Death in 106 Square Feet

Housing First claims another victim; Portland cops take the rap; the police chief gets ahead of the curve.

It was a one-day story, big on TV since it featured “you are there” police bodycam shots of…well, something. Three cops in a struggle with an obviously crazed man, shouts, blurred cameras, screams…and you are there, watching a man die after a struggle with three Portland cops.

The bodycam recordings of the deadly encounter with one Damon Lamarr Johnson,¹ 52, of Portland—a kind of Rashomon version of the event—ought to be required viewing for anyone on either side of the local gulf between police, their critics, and their defenders. The hour is well worth your time…

..if for no other reason than to see the grim reality of what very few other citizens of Portland would even consider doing: cleaning up human debris in unbelievably squalid conditions with critics and journalists waiting to pounce on every decision made under pressure. And to see the unedited, unmediated, uninterpreted version of the incident without local media posturing like an announcer in a booth doing a play-by-play analysis of a quarterback sneak.

KGW, for example, thoughtfully warned viewers to avert their eyes, and then all but tossed the cops in jail and threw away the key…

Among print media, WillyWeek had ICE on its mind, along with gooey articles about Pride Month and couldn’t be bothered; the Oregonian managed to do a little reporting, quoting PPB chief Bob Day that Johnson’s death was a “tragedy,” and noting…

Portland Street Response, which sends trained mental health workers to intervene in such encounters, could not respond because Johnson was reported to have knives, Day said. Also, the 911 call came in after 10 p.m. when staff members were off duty.

…in the next-to-last graf in the story. Before that, they managed to get Socialist Councilor Sameer Kanal on the blower to get a jump on the medical examiner and district attorney by saying…

…. in a statement that the video he watched “show no reason” Johnson should have died.

Chief Day had been doing damage control in the week between the death and the press release, by calling in a couple of groups of “mental health” people, and—tellingly—”African American² leaders” to view the videos before they went public.

At his press conference, Day wasn’t asked about those tête-à-têtes; an inquiry to share names got this response from PPB public information officer, Sergeant Kevin Allen…

Chief Day was referring to little-g groups, meaning groups of people who have been active as community leaders. They were not formal "Groups" in the sense that they have an organized structure. Chief Day has been active with community engagement for his entire 30-year career and has developed a lot of these connections over that time. Some attendees have been involved in various advisory groups for PPB. I do not know if they all wish to be publicly identified, so that's as much as I can offer as far as specifics.

No journos seem to be working their contact lists among several obvious “little-g” candidates—Candace? Loretta? Travis? JT? It would be impolite to ask. Meanwhile, the Usual Suspects among the hardcore cop-haters will soon be screeching during city council public comments. And there are more cop-watching committees out there than we care to count.

It’s safe to say that no one among us would accept any amount of money to be in the shoes of officers J.P. Duque Valencia, Travis Wortman, and Jason Epton as they serve their “administrative leave.” They are now playthings of fate.

Chief Day—no dummy—may have bought himself insurance by bringing those “groups” on board in a kind of “go down with the ship” ploy. Then again, some of the select may bail out, go public, bend a knee, disavow, make dumb statements, play to white guilt, inflame the POCs, posture, monetize. It’s Portland, stupid.

Day made sure to spread the responsibility around with frequent reminders that Distract Attorney Nathan Vasquez will have to make the ultimate pros/non-pros call. It’s a sure bet: no matter what the medical examiner says, none of the chattering socialists will be happy without heads on a plate. The pecking order will be in full operation, cops first. The Portland Police Association is probably already lawyering-up.

The initial press communique was coy about where all this went down, giving only the general, “the Kenton neighborhood” and the 8500 block of Argyle Way. Maybe just a coincidence, but that’s the site of a bum-dump called “Argyle Gardens,” which in another era would have been called a “flop house.” It was built back in 2020 at a reported cost of $12-million with (no surprise) federal money.

The project got almost euphoric coverage. Portland Monthly gushed…

Five years in the making, the building—designed by Holst Architecture and backed by the nonprofit Transition Projects—is a departure for affordable housing in Portland, both for a space that wouldn’t look out of place in a glossy shelter mag and its low-cost, quickie modular build, designed to be easily copied.

