Thank you for writing this! Why is this impact completely absent from legislative discussions?? And especially this: "While the city’s decision to reject this shortsighted proposal ought to be lauded, the fact it was even raised should cause alarm bells about what the real priorities of the city council are..." Yes, this should be causing very loud alarm bells, especially now that we're heading into the next election cycle for D3 & D4 city councilors. Please keep ringing the alarm!
I've been regularly involved in volunteering to clean up homeless camps for several years, and I can tell you it is horrifying to see the garbage and detritus that the homeless leave behind with impunity. Rotting clothes, furniture, broken glass, hot needles, bits of metal/nails and especially PLASTIC. They break things and leave plastic pieces and microtrash everywhere. Even worse, we've cleaned up untold abandoned campfires (and witnessed active campfires) where homeless people are burning plastics and textiles (with synthetic fibers), leaving large globs of melted environmental toxicity behind. The fumes are intolerably toxic, and we've actually been driven from our clean ups twice because the smoke was so acrid and foul.
Portlandia spends so much time touting "Green this" and "Green that", but isn't willing to curb the most obvious pollution we can visibly see every day: the trash and garbage caused by unfettered camping.
As for me, I'm going to give a wide berth to pitting the problems and needs of Portland's homeless against our local environmental problems. Across the board globally, humanity's survival, not to mention its comfort and even mere amusement, generally win out over far more vulnerable habitats than our urban forests and waterways.
Maybe the mayor should consider using some of the Portland Clean Energy Fund to address the very real environmental repercussions of not keeping the city clean.
Thank you Darcie. Discarded waste carries real environmental consequences and feeds larger systemic problems. In Stadiumhood, neighbors have spent years picking up used needles, burnt drug laced foil, and other hazardous debris. So while it’s reassuring that the city backed away from this proposal, the fact that it was even floated raises real questions about how seriously the Council takes its responsibility to collaborate with Multco Chair Jessica Vega Pederson.
Pederson focuses on drafting guidelines and issuing opaque data instead of addressing the root causes that communities keep raising. When she toured our neighborhood this year, parents spoke directly to her about the risks created by harm-reduction groups that distribute needles and aren’t accountable to anyone. Those concerns still haven’t been met with concrete action city-wide.
Thank you for writing this! Why is this impact completely absent from legislative discussions?? And especially this: "While the city’s decision to reject this shortsighted proposal ought to be lauded, the fact it was even raised should cause alarm bells about what the real priorities of the city council are..." Yes, this should be causing very loud alarm bells, especially now that we're heading into the next election cycle for D3 & D4 city councilors. Please keep ringing the alarm!
I've been regularly involved in volunteering to clean up homeless camps for several years, and I can tell you it is horrifying to see the garbage and detritus that the homeless leave behind with impunity. Rotting clothes, furniture, broken glass, hot needles, bits of metal/nails and especially PLASTIC. They break things and leave plastic pieces and microtrash everywhere. Even worse, we've cleaned up untold abandoned campfires (and witnessed active campfires) where homeless people are burning plastics and textiles (with synthetic fibers), leaving large globs of melted environmental toxicity behind. The fumes are intolerably toxic, and we've actually been driven from our clean ups twice because the smoke was so acrid and foul.
Kevin Dahlgren has talked about this:
https://open.substack.com/pub/truthonthestreets/p/the-city-of-trash?r=74dqd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare
=false
https://open.substack.com/pub/truthonthestreets/p/oregon-progressive-policies-just?r=74dqd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Portlandia spends so much time touting "Green this" and "Green that", but isn't willing to curb the most obvious pollution we can visibly see every day: the trash and garbage caused by unfettered camping.
As for me, I'm going to give a wide berth to pitting the problems and needs of Portland's homeless against our local environmental problems. Across the board globally, humanity's survival, not to mention its comfort and even mere amusement, generally win out over far more vulnerable habitats than our urban forests and waterways.
Excellent points have been made in this article. I would add two other environmental concerns. The first, the recent increase of shigella tied to contamination experienced by the homeless population https://www.kgw.com/article/news/health/multnomah-county-reports-increase-shigella-illness/283-b5beba4a-b704-4222-835c-f20e03c344d3. The second, the impact trash has had on the the waterways from ghost boat oil leakage and human waste.
Maybe the mayor should consider using some of the Portland Clean Energy Fund to address the very real environmental repercussions of not keeping the city clean.
Thank you Darcie. Discarded waste carries real environmental consequences and feeds larger systemic problems. In Stadiumhood, neighbors have spent years picking up used needles, burnt drug laced foil, and other hazardous debris. So while it’s reassuring that the city backed away from this proposal, the fact that it was even floated raises real questions about how seriously the Council takes its responsibility to collaborate with Multco Chair Jessica Vega Pederson.
Pederson focuses on drafting guidelines and issuing opaque data instead of addressing the root causes that communities keep raising. When she toured our neighborhood this year, parents spoke directly to her about the risks created by harm-reduction groups that distribute needles and aren’t accountable to anyone. Those concerns still haven’t been met with concrete action city-wide.
If you’re expecting something constructive or productive from Jessica Vega Pederson, don’t hold your breath.