If this is what is happening in City Council Meetings now, imagine what it will be like after so-called "Charter Reform" commences. I fear that's when the real chaos and anarchy will begin. We ain't seen nothing yet.
Imagine the public costs saved if Hester and Christian had literally cancelled each other when they met that day.
I can't be the first to hope that criminals of all stripes could be corralled in a single neighborhood with no exits. An island would be ideal. Food drops could keep them alive, but those might slack off due to lack of funding and public apathy.
I see that this mornings Oregonian is headlining a new bout of self-flagellation lamenting the loss of affordable homes in Albina. I learned to read with the Sunday Oregonian funnies and my wife insists on keeping our 30+ years subscription but I can't bear to read it anymore, even if it was free I'd still want my money back.
I don’t know what it will take to break through to Portland’s Progressive voter base that the policies they continue to promote are literally destroying their livelihood and causing more harm to those they claim to want to help. It’s utterly irrational behavior. Ted Wheeler and the City Council are taking their marching orders from the public - whoever screams the loudest gets their way. While people are clearly growing frustrated, their meek complaints pale in comparison to Hester’s megaphone. Agitators and Activists rule the city. I’m thinking people are able to live in this dichotomy partly because home prices have continued to rise - and considerably these past few years. The arbitrage of affluent homebuyers from other deep blue cities is sustaining a house of cards housing market in Portland, imo (we were told when we sold our Irvington home in 2021 that the majority of homebuyers in Portland came from 3 major cities; San Francisco, Seattle and combo of NYC/Brooklyn). What is going to happen when this pipeline stops? Portland’s quality of life no longer justifies its high price tag. Once home prices adjust to meet the reality of a city that prioritizes the homeless and open drug use, agitating protestors, frequent gun violence, car thefts and crime over law abiding citizens and their livelihood, perhaps the good people of Portland will be shaken from their slumber, rise up and begin to drown out these disastrous voices. Ted Wheeler will never grow a spine, as you hope, but he will predictably carry out orders from a vocal constituency. The hollowing out of home values just might do it.
I think this means that Black Lives Don't Matter (BLDM) and graft wrought by violence prevention outfits both governmental and private can continue to steal with both hands:
I think Ted Wheeler dropped gunshot detection technology as a sop to progressives, since he riled them by supporting the ordinance banning daytime camping.
I follow many of Portland’s various police oversight meetings. One of the more revealing comments about gunshot detection technology came from Celeste Carey, who is co-chair of the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing (PCCEP): “We do currently have an alternative to gunshot detection … our 911 system,” she said.
Carey, by the way, is black. She’s right. If people don’t want to call 911 — in the very neighborhoods where gunshots are frequently heard — that says something. Oh, well.
I have heard of “Portland Polite.” Also, “Portland Nice.” I think it still exists, but it’s kind of phony. It does explain why this city can’t confront its problems — let alone find solutions.
Just yesterday at a pharmacy I ran into this. The pharmacy had problems with what should have been a routine refill and didn’t let me know. The clerk kept giving me two separate excuses that made no sense. Because she had a soft voice and was wearing a mask, I had to ask her more than once to repeat herself.
Another employee appeared on the scene and told me: “Be nice.”
What’s “nice” got to do with it? Here’s a novel idea: How about you do your job?
That Portland City Council meeting was in a class by itself. This is what happens when you’re too nice for too long. The zombies take over.
In a better world, our elected officials would have promptly directed law enforcement to identify the leaders of the anarchist army who attacked the city starting in mid 2020, investigate and arrest them.
A top prosecutor not compromised by a white social-justice savior complex, a belief in targeted property damage as a legitimate means of forcing change and an overweening ambition for higher office would then have prosecuted them for their crimes against people and property.
And alleged criminals of the Hester variety would be doing time today instead of reprising their roles as badass anarchist guerrillas at City Hall, doing their utmost to sustain the howling nihilist hatred toward everything decent and civilized that informed the scores of direct actions that the feckless Ted Wheeler would not and could not put down.
Oh well. At least now there's no longer any doubt as to the source of the profoundly antisocial ideology that unites Portland's radical houseless activists.
Although I agree with Wheeler’s new approach, he’s still a clown. Again he blamed the homeless crisis in Portland on the pandemic (not the city’s incompetence) and said he liked being sued. Portland taxpayers get to give $5,000 to each plaintiff plus a LOT to the lawyer…when the city could have just used common sense and not enable the homeless to take over our sidewalks. More incompetence.
