Maybe I missed it. I haven’t heard anything from Mayor Keith Wilson or our esteemed City Council members regarding the Aug. 25 stabbing of a 44-year-old man who intervened in an altercation outside Portland’s Central Library less than two months after another man was shot and killed there. The incident has evoked the wrath of Portland Metro Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Andrew Hoan and police accountability activist, Teressa Raiford, the founder of Don’t Shoot PDX. As you can imagine, their concerns differ. One politician did weigh in. Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson decried Hoan’s criticism of the county’s and PPB’s ineffective stewardship of a once-thriving institution (our Central Library!) in the heart of what was less than a decade ago a short list candidate for America’s greatest city as an underhanded attempt to “politicize” the matter rather than “problem solve” it. At least, Vega Pederson acknowledges a problem. So, we got that going for us, which is nice.
It's reported that the victim was attacked by two men and a woman. He was stabbed multiple times and beaten with skateboards over the head and torso. He is quoted as saying, “Are you really going to stab me over this?” just before the attack began. In hindsight, we know the answer. Given the mess that our once-great city has become, I’m curious how many “hindsight” moments we’re going to need before we act with foresight. I’m curious, too, in the face of the brazen and, let’s be honest, systemic crime on our streets that the mayor and City Council have remained silent. I have a rather simple set of questions for them:
Is city government in agreement that Portland has a significant crime problem?
If so, where in its priorities does crime reduction stand?
Assuming that it is on someone’s list of priorities, what, exactly, is the city’s strategy to eradicate it?
Hint, Mr. Mayor and esteemed council members: Portland ranks second, behind only Memphis, for the highest property crime per capita ratio for all major American cities. A 2024 Security.org analysis of FBI data ranks Portland as second among the nation’s top 30 most populous cities in violent crime, as well. The Oregon Crime Victims Survey of 2024 indicates that our crime statistics are worse than those shown in the official data due to significant underreporting from a population frustrated that nothing will be done anyway.
Second.
Portland.
Apparently, our beloved City Council doesn’t believe that their underfunding of our police force is a contributing factor here. The national average for police staffing is 2.4 for every 1,000 residents. Portland comes in at 1.3. Response times are abysmal, on average more than doubling (from 8 to 16.4 minutes) from 2016 to 2022, significantly higher than the national average. (I was physically attacked in 2022. The police responded to my 911 call and incident report TWO DAYS LATER.) There are whole classes of property crimes to which the police no longer respond. The workload on our police officers is beyond the pale. Overtime is rampant. Fatigue, stress and morale issues are at extreme levels. (I expect pushback here. Recent stats show a significant drop in violent crime. Riddle me this, Batman: Why did Meals on Wheels just announce a suspension of deliveries downtown due to safety concerns for their volunteers? Why is Nordstrom considering closing its flagship downtown store? Why is the Ritz-Carlton building in economic peril?)
When faced with this dismal data and economic outlook, the city that legalized hard drugs on the street, expanded its governing body by a whopping 300% at the expense of fundamental municipal services, diluted key democratic principles like one vote for one candidate, and recently announced plans to send its City Council members and some staff to Austria (which I understand is lovely in the fall) on a fact-finding trip regarding homeless strategies, has deemed spending on crime enforcement the wrong direction to pursue. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear them voice support for Don’t Shoot PDX’s Raiford’s assertion that the real affront in the recent stabling incident was the police overreaction. I mean, the victim lived, right? These fine young people, one of whom recently stabbed an innocent man (who had the audacity to come to another’s aid) three times, were not treated with the dignity they deserve. I mean, c’mon, they’re almost kids. We all did stuff like that.
Wow.
One of the reasons that an unhinged aspiring dictator sits in the Oval Office, lest you misconstrue my perspective, is the confusion and anger from decent, law-abiding (I can see some eyes rolling here) citizens frustrated at the lack of pragmatic policy and fundamental leadership in the face of a crisis rather than the ideologically rooted inaction played out in our city governments. (Careful Joe, a voice in my head says, speaking up is a good strategy to ensure you are banned from ever speaking up again. Sad, isn’t it, that I have to say this? For all who would cancel me, I come in peace. I seek dialogue not invective. Convince me that I’m wrong rather than excoriate me out of existence.)