..and…

To maximize energy efficiency, the staircase that connects the floors is encased in greenhouse-like material, an effect that architect Dave Otte says protects it from weather and makes the whole complex “glow at night, like a beautiful beacon.”

All of which looks great in architectural photos (disregarding the heavy industry nearby)…

…but then the project got ink of a different hue in 2023, when the Mercury did an exposé about the crappy conditions in the 72-unit complex…

…with the usual litany of public housing issues…

…tenants report filthy conditions, assault, rampant theft, squatters, and unresponsive management that has led at least one resident to flee for safety, while others have gone back to homeless shelters.

Transition Projects, responded to the Mercury’s hit-piece with standard boilerplate…

Our primary aim is to set expectations and collaboratively foster an atmosphere where residents can comfortably meet them. We are enhancing our residents’ access to supportive services, aiding them in building essential skills for living harmoniously within community spaces.

..and a vow to clean up their act. The Mercury never did a follow-up—and most legacy media types think anything the Mercury publishes is beneath their contempt. So Argyl Gardens has been ignored, along with the vast local gulag of rundown motels, “villages,” and purpose-built ultra-”affordables.” Ask no questions, we’ll tell no lies.

If you watch the bodycam footage edited out by the local media, it becomes evident that all three cops were familiar with Argyle Gardens. They’d obviously been there before. It would be interesting to make a deep-dive into police logs to determine how often officers have been called to the project to handle disturbances—but finding that would require a formal city request, payment of a fee, and a wait of up to four weeks. Maybe Councilor Kaneel could get express service.

In any event, the cops talked by phone with someone at the project, who advised them that Mr. Johnson’s breakdown had been going on for over a week. And when they arrived, they were greeted by a security guard (shoulder-patch not readable, pants threatening to fall down), who promptly disappeared after the cops reached the first floor.

Which raises the question (unasked by any of the press conference journos): why were the cops called in the first place? Can’t Transition Projects take care of its unruly tenants? And why had Johnson been allowed to go crazy for days? Especially when Transition says on its colorful website…

Transition Projects provides individuals with the services, resources and tools they need to end their homelessness, secure housing, and maintain that housing.

Maybe the answer is that Transition is really more of a classic development dealmaker³, which builds stuff using guaranteed sums from the government, then farms out management to subcontractors. Lately, housekeeping and security are being run by a Vancouver outfit, Cascade Management, which says (with a straight face) that those single-room, bare-bones cells (shared kitchen, some without bathrooms, 106 square-feet) can be yours for between $401-$889 a month. There’s an asterisk that indicates, “Section 8 vouchers are accepted.” You betcha.

Unfortunately, there are almost no vacancies in the Cascade Management empire. Homelessness Inc.™ is an ideal renter. The money comes like clockwork, no questions asked.

The nice thing about being a non-profit, we’ve noted before, is that you really don’t answer to anyone, once the public funds disappear into your bank account. There’s a yearly Form 990 from the IRS—but it’s always at least a year late and actual contributors don’t have to be divulged—sorta like Chief Day’s “little-g groups.” Money in and out is generalized.

Form 990 for 2023, the most recent, shows that Transition Projects is big business by any measure. It had total revenue of $38.8-million. Grants were $9.9-million; payroll was $21.5-million with a head-count of almost 600 employees. With numbers like that (and chief executive Tony Bernal pulling down $204,445 a year), you’d think they could afford someone to keep the inmates in line.

Just as you’d assume that Homelessness Inc.™ could peel off a few bucks from its take of an estimated $724 million a year, to get serious about getting the crazy and feral out of harm’s way and not file them away in squalid cells where they’re on their own, bored silly, in close company with other failures…a perfect set of ingredients for breakdowns and violence. Take a look at that tiny room where Johnson met his fate; how long could you “live” there without going starkers?

It’s impossible for Chief Day not to sound a bit defensive when he says…

“This is not the right response model. This is not who we need going to these calls.”

…but we’ve known this for approximately forever.

And we’ll probably toss three cops into the crapper to avoid getting real.

1. We predict his relatives, who evidently haven’t seen him in six years, will soon be cashing checks from a city settlement.

2. He’ll lose brownie points for using this obsolete phrase.

3. …which doesn’t pay taxes.