Feelings and rights have gotten in the way of logic and common sense.
DA that won't charge folks.
A feckless mayor.
City council full of activists. Including a a crypt keeper who accuses everyone around of being racist(she needs to take her arse back to baltimore).
A police department that is under funded and under staffed.
And feral advocates that think leaving the drunks and addicts surviving on the streets to criminalize the hard working folks is a good thing.
Not a single elected official has the fortitude to call it what it is.
A dumpster fire.
This ^^ is a very good description of what has overtaken the once great city of Portland. I doubt I'm the only one that feels like I'm always holding my breath in hopes of NOT needing the police for anything. It hurts me inside to think of what our officers on the street must feel when they're working. I literally choke up some just thinking about it.
I've come to the conclusion that there is a form of PTSD coming from living in middle/lower middle class neighborhoods in potland, I call "PTSD Lite". I know it's real because it eases when we get the hell out for a day. When you get away from the homeless camp, and garbage everywhere. Then, coming back in to town and seeing the rubbish, leaves you wanting to go in your house and stay there.
The truly sad part is that there are some good conservative people in Portland whose only crime is a) choosing a terrible city to live in and b) being outnumbered by idiots who vote for this stuff. The idiots deserve EVERYTHING they voted for.
WE, my first wife and I, chose to live here many years ago. There isn't the slightest comparison NOW to what this city represented back in '83. But I sure hope within the next year there are people that want to live here. And they will want to pay a LOT of money for this cozy, near-shopping-and-transit, 1000sq' home. 'Cause we want out of here!