You’re right. When I initially wrote this, in the graph with Wheeler’s statement about getting sued, I followed with this parenthetical: “(Translation: He and other city leaders might be forced to grow a spine.)”
I cut it when I posted the essay. In part, I suppose, because Wheeler needs all the support he can get at this point. He could still waffle. He did on the gunshot detection technology.
Yeah sometimes Wheeler seems like a lost child who just wants to be liked. He courted Antifa and far left crowd at the time of the riots and that was a major fail. Now he’s dipping his toes in the water for centrist support. It’s just crazy as this is a tough dude who climbed Mt Everest but he just can’t come out and be bold for fear of being assailed by the far left extremists.
He’s toughened up a lot. He’s also wised up. When he said, “some people just want to watch the world burn” that’s when he realized “Self styled anarchists” have no morality, no decency and no ideology that makes sense or is relatable. They’re for the most part, maladaptive, maladjusted parasites who like to burn shit down, and create chaos and then laugh while people who work try to sort through the bedlam.
Those were the same people who tried to get his ear, and toyed with him in 2020. He figured it out and has learned a lot along the way. I love the new tough measures. Screw these damn parasites. I’m sick of all the activists crying bitter tears for the weak addicts, poor, sweet dears that they are, slamming dope, and feeling sorry for themselves cuz life hurts. Boo hoo! I have an Owweeeee. Look at me! My Boo Boo hurts!
Pathological Altruism is destroying this city. We need to turn it around. These new tough measures are a good first step. And if the bums don’t like it, they can hop on the Greyhound that took them here, and go back to the rock they crawled out of.
If this is what is happening in City Council Meetings now, imagine what it will be like after so-called "Charter Reform" commences. I fear that's when the real chaos and anarchy will begin. We ain't seen nothing yet.
Imagine the public costs saved if Hester and Christian had literally cancelled each other when they met that day.
I can't be the first to hope that criminals of all stripes could be corralled in a single neighborhood with no exits. An island would be ideal. Food drops could keep them alive, but those might slack off due to lack of funding and public apathy.
I see that this mornings Oregonian is headlining a new bout of self-flagellation lamenting the loss of affordable homes in Albina. I learned to read with the Sunday Oregonian funnies and my wife insists on keeping our 30+ years subscription but I can't bear to read it anymore, even if it was free I'd still want my money back.
I don’t know what it will take to break through to Portland’s Progressive voter base that the policies they continue to promote are literally destroying their livelihood and causing more harm to those they claim to want to help. It’s utterly irrational behavior. Ted Wheeler and the City Council are taking their marching orders from the public - whoever screams the loudest gets their way. While people are clearly growing frustrated, their meek complaints pale in comparison to Hester’s megaphone. Agitators and Activists rule the city. I’m thinking people are able to live in this dichotomy partly because home prices have continued to rise - and considerably these past few years. The arbitrage of affluent homebuyers from other deep blue cities is sustaining a house of cards housing market in Portland, imo (we were told when we sold our Irvington home in 2021 that the majority of homebuyers in Portland came from 3 major cities; San Francisco, Seattle and combo of NYC/Brooklyn). What is going to happen when this pipeline stops? Portland’s quality of life no longer justifies its high price tag. Once home prices adjust to meet the reality of a city that prioritizes the homeless and open drug use, agitating protestors, frequent gun violence, car thefts and crime over law abiding citizens and their livelihood, perhaps the good people of Portland will be shaken from their slumber, rise up and begin to drown out these disastrous voices. Ted Wheeler will never grow a spine, as you hope, but he will predictably carry out orders from a vocal constituency. The hollowing out of home values just might do it.
You've neglected education. Public school education in Portland is a catasrophe.
I think this means that Black Lives Don't Matter (BLDM) and graft wrought by violence prevention outfits both governmental and private can continue to steal with both hands:
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2023/06/national-institute-for-criminal-justice-reform-tapped-to-help-portland-curb-gun-violence.html
I think Ted Wheeler dropped gunshot detection technology as a sop to progressives, since he riled them by supporting the ordinance banning daytime camping.
I follow many of Portland’s various police oversight meetings. One of the more revealing comments about gunshot detection technology came from Celeste Carey, who is co-chair of the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing (PCCEP): “We do currently have an alternative to gunshot detection … our 911 system,” she said.
Carey, by the way, is black. She’s right. If people don’t want to call 911 — in the very neighborhoods where gunshots are frequently heard — that says something. Oh, well.
If you lived here long enough you might have been familiar with the phrase 'Portland Polite' but that was long ago in a galaxy far away.
