Once again - Portland in the news for all the wrong reasons (Wheeler: renters, buying)

[fruityfred11]

Originally Posted by redguard57

I was walking around downtown and NW downtown/slabtown last night circa 8:30-10:30pm, and felt safe. Some homeless. They weren't aggressive. I talked to one of them for a bit, although he was only capable of holding a conversation about 90 seconds before he became unintelligible.

Earlier that day I was in SE side, off of SE Powell and SE 82nd. Lots of homeless appear to have migrated over there. I was shocked how they had camped in the neighborhoods, in some cases right in front of peoples houses. It's clearly driving the existing residents off the wall: https://www.kgw.com/amp/article/news...c-f8fe106818c7

What also surprises me is how it is highly concemtrated in the city limits. City policy must have something to do with it. On the border of Gresham and Portland, it's like crossing into a different country... there are literally camps on the Portland side and not the Gresham side.

It also clearly has to do with Covid, and not "40 years of Democrat governance." I've been spending time in.Portland for 10 years. It was not like this before Covid. Not even close. Homelessness seemed to get worse circa 2016-17 but not like this. I'd peg covid as making it 4-6x worse.

I have honestly lost most of my compassion for these people. They are sick.

And yeah the vandalism. So much worse. Again, something that was a minor nuisance before Covid, now terribly bad.

Sounds like some flimsy rationalizing to me. Covid struck literally every part of the country and few if any other cities have seen the catastrophic collapse that Portland has seen.

[karlsch]

New Portland resident, Timbers employee feels unsafe in city

“Bright told KOIN 6 News that issues with the homeless have gotten so bad, that his wife now wants to take their children and move back to Ohio.”:

https://www.koin.com/news/nobody-doe...nsafe-in-city/

[nadnerb]

Originally Posted by fruityfred11

Sounds like some flimsy rationalizing to me. Covid struck literally every part of the country and few if any other cities have seen the catastrophic collapse that Portland has seen.

LOL Portland’s collapse is so catastrophic that median home prices are now $600k.

[redguard57]

Originally Posted by fruityfred11

Sounds like some flimsy rationalizing to me. Covid struck literally every part of the country and few if any other cities have seen the catastrophic collapse that Portland has seen.

It's not a "catastrophic collapse." People were getting ice cream where I was walking around.

But yes, homelessness and petty vandalism are much worse post-covid. Not sure how either are going to get better.

[EasyBeezy]

Originally Posted by karlsch

New Portland resident, Timbers employee feels unsafe in city

“Bright told KOIN 6 News that issues with the homeless have gotten so bad, that his wife now wants to take their children and move back to Ohio.”:

https://www.koin.com/news/nobody-doe...nsafe-in-city/

They could literally move to Milwaukie, Beaverton, or Happy Valley and their problem would be solved. Moving to Ohio is a little dramatic.

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by EasyBeezy

This Democrat/Republican black and white false dichotomy is a product of a (mostly) right wing media that demonizes the other side and blames them for every problem no matter what. They need their audience to hate the other side, then they feed that hatred. They do this to lock in their viewership, and thus make themselves more attractive to advertisers.

In reality, the solutions to most problems lie with a combination of measures, some which would be considered more right, some would be considered more left. That's common sense. Not just blanket blaming one party or another.

No one in Portland will ever vote for Republicans, because their values don't align with the vast majority of the population. They will vote for moderate Democrats who campaign on common sense solutions to Portland's issues that maintain Portland's spirit of compassion. I suggest that anyone having pipe dreams of Republicans getting elected instead put their energy into supporting moderates of either party instead of simply complaining about the political orientation of the city.

Evidence and experience prove you wrong. The People of Portland do NOT vote for moderates with common sense. The people of Portland are swayed by the most left wing arguments put forth. For example, look at that loony gal that made it through primary and very nearly became mayor. In ANY other city (with exception of Seattle or SF perhaps) she would have been laughed of the stage months prior. For that matter what "common sense" has come from this city council in last decade?

