11 ms·

Portland is amazing. The food is great, the beer is world-class (and all sorts of weird little breweries can be found everywhere), the coffee is top notch and t

Portland is amazing. The food is great, the beer is world-class (and all sorts of weird little breweries can be found everywhere), the coffee is top notch and the selection of coffee shops is amazing, Oregonians are among the nicest people I've encountered in the United States, awesome Springs and Summers, lots of amazing nature nearby, no sales taxes, lots of art, lots of music, lots of cool weird music venues, people are incredibly environmentally conscious. All in all a great little city in my estimation.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
gt_ 9y ago
It would do them some good to be be more homeless epidemic conscious. Any political gesture Portland could collectively be proud of is undermined by it’s failure to show concern for the members of it’s own society.
- telchar 9y ago
  Something that would be worth considering in homelessness discussion re: Portland, SF, etc is how many of these people are city dwellers that became homeless versus already-homeless people who gravitated toward (or were shipped to) the city? The former is a reflection on the city, but in my opinion the latter is less a reflection on the city than it is of the nation. If I become homeless and move out to Portland, is that an indictment of Portland? Is it more their responsibility to house me than say, Pittsburg, who may have sent the people there on a bus? I don't know the stats mentioned above but it seems like the places that have huge homeless problems are mostly those with nice mild weather and tolerant residents. While I lean left and support affordable housing and the welfare state, it seems a little unfair to saddle those places particularly with housing a homeless population that they didn't cause to be homeless.
  - gt_ 9y ago
    I will elaborate: I lived in Portland until approximately 2 years ago, close to the river. I volunteered on one occasion with some activists at this event: https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/09/springwater_corridor_homeless.amp https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.oregonlive.com/portlan... I am no saint. It was a short walk from my office. But the whole thing was disgusting, heartbreaking. This was a bad situation on many fronts, and nothing like a solution on any side, but the idea was to get cyclists who enjoyed this nature path to stop complaining. This is the gist of how the city has dealt with the problem for many years. I was pleased to see someone else on HN mention it but I wasn’t surprised. It’s hard to miss on a visit. I lived there for 8 years. Of course some of the homeless come from other places but an enormous amount of them come from Portland. I have seen children sleeping on cardboard under Morrison bridge one night. 2 children with their parents. They were not there for long only because they were strategically camping in a very lit spot at a busy traffic light. But my point is the city is very irresponsible in their dealings with the problem. The city only cares about new development and bringing more wealthy folk to town. The loopholes they allow landlords to use for building-wide evictions are supposedly part of what has exacerbated the problem. I do not know all the specifics.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

gt_ 9y ago

It would do them some good to be be more homeless epidemic conscious. Any political gesture Portland could collectively be proud of is undermined by it’s failure to show concern for the members of it’s own society.

telchar 9y ago
Something that would be worth considering in homelessness discussion re: Portland, SF, etc is how many of these people are city dwellers that became homeless versus already-homeless people who gravitated toward (or were shipped to) the city? The former is a reflection on the city, but in my opinion the latter is less a reflection on the city than it is of the nation. If I become homeless and move out to Portland, is that an indictment of Portland? Is it more their responsibility to house me than say, Pittsburg, who may have sent the people there on a bus? I don't know the stats mentioned above but it seems like the places that have huge homeless problems are mostly those with nice mild weather and tolerant residents. While I lean left and support affordable housing and the welfare state, it seems a little unfair to saddle those places particularly with housing a homeless population that they didn't cause to be homeless.
- gt_ 9y ago
  I will elaborate: I lived in Portland until approximately 2 years ago, close to the river. I volunteered on one occasion with some activists at this event: https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/09/springwater_corridor_homeless.amp https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.oregonlive.com/portlan... I am no saint. It was a short walk from my office. But the whole thing was disgusting, heartbreaking. This was a bad situation on many fronts, and nothing like a solution on any side, but the idea was to get cyclists who enjoyed this nature path to stop complaining. This is the gist of how the city has dealt with the problem for many years. I was pleased to see someone else on HN mention it but I wasn’t surprised. It’s hard to miss on a visit. I lived there for 8 years. Of course some of the homeless come from other places but an enormous amount of them come from Portland. I have seen children sleeping on cardboard under Morrison bridge one night. 2 children with their parents. They were not there for long only because they were strategically camping in a very lit spot at a busy traffic light. But my point is the city is very irresponsible in their dealings with the problem. The city only cares about new development and bringing more wealthy folk to town. The loopholes they allow landlords to use for building-wide evictions are supposedly part of what has exacerbated the problem. I do not know all the specifics.