This is beyond ridiculous, maddening, and sad. All the money that the city and county have thrown at trying to fix the homeless problems have been for naught. The Pearl has fast become one of the most dangerous and unclean areas of the entire city. I feel so sorry for the residents of the Pearl who have to wade through this dreck every day.
Glad to see a high level City official finally noticing what has been the norm at this site for nearly a decade. Many days, the scene on the sidewalk in front of Safeway looks the same way. When I was installing the cigarette butt receptacles around the Pearl in 2018, walking along 13th on either side of street adjacent to Safeway was always a scene right out of San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. To Don’s point, the City and County seem content to flush hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars down the toilet on programs that fail year after year after year.
Sometimes I feel like Zimmerman is the only councilor who listens and is willing to do more than just listen. Whoever filmed this - THANK YOU. I recently wrote a letter to the mayor begging him to have a real police presence here, as this has without question worsened since the shelter opened and is completely contrary to his promise the neighborhood would improve. The video says it all, and I would hope stops the NIMBY accusations.
I keep hearing that the police are too tied up with their assignments at the ICE building - be that as it may, it should not amount to what few officers we have being pulled at the expense of our neighborhood.
When Morillo was trying to defund cleanups District 4 residents came out in droves to support the mayor’s plan, despite the hesitation of his promise the overnight shelter would be an asset to our neighborhood. I hope Councilor Zimmerman is able to get the mayor to understand that we want to work with him but he has to step up the resources to help us in turn. THIS IS NOT OK.
This is absolutely not acceptable. This is a disaster. The thing that keeps my block safe is the fence around my building. I want the shelter system to work, but it is NOT acceptable for those on the street disrupting and destroying communities to be allowed autonomy and a choice to refuse shelter. No fu**ing way is this allowable!
I’m so tired of being given the excuse, there’s another thing going on right now so no police are available. This isn’t Mayberry and they need to be able to handle multiple things happening at once. We obviously need more police (who actually enforce laws) so that should be a number one priority for the mayor and city council. But is it? Of course not, many of them I’m sure would like to further defund it.
I’ve been saying this over and over and over. I live here. It’s a madhouse, an uncontrolled, un contained, crazy, sad, danger zone.
Tell me again how well the shelter operates.
Tell me again how we’re trying to revive the city.
I can only imagine the fun we’ll have frolicking in the new Fields Park-when it opens.
I’m thankful for the few people who have a bit of clarity regarding what really is going on in the Pearl. It’s nothing but Magical thinking on Wilson’s end. Let’s not perpetuate the lies.
North Pearl has almost no other businesses still surviving, so Safeway has been the main spot for panhandling, loitering etc., long long before the shelter opened. (Many nearby businesses closed because of untenable rent increases rather than street-people issues).
I’m not sure how you’re missing the very direct impact that ongoing “street-people” issues are having on businesses in the area. Many of these shops might be able to keep up with rent if foot traffic hadn’t dropped so dramatically and if they weren’t dealing with frequent property damage and theft.
I’ve lived almost next door to this Safeway for years, and the situation has gotten significantly worse—at all hours—since the shelter opened. It’s bad enough that I now drive to another store to avoid the experience. The last time I went, on a Sunday afternoon, I made accidental eye contact with two masked men lingering in the back of the store who were clearly attempting to steal and avoid security, who then followed me until it was clear I was going to mind my own business.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this Safeway eventually shuts down, and it won’t be because they can’t afford rent. It will be because the constant theft, security costs, and ongoing cleanup after drug addicts (as the video so graphically demonstrates) have made operating there more trouble than it’s worth. And honestly, that’s the same conclusion many taxpayers are starting to reach about living in the city in general, especially dumped on areas like NW/SW.
Same here - in my letter to the mayor I told him the walkability in my neighborhood is useless if I have to drive somewhere to shop. I also told him I will no longer shop there after work as I feel unsafe, and with good reason…not a pearls-clutching unsafe. I hope he listens to Zimmerman.
Except it isn’t. And that statement is what the city has been doing for so long - normalizing dysfunction. Saying “it’s all like that” isn’t how we make improvements. As the signs say, Portland is what we make it. I don’t vote for apathy.
Have you been to the Safeway on Barbur Blvd? It’s shocking how civilized it is.
I live in what I sometimes call Upper Northwest: just across the city & county line where Burnside becomes Barnes. I have been here for 28 years. When the North Pearl District started developing, I sort of was envious that I didn't live there. These days, not so much. Between this, the stretch of vacant storefronts on and around Lovejoy from 405 to the Broadway Bridge, the changes at Jamison Square I am sort of glad that things didn't work out for me. It is very depressing to see the decline of what once the finest "big city" urbanized neighborhood in Portland. I visit the area but nowhere near as often as I used to. I have seen what happens outside Safeway in the daytime, but never at night.
