A microcosm for our response to drug addiction and psychosis among the homeless population. It is why the ability to house this segment of the homeless population. It is why we are not more resourceful in simultaneously keeping both the community safe while compassionately helping those incapable of helping themselves through a combination of financial resources and free will. We have placed the individual autonomy of the individual over the collective heath of community. If the individual seeking to have their own was is historically disadvantaged they have super-rights whether they have control over themselves or not. That is not compassion. It is an excuse for neglect.
We have made individual autonomy the guiding principle today, irrespective of economic resource. You don’t have to be a communist to see that the cohesion and the heath of society has suffered greatly because of this. It is an issue of motives. What happened to an honest concern about helping one another having agency living on our plant and in our communities with agency-without damaging each other? The City and County have resources to employ to accomplish this with compassion for the individual and the community but something is amiss with the motives.
Such disfunction. We have lost the plot. Shall we ever regain it? Will the working & law abiding residents ever enjoy the fruits of our labor without being held hostage to this ridiculous respect for those who do not show it to others?
This is such utter bullshit. The obsequious preference for the personal "rights"of the mentally ill, the drug addict, and anti-social scofflaws (our most vulnerable neighbors as JVP used to opine) versus the law-abiding majority, continues to demonstrate the absolute impotency of the City of Portland & Multnomah County to actually make a difference in improving our lives or making Portlandia a place anyone with common sense would want to live. Anyone who thinks Portland's City government is more responsive now, or more effective in solving real life problems under our new, so-called "Charter Reform" than it was under the old system, is smoking something*. Why has it taken 4 months to deal with this issue? Why does the City repeatedly refuse to take responsibility for basic public safety, sanitation and quality of life issues? Why is the abandoned auto on my street which has been reported by multiple neighbors over the last 7 months still there? Why hasn't the advent of a City Administrator not demonstrably improved the responsiveness or accountability of the City Bureaucracy to the citizenry? What kind of value are the City Councilors giving the taxpayers for their $133,000 salaries?
I am convinced that the elitists that now largely control our city council (with 25% of the vote +1) do not care about what the majority of us want or expect from them: public safety, infrastructure maintenance and simple fairness in opportunity and fairness in application of the law. Virtually none of them could be elected on a city-wide basis, so they've pushed for a system which allowed the unelectable to win and remain in power. They will fight tooth and nail to maintain that privileged system, mark my word. This incident corroborates the evidence in my mind, that Portland's death spiral will not be arrested by our City and County governments in their current iterations.
*Not saying the old system was great by any means, but it was definitely easier to contact a City Commissioner about a bureau under their purview and get a response than the mess we have now.
This example is just one egregious example of many. We recently had a long-term parker not too far from NW 17th who lived and dealt drugs out of his car, and who banged his bat ferociously on inanimate objects (thank god it wasn't on people) when I commented on all the clothing and trash stuffed under his car. On the same block a couple slept on the sidewalk for days, depositing large "units" of feces in plastic cups for others to come pick up, even though a public toilet was steps away. Despite reporting all of this activity -- the huge humanitarian crisis of the sleeping couple, and the drug dealing, the threatening behavior, the litter, the lack of paying for parking, and living in a vehicle, of the camper, all three were allowed to stay. Pretty sure they all left of their own free will -- not from being pushed out by authorities. . .
The first credible threat against PBOT employees should have triggered immediate escalation, not months of paralysis: document the threat, involve police or a safety team, determine whether further action was warranted, coordinate PBOT and outreach, and then decide on citation, towing, shelter, or another disposition.
Portland and Multnomah County have had more than a decade to build an efficient, coordinated homelessness system, yet cases like this suggest that coordination still breaks down. Perhaps it is time to seriously consider a complete governmental divorce between Portland and Multnomah County, with Portland operating under a single city-county government with clearer accountability.
Finally, this story illustrates the hidden cost of homelessness. What begins as a simple parking violation ends up involving parking enforcement, public safety, outreach workers, animal services, shelter providers and other agencies. Much of that cost never appears in a line item labeled “homelessness.” It is buried in the ordinary workload of city and county government.
