Letters to the editor
NW Examiner readers reply
Shelters have to go somewhere
I have been following the NW Examiner’s coverage of the proposed overnight shelters in our neighborhood. I live in Slabtown. Some thoughts:
The mayor was never going to get community buy-in for these shelters. So why should he spend time in lengthy meeting after lengthy meeting (the “Portland Way”) only to come away assured he will never get that buy-in? He’s decided to get to work instead.
All other actions to deal with the effects of hundreds of homeless people wandering around overnight have not worked. If what you are doing is not working, you should stop doing it and try something else. This is the something else. The mayor campaigned on this idea, so it is no surprise that he is putting it into action.
The overnight shelters have to go somewhere. And since there are going to be a lot of them, they have to go to a lot of somewheres. We can’t ship all these people off to the outskirts of the city every night. That’s not practical or cost-effective. And people live out there too, so why is that a fair option?
We need hard data, not emotional reactions and anecdotes (understandable though they are). I advocate for more hard metrics and solid data collection to show whether it’s working and how bad the community impact really is after the shelters are up and running.
The process should be: Get it up and running while setting metrics and gathering data. In one year, reassess and make changes as needed based on the data.
Enough talk. Let’s get to work.
Elise Fulsang
NW Riverscape St.
Wilson voters to blame
Regarding the latest saga in Portland's endless homelessness crisis, I have to wonder: Who among those in the discussion chose to vote for Keith Wilson? If so, they are reaping what they've sown, especially in that the choice was between this man, who so obviously is not reality based, versus Rene Gonzalez, a battle-worn candidate who prevailed among the worst ugliness this city's anarchists can inflict, such as having his campaign office windows repeatedly shattered and a car set afire outside his home.
Gonzalez represented those hard choices that so many Portlanders run away from, not toward in a mature manner. He was pro business, God forbid. Any grown-up knows that no city can long survive without a thriving business community. Gonzalez also was pro public safety. Again, in a city that thinks the Parks Bureau is more deserving than the Portland Police Bureau. As a former park volunteer, that agency has not earned our respect or our support, whereas our police put themselves on the line for us every day.
It was a close race, one that Gonzalez might have won were it not for ranked-choice nonsense. As someone who too has been horrified by these daily onslaughts brought on by a drug-fueled crisis, I can't abide hearing any more talk about affordability. I'm low-income and live in affordable housing. I realize not everyone is as fortunate. Yet the problem is foremost that of drugs, criminality and untreated mental illness.
It amazes me how this cycle not only continues, but escalates. The very definition of crazy is to keep repeating the same mistakes yet expecting different outcomes.
Karla Powell
NW 11th Ave.
Editor's note: In the first round of voting last November (which was unaffected by vote ranking, Keith Wilson had 34%, Carmen Rubio 22% and Rene Gonzalez 18%.)
Make park for dogs
Thank you for another great edition. I am a resident near Northwest Thurman and 28th and have been a longtime reader of the publication.
Related to the [July] article, "Could a park bloom in a shady area?" I have actually been saying for years that a dog park would be great to have under that freeway where the bike park was suggested. Currently, Slabtown residents need to walk all the way to Wallace or Fields parks for their dogs, so a dog run in this location would be highly trafficked.
It is also nice that it is covered by the freeway so humans and pets would not get soaked during the rainy season. Plus, there would not be an issue with noise (aka barking) because the freeway is already noisy. Either way, I think putting something there is a great way to prevent campers.
Thanks again for all you do with the NW Examiner.
Brianna Finch
NW Thurman St.
I just spent over an hour cleaning the dump that surrounded the utility box at couch plaza - between couch, davis, 16th ave nw / 15th ave nw. The dumpsite on the EAST side of 15th ave nw remains - as it has for over a month. Pbot no longer deals with ODOT land. Odot does NOTHING, and I'm suppose to believe that the city is going to care for our streets?
I listened to the news regarding Monday's meeting. "Affluent"???? wtf? I live in a 380 sq ft AFFORDABLE home. And - I clean the refuse from the ass**les that are living on the street. Nope - no compassion here. I do not care to be the partner to the mayor or any other elected person. Want to partner with me cleaning feces? Let's go.
If you don't have the stomach or the shovel - do your freaking job! Get these creeps OFF THE STREET, and MAKE OUR NEIGHBORHOODS SAFE!
No feelings of "oohhhh pooor unfortunate". FU** THAT.
City, County, Metro - do you fu**ing job!
In response to the first comment - of course the mayor wasn’t going to get buy in for these shelters, because overnight low barrier shelters are a blight no neighborhood should have to put up with because our lazy and misguided politicians are apparently incapable of doing anything better. Yes, they do need a different approach - stop putting low barrier shelters in the middle of neighborhoods. Put 24/7 well regulated shelters with rules, etc. in neighborhoods and move low barrier to areas that won’t have immediate residential impact. Provide wraparound services, start enforcing laws.
The homeless issue isn’t just an overnight thing - it’s the DAYTIME loitering in our public spaces, wandering through our backyards and up onto our porches to check door handles, assaults, public drug usage outside a school playground (the list goes on and on) that we are all fed up with. Overnight camping does zero to address safety and livability for everyone else. It’s time the city started considering everyone else.