Many of us have compassion burnout, and this story reminded me of how compassionate I used to feel when face to face with glimpses of humanity of the drug addicted and the untreated mentally ill I came across. Thank you.
The biggest problem I believe, has been the absolute refusal to name the root cause of a significant amount of the most recalcitrant homelessness we witness in Portlandia every day: Drug Addiction and Untreated Mental Illness. The hyper-progressive leadership of Multnomah County and our City Government have refused to identify these biggest root issues (which are often intertwined), and I believe this has been done for social/political reasons: Oregon Values™.
If you can't diagnose the problem, you can't work towards a cure.
absolutely spot on! Please, City Council, address the whole problem!! I've lived here my whole life but it's unbearable right now. Daily I step over human waste and debris, experience aggressive behavior from people who are clearly having addiction or mental health issues and walk sidewalks littered with garbage. Which by the way, we take bags and a Pilstik to help clean up. My bike was stolen and our condo building breached 8 times, when in the prior 20 years that had never happened. There is a third category of homeless- the criminals. Let's not forget about them and the need for a sufficiently sized and properly trained police force. Please have a fully formed plan- not half of a plan. Thank you for listening.
YES!! A thousand times YES!!! This, THIS has been my critique from the beginning. Ask the community for the input that we know from our lived experience! Ask the community that will house the incoming shelters what the programming needs to be--- From what we KNOW as the neighbors, cleaners, emegency responders and activists in our community.
We want you to succeed Mayor Wilson! We want people to heal. What we DON'T want, is optics. Mayor Wilson, please-- let us help you help this most vulnerable population. Please, PLEASE don't come into our community as if you have all the answers without knowing us. No gaming. Do this correctly, thoroughly, radically, all the way. Not just okay.
On July 1st, an ordinary Portland citizen was shot to death outside the Central Library.
July 14th, an ordinary Portland citizen was assaulted waiting for the MAX and later died from the injuries.
July 17th, an ordinary citizen in the Pearl, going about her day, attacked/assaulted. Her attacker arrested and released that afternoon.
The lives of these ordinary families and citizen are forever changed due to the unpredictable behavior from the drug addicted and mentally disordered individuals on our sidewalks, who are rarely held accountable. A low barrier overnight shelter for 200 will not correct these disturbing situations but only compound the problems and our NW/Pearl communities will continue to deteriorate.
Mayor Wilson, your legacy will be the kiss of death, the nail on the coffin, for our NW neighborhoods. Congratulations.
Joe’s experiences sum up the complexity and reality of chronic mental illness, likely addiction, poverty and homelessness. Multiple and varied solutions appear to be required and I am breathless how to begin. Just money, just an apartment, just, just, just, …not one simple answer. Not sure if the hierarchical decision making folks
have the bandwidth or creativity to figure it out within the current socioeconomic vagaries that exist.
Amen to all you've said. Thank you for taking the time to so clearly express what many of us have been trying to say in our letters to both the Mayor and our city representatives. If Mayor Wilson is as smart as he certainly seemed to be prior to the election, he will heed your excellent diagnosis and adapt his poorly conceived "solution."
The severely mentally ill comprise about 1/3 of those who are homeless in Portland. A good plan would get them into local general hospital psychiatric units through The Portland Oregon Civil Commitment Plan. The sooner the state and city get on board with providing six-week maximum psychiatric care thorough additional psychiatric units, the sooner the city and state will understand the significant benefits to all city residents and also to the financial welfare of the city. The plan is designed to provide for legal counsel both for the liberty interests of the severely mentally ill as well as legal counsel for the city to represent the citizens' rights for safety, civility and a beautiful public space. Judges will hear these cases in the local hospitals greatly increasing the transparency and practicality of this mental health approach. They will also serve to provide substituted judgment consent for treatment putting an end to the ridiculous Catch -22 of asking people to consent to treatment when they are forced into the hospital. Mayor Wilson's plan for the non-severely mentally ill is a good one, but the biggest concerns from citizens come from those who behave like your piece so vividly portrays and many of the severely mentally ill can't tolerate a shelter environment and some are so intoxicated to be too much of a disturbance and risk to shelter. As an aside, our current civil commitment statutes with hospitalization longer than six weeks are very counterproductive to the mental health of the severely mentally ill who deteriorate further when confined for longer. The Portland Oregon Civil Commitment Plan is a middle way, providing relatively short-term involuntary treatment, efficiently delivered in community-based hospitals, administered by psychiatrists, and legally authorized by independent judges who will be empowered to not only provide customized length of stays but also will be responsible for authorizing medical care recommended by the treatment staff. Non-governmental funding to kick start the program picking up hospital costs, NAMI funding for the lawyers to represent the severely mentally ills liberty interests, city costs to provide the judges and court reporters, are most of what is needed to see the city's neighborhoods turn around in about two to three years.
Well articulated!
Many of us have compassion burnout, and this story reminded me of how compassionate I used to feel when face to face with glimpses of humanity of the drug addicted and the untreated mentally ill I came across. Thank you.
