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You guys sure do enjoy trying to put a commentator in a box. I've lived in a number of places across this country over the years. Grew up on the South Side of Chicago when it wasn't a sewer as it is today. Lived for a short bit west of Milwaukee. Spent 10 years in the SF Bay Area in the 80's till 93 when we moved to Salt Lake City. That was before the gangs infested the place and before the gender slant attitudes began. Now it's just a drug and traffic mess with air quality in the caliber of Bejing during a number of months of the year. But as usual many of the folks there (and the transplants that have been moving there in droves) pay little attention to.
No offense, but it sounds like blight and misery follow you wherever you go. Please don't move to my town LOL!
Umm the folks on Youtube aren't suggesting, they are visually documents what you can NOT ignore.
Let me just point out that I lived in San Francisco when the Loma Prieta earthquake struck in 1989, and what my family on the east coast was panicking about watching the TV coverage was nothing at all like what happened in my neighborhood, which was basically...nothing. I had a few plants fall of a shelf. That's it. Of course the damage and devastation was real, but when that's ALL you show, people don't always realize it's not representative of the entire city, just like the coverage of the Portland BLM riots, which were confined to a very small area of downtown, had Fox News claiming Portland was more dangerous than Afghanistan. Ludicrous.
My best friends have lived in Portland for over 20 years in the inner SE, and my son has lived in NE for 5 years, and none of them experience anything that isn't found in almost ALL large cities.
Portland's not my choice of place to live, but I live a couple hours north in WA and am visiting my son and my friends this weekend, and looking forward to it.
Well, I just got back from visiting my son and some old friends in Portland. I spent the weekend in parts of NE and the Belmont-Hawthorne area, my usual haunts when I visit.
I saw exactly ONE small homeless encampment when I got off I-5 and was heading to NE Sandy Blvd. There looked to be about 6-8 tents/tarps in a vacant corner lot.
Didn't see any homeless people the rest of the weekend, and because the weather was nice, I did a lot of walking, including 3/4 a mile to and from a restaurant with my son last night from my hotel in NE.
This is what I was trying to explain in my earlier post. You can look at videos of concentrated homeless people all you want, but it's a mistake to extrapolate those scenes to the entire city. Those videos are produced by people who are trying to influence people to think Portland is something it is not. There are certainly more homeless people than I encountered in 2 days. But the entire city isn't full of people living on the streets. No doubt, Portland has some real problems. So do most cities.
As far as people leaving WA, OR, and CA, that is simply incorrect. In the last census those states' populations grew by 14.6%, 10.6%, and 6.1%, respectively.
Well, I just got back from visiting my son and some old friends in Portland. I spent the weekend in parts of NE and the Belmont-Hawthorne area, my usual haunts when I visit.
I saw exactly ONE small homeless encampment when I got off I-5 and was heading to NE Sandy Blvd. There looked to be about 6-8 tents/tarps in a vacant corner lot.
Didn't see any homeless people the rest of the weekend, and because the weather was nice, I did a lot of walking, including 3/4 a mile to and from a restaurant with my son last night from my hotel in NE.
This is what I was trying to explain in my earlier post. You can look at videos of concentrated homeless people all you want, but it's a mistake to extrapolate those scenes to the entire city. Those videos are produced by people who are trying to influence people to think Portland is something it is not. There are certainly more homeless people than I encountered in 2 days. But the entire city isn't full of people living on the streets. No doubt, Portland has some real problems. So do most cities.
As far as people leaving WA, OR, and CA, that is simply incorrect. In the last census those states' populations grew by 14.6%, 10.6%, and 6.1%, respectively.
It's no secret that Portland has a large number of homeless people, what isn't so widely acknowledged is that homelessness doesn't have such a strong political bent as much as it is a mirror of all that we have neglected to address in the past. I can't imagine thinking that these homeless folks are coming from great social and economical backgrounds, they aren't the sons and daughters of the wealthy, no, they are the result of decades of social neglect, beginning with a profound poverty, a broken foster care system, broken veterans, and, that ever present companion to suffering, drug addiction.
We still go to the near in neighborhoods to walk and have lunch or dinner, so it pains me to think that some of the rural dwellers come here to complain about the city they never visit, or worse, come here to see the circus of neglect and then return to the sticks with all manner of horror stories meant to support their political bias. Looking at the city this weekend I was struck by the widespread street activity, people walking everywhere, it was unusually warm so it was no surprise that tens of thousands of Portlanders were out and about. But then again, I don't live in fear in a rural fortress surrounded by conservative talk radio or TV.
