids who like to play at being homeless get a bit mouthy. I just either ignore them or just tell them to take a hike. They are usually just being little creeps but again, it isn't something that is often encountered and it really only is something one encounters by being downtown many, many times.