Homelessness runs rampant in Portland, Oregon.
Democrat-run Portland (for over four decades), Oregon is a failed city. Since defunding the police, crime is up.
Open-air drug use and fentanyl is rampant, so much so that there are open-air fentanyl markets. Measure 110, approved by voters in 2020, was suppose to be the magic cure-all by decriminalizing drugs and establishing a drug addiction treatment and recovery program (funded in part by the state’s marijuana tax revenue and state prison savings). That isn’t working as in Multnomah County, fatal opioid-related overdoses saw a fivefold increase between 2018 and 2022,
This year the mayor’s budget calls for spending over $43 million to address homelessness. Yet between the decriminalizing of drugs, drug addiction treatment services and millions dedicated to the homeless, those afflicated with drug addiction do not seem to want the taxpayer assistance. Case in point (from The Daily Mail):
“Portland’s first sanctioned homless ‘park’ has just NINE residents despite having room for 55 a month after it opened – as shocking images show drug-addled people taking over the sidewalks”
Unused Portland homeless shelters.
Details from the article:
“Portland‘s first sanctioned homeless ‘park’ is less than 20 percent full a month after opening as shocking new images show drug abuse and illegal campsites continue to plague its streets.
Oregon‘s largest city is in the midst of a devastating humanitarian crisis, with its homeless population up almost 50 percent since 2019 to more than 5,000.
The uber-woke local government is pinning its hopes of reversing the trend on a raft of costly new shelters. (Which cost $27 million for three official homeless shelters.)
But when DailyMail.com visited earlier this month, two of its flagship sites sat largely empty, with the majority of its drug-addled homeless population preferring to remain in unsanctioned campsites across the city.”
Read the whole story here.
I don’t claim to have the best solution(s) to end homelessness and open-air drug use. How about instead of decriminalizing drug use, maybe the City should arrest individuals and as part of their punishment they be mandated to attend drug addiction treatment as an alternative to fines/jail times?
I do know that decades of democrat solutions to end homelessness and drug addiction aren’t working. I also know that democrats are famous for their dedication to spending millions of taxpayer dollars that never achieve their stated goals. There’s a saying for that:
DCG
For all I care,(& even maybe for the good of this country)those failed Dem-run cities, after a half century or more of their political debauchery, will eventually crumble into the earth of their own failed political corruptness and seek a political rebirth: Portland, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Philly, NYC, even D.C. Is this too much to hope for?
Probably.
The insanity quote, attributed to A. Einstein, certainly is appropriate.
As a lifetime resident of Portland, Oregon–it is beyond unbelievable what is going on. You can call me “hard hearted,” I don’t care, but I feel little sympathy for all those who have and will die of fentanyl overdose. The rest of us who are attempting to live our lives as best we can have been stolen from, attacked, etc. by these same drug addled persons. The Fred Meyer grocery store one mile from my home, has few to no grocery carts available for use when you go to shop, because the homeless have stolen all of them. One block from my home, someone set up a tent and dragged in a huge amount of junk–the City came in and cleared the area; well guess what, within 48 hours, that area was once again reclaimed by a homeless troupe. I used to have solar garden lights that lined the walkway near my back porch–which was a nice safety measure. All of a sudden they were all stolen. I replaced them, once again they all disappeared. Then it came to light that these miscreants use these solar lights to light the inside of their tents. I noticed that my neighbor across from me had all her solar lights also go missing. So, no more purchasing solar lights so these fools can light their tents. Then when I was recuperating from hip surgery and I had not been outside for several weeks; when I went out my back door and looked around the back yard, I kept thinking someone looks amiss. It finally dawned on me, the area where I had probably 15-17 very nice plants which were in pots were all gone. Someone evidently rolled up and loaded them all up and took them. These were probably valued at close to $500-$600 or so. I just came away thinking, after feeling ill over the loss of these beautiful plants . . . well at least I won’t have to water all of them. There is a stupid mobile home parked across the street and up half a block (Portland will not issue orders to make these folks move along.) Early one morning I was out watering and I saw the young woman from this outfit sneak over to my neighbor’s house and deposit a bag full of garbage in her garbage can. She is an elderly widow, with very little income–why the Hell is she being inposed on to pay to haul their garbage away? Sorry, but my personal supply of “the milk of human kindness” has just plain dried up as far as all these homeless folks are concerned. Any of us could have chosen to drop out, turn to substance abuse; life is hard, but no one has the right to force the rest of us to support their $h*t lifestyle. (Sorry for the offensive language and/or sentiments, but this is truly how I feel at this point in time.)
Auntie Lulu:
It is time. You really, really must move away from Portland. Today, it’s stolen solar lights and potted plants. Tomorrow, it may be your personal safety and even your life. Get your nephews and nieces to help you move. PLEASE.
The “summer of love” left quite a harvest of ruin.
You know if we don’t win the next election we all might be seeing our Cities turning in to this mound of garbage. Get the vote out. Stop them at the polls and take back our country, before we don’t have one. The Republic is dead at this point we just got to get control again.