Also - it is false and offensive to claim that it's only the right putting forth a false dichotomy of hatred when Left and Democrats are on a full on fake news, frontal assault of Republicans as racist fascists right now. Hell the demented, pants peeing, old idiot in WH is giving a prime time address to create this very type of hatred tonight.

[EasyBeezy]

That "loony gal" lost by 6 points in the general. That's not "very nearly becoming mayor." In the first round, the mayor was less than a point away from winning outright. It's funny that you mentioned Seattle and SF specifically, because they have also replaced liberal mayors with moderate Democrats in the last few years. Two moderates have recently replaced two liberals on the city council and a third liberal will probably get voted out this November. Evidence and experience apparently are proving me right.

Not false and definitely not offensive. I didn't claim its only the right. I said it was mostly the right wing media. Do you watch or listen to right wing media? I do on occasion, and what I see and hear is mostly obvious emotional manipulation. A lot of yelling, a lot of wild accusations, a lot of grievance, very little policy discussion, and zero proposed solutions to societal problems. It would be nice to see another congenial, problem solving, Ronald Reagan style politician emerge from the right, but those days are long past..... I do think Drazan has a fair chance of winning the Governors race. She's running a clean campaign and the local winds are blowing her direction. Johnson will probably ruin it for her though.

[fruityfred11]

Originally Posted by nadnerb

LOL Portland’s collapse is so catastrophic that median home prices are now $600k.

https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2022...%25%20decrease.

https://www.oregonlive.com/business/...20to%20recover.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/2...eid=9e303fb5a6

https://www.oregonlive.com/homicides/

https://www.koin.com/news/portland/p...ated-exchange/

I can go on, but do you really want to argue that a nearly 400% increase in homicides, 200% increase in shootings, crippling downtown vacancy rate, and now significant exodus of over 10,000+ residents doesn't constitute a massive collapse? And using a still grossly overinflated housing bubble to argue these facts?

When barely half of your own city's residents report that they even feel safe going to their own downtown, you have a major problem. The city is literally an infected, festering open bullet wound right now and you still have folks trying to treat it like it's a paper cut.

[nadnerb]

Originally Posted by fruityfred11

https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2022...%25%20decrease.

https://www.oregonlive.com/business/...20to%20recover.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/2...eid=9e303fb5a6

https://www.oregonlive.com/homicides/

https://www.koin.com/news/portland/p...ated-exchange/

I can go on, but do you really want to argue that a nearly 400% increase in homicides, 200% increase in shootings, crippling downtown vacancy rate, and now significant exodus of over 10,000+ residents doesn't constitute a massive collapse? And using a still grossly overinflated housing bubble to argue these facts?

When barely half of your own city's residents report that they even feel safe going to their own downtown, you have a major problem. The city is literally an infected, festering open bullet wound right now and you still have folks trying to treat it like it's a paper cut.

Yeah, Portland has issues right now and downtown / old town look pretty bad. I was just making fun of your hyperbolic statement. I can’t imagine visiting core neighborhoods like the Pearl, Slabtown, Division/Clinton, Buckman, Laurelhurst, and Sellwood and coming to the conclusion of “wow, this must be what a collapsed city looks like”.

[redguard57]

Originally Posted by fruityfred11

https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2022...%25%20decrease.

https://www.oregonlive.com/business/...20to%20recover.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/2...eid=9e303fb5a6

https://www.oregonlive.com/homicides/

https://www.koin.com/news/portland/p...ated-exchange/

I can go on, but do you really want to argue that a nearly 400% increase in homicides, 200% increase in shootings, crippling downtown vacancy rate, and now significant exodus of over 10,000+ residents doesn't constitute a massive collapse? And using a still grossly overinflated housing bubble to argue these facts?

When barely half of your own city's residents report that they even feel safe going to their own downtown, you have a major problem. The city is literally an infected, festering open bullet wound right now and you still have folks trying to treat it like it's a paper cut.

I'm curious what you think will fix it.