As I look back over the last several years in Portland and Multnomah county, the decision that has had the most negative impact on all our lives, was choosing Jessica Vega Pederson over Sharon Meieran for County Chair. The complete incompetence and lack of accountability from our County Commissioners has and continues to be, a policy map of wrong turns, road blocks and just bad decisions. If you want to know why Portland lags behind every other West Coast City …look no farther than these commissioners.
Could not agree more. And let’s pile on here, electing both Meghan Moyer and especially, Shannon Singleton to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners were two horrible choices. Two nonprofit, social services grifters who specialize in falling forward. Singleton has a documented history of failure as the director of JOHS, unless you count increasing homelessness exponentially as success.
I totally agree - when Peterson got the vote over Meieren (who was such an obvious better choice) I lost all faith that voters here actually research the candidates/topics or turn out to vote, even after seeing the outcomes of these idiotic policies. It was a slam dunk, as they say, and the populace here managed to blow it - as they continue to do in every election.
I was amazed and dismayed when Vega Peterson beat Meieran for the chairship. Sharon was IMHO the obvious choice, but Portland voters seem to gravitate for candidates who utter sweet nothings rather than telling the honest truth and delivering measurable results.
I think that the issue is whether to abandon housing first which is the primary failure in Portland and LA's approach. Treatment should come first in the form of inpatient psychiatric care for those with severe mental illness. Such a movement would require years of effort but would be worth it for the city and county to pursue. It would require building out hospital capacity, reforming even the recently passed civil commitment statute. It isn't an administrative issue but a policy one, that is driving the direction of Portland's slide. Just like long term psychiatric hospitalization is detrimental to those with severe mental problems, the housing first movement essentially is designed to warehouse those with mental disorders, rather than provide prompt and limited short-term care which can provide people the opportunity to begin anew. I am supporting Brim-Edwards for county commissioner who I think is more able to readjust her thinking to a stance above. She is also pushing for changes that could limit needle distribution around schools which is widely supported by community members. I think she is a more traditional candidate with lots of recent experience at Multnomah County and believe she is the one to lead the city in a new direction based on what I have seen.
Our old friend Julia Brim-Edwards makes yet another appearance on the outskirts--always with plenty of ambiguity and deniability--of the latest hiring scandal. She's made ambiguity into an art form...who knows how high she'll finally climb (Congress would seem to be the logical destination) before anyone ever attaches a disaster to her bona fides.
Out here on the east side (aka Housing First's dumping ground), she sat silently, taking copious notes while the last bunch of Joint Office apparatshiks jammed a bum-camp down the neighborhood's throats. She was mum afterward, then voted for the throat-jam...and then OKd yet another camp a few blocks away. Our new slogan: Come to Montavilla and See Highest and Best Use in Action!
I recall my first encounter with the slightly-sinister pol; she was running for some minor-league job and attended a neighborhood coffee en route to being elected. I asked a powder-puff question...and afterward she asked the host of the event, "Who was that angry old man?"
Ms. Brim-Edwards likes life in the kitchen...the heat, not so much.
As I look back over the last several years in Portland and Multnomah county, the decision that has had the most negative impact on all our lives, was choosing Jessica Vega Pederson over Sharon Meieran for County Chair. The complete incompetence and lack of accountability from our County Commissioners has and continues to be, a policy map of wrong turns, road blocks and just bad decisions. If you want to know why Portland lags behind every other West Coast City …look no farther than these commissioners.
Could not agree more. And let’s pile on here, electing both Meghan Moyer and especially, Shannon Singleton to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners were two horrible choices. Two nonprofit, social services grifters who specialize in falling forward. Singleton has a documented history of failure as the director of JOHS, unless you count increasing homelessness exponentially as success.
I totally agree - when Peterson got the vote over Meieren (who was such an obvious better choice) I lost all faith that voters here actually research the candidates/topics or turn out to vote, even after seeing the outcomes of these idiotic policies. It was a slam dunk, as they say, and the populace here managed to blow it - as they continue to do in every election.
100%
Portland tax payers scammed again and again.
I was amazed and dismayed when Vega Peterson beat Meieran for the chairship. Sharon was IMHO the obvious choice, but Portland voters seem to gravitate for candidates who utter sweet nothings rather than telling the honest truth and delivering measurable results.
I think that the issue is whether to abandon housing first which is the primary failure in Portland and LA's approach. Treatment should come first in the form of inpatient psychiatric care for those with severe mental illness. Such a movement would require years of effort but would be worth it for the city and county to pursue. It would require building out hospital capacity, reforming even the recently passed civil commitment statute. It isn't an administrative issue but a policy one, that is driving the direction of Portland's slide. Just like long term psychiatric hospitalization is detrimental to those with severe mental problems, the housing first movement essentially is designed to warehouse those with mental disorders, rather than provide prompt and limited short-term care which can provide people the opportunity to begin anew. I am supporting Brim-Edwards for county commissioner who I think is more able to readjust her thinking to a stance above. She is also pushing for changes that could limit needle distribution around schools which is widely supported by community members. I think she is a more traditional candidate with lots of recent experience at Multnomah County and believe she is the one to lead the city in a new direction based on what I have seen.
Our old friend Julia Brim-Edwards makes yet another appearance on the outskirts--always with plenty of ambiguity and deniability--of the latest hiring scandal. She's made ambiguity into an art form...who knows how high she'll finally climb (Congress would seem to be the logical destination) before anyone ever attaches a disaster to her bona fides.
Out here on the east side (aka Housing First's dumping ground), she sat silently, taking copious notes while the last bunch of Joint Office apparatshiks jammed a bum-camp down the neighborhood's throats. She was mum afterward, then voted for the throat-jam...and then OKd yet another camp a few blocks away. Our new slogan: Come to Montavilla and See Highest and Best Use in Action!
I recall my first encounter with the slightly-sinister pol; she was running for some minor-league job and attended a neighborhood coffee en route to being elected. I asked a powder-puff question...and afterward she asked the host of the event, "Who was that angry old man?"
Ms. Brim-Edwards likes life in the kitchen...the heat, not so much.