Thanks to Eric Zimmerman for calling it out as it is! If the county wants more than 2 people per day at their deflection center, some of these folks are apparently in need of services- or the alternative.
Mitch Green and Morillo are apparently ok with this, given their recent anti-cleanup and anti-public safety votes.
It was taken between 9pm and midnight, I believe. But the drug activity around Asa Flats apartments and Safeway takes place intermittently throughout the day, and through 3am. Known dealers' vehicles pull up to the groups and sell drugs.
It's this way early in the morning as well. Let week I could not walk on the sidewalk ramp or steps on NW 13th going o Safeway because individuals were strewn across actively taking meth or just having taken it. Mitch Green, you are our Councilor. Get off your Peacock horse, open your eyes, and help those of us who live here!
Thank you to the person who was brave enough to take this video and for all who got it to the right place for action to be taken. This Safeway is crucial to this neighborhood and this kind of behavior around it or anywhere in the neighborhood is so scary and unsettling. THANK YOU!
The police know all about this activity. They even acknowledge that their careful attention to the Jefferson Safeway has pushed the drug dealing into the Pearl. One time I called them to report 15 fentanyl/meth users on that stretch, and no one came. Even Commander Brian Hughes has seen this video and said he was appalled. In the same breath, he said they don't have resources to deal with this. Even worse, the 9pm to 3am window -- when the worst of the drug use happens -- is the LEAST STAFFED SHIFT by the police. This means that any sort of concentrated, continuous police enforcement simply won't happen, I've been told by the police. So, we need to somehow get private security if this growing drugs problem is to be solved before 2030.
We need to keep recording this drug scene and keep sending it to Wilson... Wilson brought this on with the low barrier overnight shelters. Again, Wilson's legacy is not the shelters but the deaths of the neighborhoods the shelters have been placed in.
The OASIS DAY CENTER is bringing in a huge transient population that ebbs and flows between the new Slabtown night shelter and the oasis. That day center needs WAY MORE ATTENTION from the city. There lies one of your biggest instigators. Crime rate is rising!!! I believe it is due to the oasis - which brings in 800-1000 bodies per day now. It’s noteworthy to mention that the drug dealing population of Portland is getting rich down here. They are on all corners. Plain as day. I seeing a lot more new faces. Also… people are sleeping on the sidewalks everywhere in old town. EVERYWHERE.
Once again… you must stop allocating these services in our neighborhoods on the west side. Downtown Portland will never recover.
This is beyond ridiculous, maddening, and sad. All the money that the city and county have thrown at trying to fix the homeless problems have been for naught. The Pearl has fast become one of the most dangerous and unclean areas of the entire city. I feel so sorry for the residents of the Pearl who have to wade through this dreck every day.
Glad to see a high level City official finally noticing what has been the norm at this site for nearly a decade. Many days, the scene on the sidewalk in front of Safeway looks the same way. When I was installing the cigarette butt receptacles around the Pearl in 2018, walking along 13th on either side of street adjacent to Safeway was always a scene right out of San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. To Don’s point, the City and County seem content to flush hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars down the toilet on programs that fail year after year after year.
Sometimes I feel like Zimmerman is the only councilor who listens and is willing to do more than just listen. Whoever filmed this - THANK YOU. I recently wrote a letter to the mayor begging him to have a real police presence here, as this has without question worsened since the shelter opened and is completely contrary to his promise the neighborhood would improve. The video says it all, and I would hope stops the NIMBY accusations.
I keep hearing that the police are too tied up with their assignments at the ICE building - be that as it may, it should not amount to what few officers we have being pulled at the expense of our neighborhood.
When Morillo was trying to defund cleanups District 4 residents came out in droves to support the mayor’s plan, despite the hesitation of his promise the overnight shelter would be an asset to our neighborhood. I hope Councilor Zimmerman is able to get the mayor to understand that we want to work with him but he has to step up the resources to help us in turn. THIS IS NOT OK.
This is absolutely not acceptable. This is a disaster. The thing that keeps my block safe is the fence around my building. I want the shelter system to work, but it is NOT acceptable for those on the street disrupting and destroying communities to be allowed autonomy and a choice to refuse shelter. No fu**ing way is this allowable!
I’m so tired of being given the excuse, there’s another thing going on right now so no police are available. This isn’t Mayberry and they need to be able to handle multiple things happening at once. We obviously need more police (who actually enforce laws) so that should be a number one priority for the mayor and city council. But is it? Of course not, many of them I’m sure would like to further defund it.
I’ve been saying this over and over and over. I live here. It’s a madhouse, an uncontrolled, un contained, crazy, sad, danger zone.
Tell me again how well the shelter operates.
Tell me again how we’re trying to revive the city.
I can only imagine the fun we’ll have frolicking in the new Fields Park-when it opens.
I’m thankful for the few people who have a bit of clarity regarding what really is going on in the Pearl. It’s nothing but Magical thinking on Wilson’s end. Let’s not perpetuate the lies.