The problem that a generally progressive city like Portland has with a megalomaniac POTUS like Trump is that we reject anything and everything that he proposes or initiates. The idea of collaborating (an interesting term for students of the French resistance) with the current administration repulses us. Trump is an ego-driven wannabe monarch with no values, no spiritual underpinnings, no allegiance to the constitution and the institutions that, cue the eye rolls, make our nation great and the destination for the worlds downtrodden. He could not care less about our streets. Many of his followers know this. They manipulate him because if there is one thing Trump isn’t afraid to do is to act fast (and irresponsibly) if it brings him applause and followers. The guy’s a whore for attention (no disrespect for prostitutes; it’s hard to take a position these days without moving into someone’s cancel territory).
Mr. Mayor, City Council. Manipulate Trump to help us deliver Portland safe streets, vital merchants and community neighborhoods, and get the bad guys off our streets. Request the presence of federal forces under the following conditions:
They work at the behest of Portland City and Police officials.
Their mission is to augment an overworked and underserved police force.
A fixed term engagement (let’s say three months) is put in place.
Extending that engagement, should it be proposed, is decided solely by the Portland electorate (details TBD).
Portland will not be burdened with the cost of this collaboration.
Federal officers will not work in separate units from the police. They will not have their own reporting and command structure.
Federal officers will abide by PPB policies and guidelines.
Federal officers are not to be used for homeless/mental health/drug enforcement activities UNLESS a crime is in commission.
Federal officers are not to be used for ICE enforcement.
The key metrics of their effectiveness will be to get crime rates, response times, and police morale to best in class as compared to other major American cities.
The collaboration can be ended if any of the conditions are violated.
Trump is a checkers player, if that. Let’s play chess. Use the Taoist approach. Instead of resisting an attacker, yield to its force, guiding its direction and energy to an outcome that one desires. Put the ball in Trump’s court before he puts it in ours. Agree with him that crime is a significant issue. It is, right? Agree to having federal augmentation in support of a police force that is seriously underfunded, doing its best to keep Portland safe. Set the terms and conditions for this using the above as a framework.
Ridiculously naïve? Yeah, probably. Risky to allow those who don’t share our values to cross our political firewall? Yes. Will Trump agree? Probably not. If he did agree, would he honor the conditions? Unlikely.
But doing nothing is not acceptable. The crime issue is real. The need for action to eradicate it is not only valid, it is critical. Portland is in Trump’s crosshairs. Let’s avoid the ground zero approach that occurred the last time the right and left duked it out on our streets and put Portland on the path to decline from which it is still struggling to recover. Putting our heads in the sand won’t solve anything. Will Trump satisfy his addiction for power and adulation by helping a blue city recover from its self-inflicted wounds? He just might. Who cares? Let him have his petty victories. We’ll know what really happened.
Of course, there’s another alternative. A modest proposal, if I might: Make crime eradication a top priority. Fund our police force. Enforce the laws. Make our streets (and libraries) safe, vital and vibrant.
‘Cuz, here’s the thing. Once you agree that a problem exists, it kinda follows that you do something about it. So, I ask again, Mr. Mayor and Esteemed City Council members:
Does Portland have a significant crime problem?
If you answer yes, DO SOMETHING NOW.
If you answer no, either resign or face a recall.
 | A guest post by
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I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that we need to urgently vote out some of our city councilors as soon as possible. And recall the mayor too, especially if he continues to drive Portland into a death spiral.
I have to agree. Our Mayor, seemingly does not have the same agenda as most Portlanders do with regard to safety & homelessness, let alone adequate policing when needed. When it costs more to go about fixing the wrong but less to do it the right way…then the problems remain unfixable.