Some of this is “failure demand” — extra work created because the problem was not resolved effectively at the first point of contact. Repeated complaints, outreach attempts, enforcement efforts and agency handoffs all consume additional resources.
This is also a clear example of the burden the homelessness crisis places on ordinary residents and businesses. When the city says, “We are grateful for the community’s patience and understanding as we address complex issues on an individual level across the city,” the response should be that Portland and Multnomah County have had more than a decade to develop efficient processes for cases exactly like this. Residents can be patient with difficult individual circumstances while still expecting government to function competently. Officials should not confuse that patience with an absence of frustration or declining confidence in city and county leadership.
The "We are grateful for the community's patience and understanding...." comment - as if we had a choice! If the city hasn't noticed, we are no longer patient or understanding. We expect results with our tax dollars.
It's not as if this is a unique situation. Instead of an individual Herculean effort, there should be a clear, well-honed process with identified escalation points and actions which do not require months of befuddlement and hand-wringing.
This is something that could and should have been handled in one day. This pathological catering to the criminal element is why we also continue to attract more of it by the day. This city is an absolute dysfunctional embarrassment and we all need to start voting in actual functioning adults with common sense and real life experience outside of the government/non profit sectors.
For the record, "housing" three dogs in a junk vehicle should have triggered multiple "Notices of Infraction". Our do nothing bureaucracy has completely embraced the "do no harm" BS because it doesn't require any effort. Sorry, am I going to get in trouble now for using the "E" word ?
Drove her shitbox out from Tennessee because she knows that Portland and Multnomah County officials are a bunch of sniveling, pathologically enabling do gooders who lack a spine. Unbelievable. Can only imagine the hang wringing that went on trying to figure out how to address this simple issue. Vote for Sharon Meieran for County Chair, AND DO NOT RANK SHANNON SINGLETON AT ALL.
A microcosm for our response to drug addiction and psychosis among the homeless population. It is why the ability to house this segment of the homeless population. It is why we are not more resourceful in simultaneously keeping both the community safe while compassionately helping those incapable of helping themselves through a combination of financial resources and free will. We have placed the individual autonomy of the individual over the collective heath of community. If the individual seeking to have their own was is historically disadvantaged they have super-rights whether they have control over themselves or not. That is not compassion. It is an excuse for neglect.
We have made individual autonomy the guiding principle today, irrespective of economic resource. You don’t have to be a communist to see that the cohesion and the heath of society has suffered greatly because of this. It is an issue of motives. What happened to an honest concern about helping one another having agency living on our plant and in our communities with agency-without damaging each other? The City and County have resources to employ to accomplish this with compassion for the individual and the community but something is amiss with the motives.
Such disfunction. We have lost the plot. Shall we ever regain it? Will the working & law abiding residents ever enjoy the fruits of our labor without being held hostage to this ridiculous respect for those who do not show it to others?
Perfect example of "Portland- A City That Works" 🙄
I endorsed each post before mine.
This example of human behavior is unacceptable and not welcome.
If there are laws on the books Mr Mayor, have them inforced. City Council protect civility and community. Enough is enough.
This is such utter bullshit. The obsequious preference for the personal "rights"of the mentally ill, the drug addict, and anti-social scofflaws (our most vulnerable neighbors as JVP used to opine) versus the law-abiding majority, continues to demonstrate the absolute impotency of the City of Portland & Multnomah County to actually make a difference in improving our lives or making Portlandia a place anyone with common sense would want to live. Anyone who thinks Portland's City government is more responsive now, or more effective in solving real life problems under our new, so-called "Charter Reform" than it was under the old system, is smoking something*. Why has it taken 4 months to deal with this issue? Why does the City repeatedly refuse to take responsibility for basic public safety, sanitation and quality of life issues? Why is the abandoned auto on my street which has been reported by multiple neighbors over the last 7 months still there? Why hasn't the advent of a City Administrator not demonstrably improved the responsiveness or accountability of the City Bureaucracy to the citizenry? What kind of value are the City Councilors giving the taxpayers for their $133,000 salaries?