Well, I just got back from visiting my son and some old friends in Portland. I spent the weekend in parts of NE and the Belmont-Hawthorne area, my usual haunts when I visit.
I saw exactly ONE small homeless encampment when I got off I-5 and was heading to NE Sandy Blvd. There looked to be about 6-8 tents/tarps in a vacant corner lot.
Didn't see any homeless people the rest of the weekend, and because the weather was nice, I did a lot of walking, including 3/4 a mile to and from a restaurant with my son last night from my hotel in NE.
This is what I was trying to explain in my earlier post. You can look at videos of concentrated homeless people all you want, but it's a mistake to extrapolate those scenes to the entire city. Those videos are produced by people who are trying to influence people to think Portland is something it is not. There are certainly more homeless people than I encountered in 2 days. But the entire city isn't full of people living on the streets. No doubt, Portland has some real problems. So do most cities.
As far as people leaving WA, OR, and CA, that is simply incorrect. In the last census those states' populations grew by 14.6%, 10.6%, and 6.1%, respectively.
When covid finally began to subside, the city has started shuffling them around. I expect this to ramp up and continue. They'll sweep them in a big game of musical chairs for years. They're not gone, they're just moved. It took a while, but there was only so long that all these yuppies with 800k home values were going to put up with all this crap.
It was so bad for a while because the city stopped functioning due to covid. Not only was Oregon one of the most locked down states, Portland proper took covid EXTREMELY seriously to an obsessive anal-retentive degree, in many cases voluntarily. I mean people would run away from you if you weren't wearing a mask, like you were the chupacabra. It still is probably one of if not the most masked up cities in the country right now. The effect of this on the city streets was to de facto abandon them for over year. Covid + the protests caused the police to practically stop operating... the police basically don't work anymore unless they have to, and are now severely short of officers. The first thing cut was anti-homeless enforcement, so the homeless adversely possessed the streets.
Not kidding - California is much more lax on covid than Oregon is, and Portland is more anal even by Oregon's anal standards.
I started noticing getting better circa May-June 2021, a little worse with the Delta surge, but now that people are getting used to that, getting better again. It will eventually recover.
Maybe you should use your time for something productive instead of being judgmental.
Everyone judges. You are judging the person who you responded to. Do you feel superior to them because you have a different view?
I know some people that moved to Pittsburgh from Portland and they all say the same thing. It isn't a very good place to be anymore. Personally, I don't care how people live or whatever. If you don't like a place you move. If you do, you stay.
I would imagine there are very nice places there. Has to be, but they probably are expensive just like most cities.
Well, I just got back from visiting my son and some old friends in Portland. I spent the weekend in parts of NE and the Belmont-Hawthorne area, my usual haunts when I visit.
I saw exactly ONE small homeless encampment when I got off I-5 and was heading to NE Sandy Blvd. There looked to be about 6-8 tents/tarps in a vacant corner lot.
Didn't see any homeless people the rest of the weekend, and because the weather was nice, I did a lot of walking, including 3/4 a mile to and from a restaurant with my son last night from my hotel in NE.
This is what I was trying to explain in my earlier post. You can look at videos of concentrated homeless people all you want, but it's a mistake to extrapolate those scenes to the entire city. Those videos are produced by people who are trying to influence people to think Portland is something it is not. There are certainly more homeless people than I encountered in 2 days. But the entire city isn't full of people living on the streets. No doubt, Portland has some real problems. So do most cities.
As far as people leaving WA, OR, and CA, that is simply incorrect. In the last census those states' populations grew by 14.6%, 10.6%, and 6.1%, respectively.
Was that the homeless camp that is at the N. Lombard on-ramp onto I-5? That isn't 6-8 tents though--they take up the *entire* grassy area of the on-ramp circle. There are other huge homeless camps too ( and you likely didn't see them, but they're still there. ) I drive for a living ( around the Portland metro area ) so I see them all day long.
They also take up about a 2 mi stretch of NE 11th, 12th and 13th Ave. Another huge one one NE 122nd Ave near the Ron Tonkin dealerships. They're underneath all of the bridges, and even in some cases ( such as streets that run off of Burnside St, ) they sit literally right across the street ( or alongside a homeowners front yard chain link fence ) of houses. There used to be one about 3 miles long, just west of the I-205 bridge near the storage facility there, but that was the first place the city attacked to get it cleaned up about 2 months ago, I noticed.
As others have stated, the city appears to be starting to clean them up, but they're not vanishing--they're just moving to another area to set up camp. The housing prices here have skyrocketed like crazy ( particularly the last 5 yrs; hence when the homelessness began to spiral out of control, ) and you think it's bad now, wait until the housing bubble bursts again....