North Pearl has almost no other businesses still surviving, so Safeway has been the main spot for panhandling, loitering etc., long long before the shelter opened. (Many nearby businesses closed because of untenable rent increases rather than street-people issues).
I’m not sure how you’re missing the very direct impact that ongoing “street-people” issues are having on businesses in the area. Many of these shops might be able to keep up with rent if foot traffic hadn’t dropped so dramatically and if they weren’t dealing with frequent property damage and theft.
I’ve lived almost next door to this Safeway for years, and the situation has gotten significantly worse—at all hours—since the shelter opened. It’s bad enough that I now drive to another store to avoid the experience. The last time I went, on a Sunday afternoon, I made accidental eye contact with two masked men lingering in the back of the store who were clearly attempting to steal and avoid security, who then followed me until it was clear I was going to mind my own business.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this Safeway eventually shuts down, and it won’t be because they can’t afford rent. It will be because the constant theft, security costs, and ongoing cleanup after drug addicts (as the video so graphically demonstrates) have made operating there more trouble than it’s worth. And honestly, that’s the same conclusion many taxpayers are starting to reach about living in the city in general, especially dumped on areas like NW/SW.
Same here - in my letter to the mayor I told him the walkability in my neighborhood is useless if I have to drive somewhere to shop. I also told him I will no longer shop there after work as I feel unsafe, and with good reason…not a pearls-clutching unsafe. I hope he listens to Zimmerman.
This is every Safeway in Portland. You are not special.
Except it isn’t. And that statement is what the city has been doing for so long - normalizing dysfunction. Saying “it’s all like that” isn’t how we make improvements. As the signs say, Portland is what we make it. I don’t vote for apathy.
Have you been to the Safeway on Barbur Blvd? It’s shocking how civilized it is.
I live in what I sometimes call Upper Northwest: just across the city & county line where Burnside becomes Barnes. I have been here for 28 years. When the North Pearl District started developing, I sort of was envious that I didn't live there. These days, not so much. Between this, the stretch of vacant storefronts on and around Lovejoy from 405 to the Broadway Bridge, the changes at Jamison Square I am sort of glad that things didn't work out for me. It is very depressing to see the decline of what once the finest "big city" urbanized neighborhood in Portland. I visit the area but nowhere near as often as I used to. I have seen what happens outside Safeway in the daytime, but never at night.
Thanks to Eric Zimmerman for calling it out as it is! If the county wants more than 2 people per day at their deflection center, some of these folks are apparently in need of services- or the alternative.
Mitch Green and Morillo are apparently ok with this, given their recent anti-cleanup and anti-public safety votes.
When was the video taken?
Every day at all hours a similar scene plays out. And recording it will get you cussed at, trash thrown at you and mocked.
It was taken between 9pm and midnight, I believe. But the drug activity around Asa Flats apartments and Safeway takes place intermittently throughout the day, and through 3am. Known dealers' vehicles pull up to the groups and sell drugs.
It's this way early in the morning as well. Let week I could not walk on the sidewalk ramp or steps on NW 13th going o Safeway because individuals were strewn across actively taking meth or just having taken it. Mitch Green, you are our Councilor. Get off your Peacock horse, open your eyes, and help those of us who live here!
Thank you to the person who was brave enough to take this video and for all who got it to the right place for action to be taken. This Safeway is crucial to this neighborhood and this kind of behavior around it or anywhere in the neighborhood is so scary and unsettling. THANK YOU!
The police know all about this activity. They even acknowledge that their careful attention to the Jefferson Safeway has pushed the drug dealing into the Pearl. One time I called them to report 15 fentanyl/meth users on that stretch, and no one came. Even Commander Brian Hughes has seen this video and said he was appalled. In the same breath, he said they don't have resources to deal with this. Even worse, the 9pm to 3am window -- when the worst of the drug use happens -- is the LEAST STAFFED SHIFT by the police. This means that any sort of concentrated, continuous police enforcement simply won't happen, I've been told by the police. So, we need to somehow get private security if this growing drugs problem is to be solved before 2030.
We need to keep recording this drug scene and keep sending it to Wilson... Wilson brought this on with the low barrier overnight shelters. Again, Wilson's legacy is not the shelters but the deaths of the neighborhoods the shelters have been placed in.
Thanks city.
The OASIS DAY CENTER is bringing in a huge transient population that ebbs and flows between the new Slabtown night shelter and the oasis. That day center needs WAY MORE ATTENTION from the city. There lies one of your biggest instigators. Crime rate is rising!!! I believe it is due to the oasis - which brings in 800-1000 bodies per day now. It’s noteworthy to mention that the drug dealing population of Portland is getting rich down here. They are on all corners. Plain as day. I seeing a lot more new faces. Also… people are sleeping on the sidewalks everywhere in old town. EVERYWHERE.
Once again… you must stop allocating these services in our neighborhoods on the west side. Downtown Portland will never recover.