I am convinced that the elitists that now largely control our city council (with 25% of the vote +1) do not care about what the majority of us want or expect from them: public safety, infrastructure maintenance and simple fairness in opportunity and fairness in application of the law. Virtually none of them could be elected on a city-wide basis, so they've pushed for a system which allowed the unelectable to win and remain in power. They will fight tooth and nail to maintain that privileged system, mark my word. This incident corroborates the evidence in my mind, that Portland's death spiral will not be arrested by our City and County governments in their current iterations.
*Not saying the old system was great by any means, but it was definitely easier to contact a City Commissioner about a bureau under their purview and get a response than the mess we have now.
This example is just one egregious example of many. We recently had a long-term parker not too far from NW 17th who lived and dealt drugs out of his car, and who banged his bat ferociously on inanimate objects (thank god it wasn't on people) when I commented on all the clothing and trash stuffed under his car. On the same block a couple slept on the sidewalk for days, depositing large "units" of feces in plastic cups for others to come pick up, even though a public toilet was steps away. Despite reporting all of this activity -- the huge humanitarian crisis of the sleeping couple, and the drug dealing, the threatening behavior, the litter, the lack of paying for parking, and living in a vehicle, of the camper, all three were allowed to stay. Pretty sure they all left of their own free will -- not from being pushed out by authorities. . .
The first credible threat against PBOT employees should have triggered immediate escalation, not months of paralysis: document the threat, involve police or a safety team, determine whether further action was warranted, coordinate PBOT and outreach, and then decide on citation, towing, shelter, or another disposition.
Portland and Multnomah County have had more than a decade to build an efficient, coordinated homelessness system, yet cases like this suggest that coordination still breaks down. Perhaps it is time to seriously consider a complete governmental divorce between Portland and Multnomah County, with Portland operating under a single city-county government with clearer accountability.
Finally, this story illustrates the hidden cost of homelessness. What begins as a simple parking violation ends up involving parking enforcement, public safety, outreach workers, animal services, shelter providers and other agencies. Much of that cost never appears in a line item labeled “homelessness.” It is buried in the ordinary workload of city and county government.
Some of this is “failure demand” — extra work created because the problem was not resolved effectively at the first point of contact. Repeated complaints, outreach attempts, enforcement efforts and agency handoffs all consume additional resources.
This is also a clear example of the burden the homelessness crisis places on ordinary residents and businesses. When the city says, “We are grateful for the community’s patience and understanding as we address complex issues on an individual level across the city,” the response should be that Portland and Multnomah County have had more than a decade to develop efficient processes for cases exactly like this. Residents can be patient with difficult individual circumstances while still expecting government to function competently. Officials should not confuse that patience with an absence of frustration or declining confidence in city and county leadership.
The "We are grateful for the community's patience and understanding...." comment - as if we had a choice! If the city hasn't noticed, we are no longer patient or understanding. We expect results with our tax dollars.
It's not as if this is a unique situation. Instead of an individual Herculean effort, there should be a clear, well-honed process with identified escalation points and actions which do not require months of befuddlement and hand-wringing.
This is something that could and should have been handled in one day. This pathological catering to the criminal element is why we also continue to attract more of it by the day. This city is an absolute dysfunctional embarrassment and we all need to start voting in actual functioning adults with common sense and real life experience outside of the government/non profit sectors.
Pathological Altruism, Portland style.
Idiot Compassion vs Wise Compassion
Only one solution, and it has a name: Sharon Meieran.
......and now where is it ?
For the record, "housing" three dogs in a junk vehicle should have triggered multiple "Notices of Infraction". Our do nothing bureaucracy has completely embraced the "do no harm" BS because it doesn't require any effort. Sorry, am I going to get in trouble now for using the "E" word ?
Drove her shitbox out from Tennessee because she knows that Portland and Multnomah County officials are a bunch of sniveling, pathologically enabling do gooders who lack a spine. Unbelievable. Can only imagine the hang wringing that went on trying to figure out how to address this simple issue. Vote for Sharon Meieran for County Chair, AND DO NOT RANK SHANNON SINGLETON AT ALL.