I agree with you, people aren't moving away from here, if anything, more people are moving in ( which only drives up the costs here, even more. )
When covid finally began to subside, the city has started shuffling them around. I expect this to ramp up and continue. They'll sweep them in a big game of musical chairs for years. They're not gone, they're just moved. It took a while, but there was only so long that all these yuppies with 800k home values were going to put up with all this crap.
It was so bad for a while because the city stopped functioning due to covid. Not only was Oregon one of the most locked down states, Portland proper took covid EXTREMELY seriously to an obsessive anal-retentive degree, in many cases voluntarily. I mean people would run away from you if you weren't wearing a mask, like you were the chupacabra. It still is probably one of if not the most masked up cities in the country right now. The effect of this on the city streets was to de facto abandon them for over year. Covid + the protests caused the police to practically stop operating... the police basically don't work anymore unless they have to, and are now severely short of officers. The first thing cut was anti-homeless enforcement, so the homeless adversely possessed the streets.
Not kidding - California is much more lax on covid than Oregon is, and Portland is more anal even by Oregon's anal standards.
I started noticing getting better circa May-June 2021, a little worse with the Delta surge, but now that people are getting used to that, getting better again. It will eventually recover.
In what ways is CA more lax on covid, than OR is? Everywhere you go in OR, they have signs that clearly read "Masks required upon entry" ( or something to that effect, ) but no business is enforcing it.
As far as the police not working, true, covid made it worse, but the Portland police dept was always crap. Even in the mid 80's, a coworker I work with now, owned a Plaid Pantry store in Portland, and he told me back in the mid 80's, it got broken into and/or robbed 4x in one year--twice, they left bloody fingerprints everywhere ( from breaking the glass, ) and each time he called the Portland police, they never even responded--they just sent him a claim letter to fill out of what he had damaged/missing, that he was required to send it in, and of course, heard nothing from them after he did.
Even now, their stunts they pull are crap. Ever drive down NE Airport Way between I-205 and the airport itself? Look how often they have a running police vehicle there ( faking people they are checking for radar--with nobody in the car ) that is running 24/7. I work about a mile from it, and drive by it daily, at least 6 days a week, and the cars sit there running, burning up gas, guess what, all on the Portland taxpayer dime....
I'm not for defunding the police, but *those* stunts, needs to be defunded...
In what ways is CA more lax on covid, than OR is? Everywhere you go in OR, they have signs that clearly read "Masks required upon entry" ( or something to that effect, ) but no business is enforcing it.
As far as the police not working, true, covid made it worse, but the Portland police dept was always crap. Even in the mid 80's, a coworker I work with now, owned a Plaid Pantry store in Portland, and he told me back in the mid 80's, it got broken into and/or robbed 4x in one year--twice, they left bloody fingerprints everywhere ( from breaking the glass, ) and each time he called the Portland police, they never even responded--they just sent him a claim letter to fill out of what he had damaged/missing, that he was required to send it in, and of course, heard nothing from them after he did.
Even now, their stunts they pull are crap. Ever drive down NE Airport Way between I-205 and the airport itself? Look how often they have a running police vehicle there ( faking people they are checking for radar--with nobody in the car ) that is running 24/7. I work about a mile from it, and drive by it daily, at least 6 days a week, and the cars sit there running, burning up gas, guess what, all on the Portland taxpayer dime....
I'm not for defunding the police, but *those* stunts, needs to be defunded...
Empty cop cars sitting on roadside is a very cost effective, safe way to slow down traffic. Most cities do it.
As far as break ins, what are cops supposed to do? There is a misconception as to what police can and cannot realistically do. There is likely little that can be done once the individual shop/home has been broken into. This is why good states like TX and FL have strong self protection and property protection laws. Individuals and owners must have legal right to do whatever is necessary to protect their life and livelihood including making sure bad guys no they could DIE breaking law.
Even now, their stunts they pull are crap. Ever drive down NE Airport Way between I-205 and the airport itself? Look how often they have a running police vehicle there ( faking people they are checking for radar--with nobody in the car ) that is running 24/7. I work about a mile from it, and drive by it daily, at least 6 days a week, and the cars sit there running, burning up gas, guess what, all on the Portland taxpayer dime....
I'm not for defunding the police, but *those* stunts, needs to be defunded...
I've seen plenty of places park police cars in strategic spots to slow traffic but never seen one left running. What would be the purpose of leaving the engine running, and do you know this for certain?
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What would be the purpose of leaving the engine running, and do you know this for certain?