The biggest problem I believe, has been the absolute refusal to name the root cause of a significant amount of the most recalcitrant homelessness we witness in Portlandia every day: Drug Addiction and Untreated Mental Illness. The hyper-progressive leadership of Multnomah County and our City Government have refused to identify these biggest root issues (which are often intertwined), and I believe this has been done for social/political reasons: Oregon Values™.
If you can't diagnose the problem, you can't work towards a cure.
absolutely spot on! Please, City Council, address the whole problem!! I've lived here my whole life but it's unbearable right now. Daily I step over human waste and debris, experience aggressive behavior from people who are clearly having addiction or mental health issues and walk sidewalks littered with garbage. Which by the way, we take bags and a Pilstik to help clean up. My bike was stolen and our condo building breached 8 times, when in the prior 20 years that had never happened. There is a third category of homeless- the criminals. Let's not forget about them and the need for a sufficiently sized and properly trained police force. Please have a fully formed plan- not half of a plan. Thank you for listening.
YES!! A thousand times YES!!! This, THIS has been my critique from the beginning. Ask the community for the input that we know from our lived experience! Ask the community that will house the incoming shelters what the programming needs to be--- From what we KNOW as the neighbors, cleaners, emegency responders and activists in our community.
We want you to succeed Mayor Wilson! We want people to heal. What we DON'T want, is optics. Mayor Wilson, please-- let us help you help this most vulnerable population. Please, PLEASE don't come into our community as if you have all the answers without knowing us. No gaming. Do this correctly, thoroughly, radically, all the way. Not just okay.
On July 1st, an ordinary Portland citizen was shot to death outside the Central Library.
July 14th, an ordinary Portland citizen was assaulted waiting for the MAX and later died from the injuries.
July 17th, an ordinary citizen in the Pearl, going about her day, attacked/assaulted. Her attacker arrested and released that afternoon.
The lives of these ordinary families and citizen are forever changed due to the unpredictable behavior from the drug addicted and mentally disordered individuals on our sidewalks, who are rarely held accountable. A low barrier overnight shelter for 200 will not correct these disturbing situations but only compound the problems and our NW/Pearl communities will continue to deteriorate.
Mayor Wilson, your legacy will be the kiss of death, the nail on the coffin, for our NW neighborhoods. Congratulations.
Joe’s experiences sum up the complexity and reality of chronic mental illness, likely addiction, poverty and homelessness. Multiple and varied solutions appear to be required and I am breathless how to begin. Just money, just an apartment, just, just, just, …not one simple answer. Not sure if the hierarchical decision making folks
have the bandwidth or creativity to figure it out within the current socioeconomic vagaries that exist.
Wonderful letter! Thank you!
Good job, Joe! Glad to see it published!
Chuck D.
Amen to all you've said. Thank you for taking the time to so clearly express what many of us have been trying to say in our letters to both the Mayor and our city representatives. If Mayor Wilson is as smart as he certainly seemed to be prior to the election, he will heed your excellent diagnosis and adapt his poorly conceived "solution."
Thank you Joe!
Your article well expresses the thoughts my husband and I have about the homeless people in our neighborhood.
Tough love through mental health services and some form of punishment for doing drugs and throwing trash around are sidewalks and parks is needed.
Incarceration is costly, but the hollowing out of our beautiful city by businesses and people leaving is far more expensive.
The severely mentally ill comprise about 1/3 of those who are homeless in Portland. A good plan would get them into local general hospital psychiatric units through The Portland Oregon Civil Commitment Plan. The sooner the state and city get on board with providing six-week maximum psychiatric care thorough additional psychiatric units, the sooner the city and state will understand the significant benefits to all city residents and also to the financial welfare of the city. The plan is designed to provide for legal counsel both for the liberty interests of the severely mentally ill as well as legal counsel for the city to represent the citizens' rights for safety, civility and a beautiful public space. Judges will hear these cases in the local hospitals greatly increasing the transparency and practicality of this mental health approach. They will also serve to provide substituted judgment consent for treatment putting an end to the ridiculous Catch -22 of asking people to consent to treatment when they are forced into the hospital. Mayor Wilson's plan for the non-severely mentally ill is a good one, but the biggest concerns from citizens come from those who behave like your piece so vividly portrays and many of the severely mentally ill can't tolerate a shelter environment and some are so intoxicated to be too much of a disturbance and risk to shelter. As an aside, our current civil commitment statutes with hospitalization longer than six weeks are very counterproductive to the mental health of the severely mentally ill who deteriorate further when confined for longer. The Portland Oregon Civil Commitment Plan is a middle way, providing relatively short-term involuntary treatment, efficiently delivered in community-based hospitals, administered by psychiatrists, and legally authorized by independent judges who will be empowered to not only provide customized length of stays but also will be responsible for authorizing medical care recommended by the treatment staff. Non-governmental funding to kick start the program picking up hospital costs, NAMI funding for the lawyers to represent the severely mentally ills liberty interests, city costs to provide the judges and court reporters, are most of what is needed to see the city's neighborhoods turn around in about two to three years.
Complex, perhaps unresolvable m, from a bilateral perspective. We have no choice but to resolve it somehow. Thank you, Thom.
I really enjoyed reading this and couldn't agree with the author more.