Puts me in mind of Minnesota Nice. Minneapolis is now 20% Somali. Can't be bothered to review their bum/dope fiend situation.
You, we? We don't got no country. Vote, speak Latinex and I ask you, what is a woman?
https://www.startribune.com/dfl-chair-ken-martin-pushes-changes-minneapolis-convention-chaos-ward-10-chughtai-warsame/600276117/
https://www.startribune.com/what-prompted-chaos-minneapolis-ward-10-dfl-convention-aisha-chughtai-nasri-warsame/600275117/
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32010471
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/06/03/young-minnesota-somalis-asserting-their-blackness-take-center-stage-in-floyd-protests
Marry her brother?:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/06/03/young-minnesota-somalis-asserting-their-blackness-take-center-stage-in-floyd-protests
https://thepostmillennial.com/rioting-erupts-as-somalian-supporters-of-democrat-minneapolis-city-council-candidate-turn-to-political-violence
That video clip from the Minneapolis City Council race could be Portland’s future.
I have heard of “Portland Polite.” Also, “Portland Nice.” I think it still exists, but it’s kind of phony. It does explain why this city can’t confront its problems — let alone find solutions.
Just yesterday at a pharmacy I ran into this. The pharmacy had problems with what should have been a routine refill and didn’t let me know. The clerk kept giving me two separate excuses that made no sense. Because she had a soft voice and was wearing a mask, I had to ask her more than once to repeat herself.
Another employee appeared on the scene and told me: “Be nice.”
What’s “nice” got to do with it? Here’s a novel idea: How about you do your job?
That Portland City Council meeting was in a class by itself. This is what happens when you’re too nice for too long. The zombies take over.
In a better world, our elected officials would have promptly directed law enforcement to identify the leaders of the anarchist army who attacked the city starting in mid 2020, investigate and arrest them.
A top prosecutor not compromised by a white social-justice savior complex, a belief in targeted property damage as a legitimate means of forcing change and an overweening ambition for higher office would then have prosecuted them for their crimes against people and property.
And alleged criminals of the Hester variety would be doing time today instead of reprising their roles as badass anarchist guerrillas at City Hall, doing their utmost to sustain the howling nihilist hatred toward everything decent and civilized that informed the scores of direct actions that the feckless Ted Wheeler would not and could not put down.
Oh well. At least now there's no longer any doubt as to the source of the profoundly antisocial ideology that unites Portland's radical houseless activists.
Although I agree with Wheeler’s new approach, he’s still a clown. Again he blamed the homeless crisis in Portland on the pandemic (not the city’s incompetence) and said he liked being sued. Portland taxpayers get to give $5,000 to each plaintiff plus a LOT to the lawyer…when the city could have just used common sense and not enable the homeless to take over our sidewalks. More incompetence.
You’re right. When I initially wrote this, in the graph with Wheeler’s statement about getting sued, I followed with this parenthetical: “(Translation: He and other city leaders might be forced to grow a spine.)”
I cut it when I posted the essay. In part, I suppose, because Wheeler needs all the support he can get at this point. He could still waffle. He did on the gunshot detection technology.
Yeah sometimes Wheeler seems like a lost child who just wants to be liked. He courted Antifa and far left crowd at the time of the riots and that was a major fail. Now he’s dipping his toes in the water for centrist support. It’s just crazy as this is a tough dude who climbed Mt Everest but he just can’t come out and be bold for fear of being assailed by the far left extremists.
He’s toughened up a lot. He’s also wised up. When he said, “some people just want to watch the world burn” that’s when he realized “Self styled anarchists” have no morality, no decency and no ideology that makes sense or is relatable. They’re for the most part, maladaptive, maladjusted parasites who like to burn shit down, and create chaos and then laugh while people who work try to sort through the bedlam.
Those were the same people who tried to get his ear, and toyed with him in 2020. He figured it out and has learned a lot along the way. I love the new tough measures. Screw these damn parasites. I’m sick of all the activists crying bitter tears for the weak addicts, poor, sweet dears that they are, slamming dope, and feeling sorry for themselves cuz life hurts. Boo hoo! I have an Owweeeee. Look at me! My Boo Boo hurts!
Pathological Altruism is destroying this city. We need to turn it around. These new tough measures are a good first step. And if the bums don’t like it, they can hop on the Greyhound that took them here, and go back to the rock they crawled out of.
I don’t care about them anymore. I’m done caring.
Yeah Wheeler has improved. Don’t know if he will ever live down the 2020 riot response though. Time will tell I guess.
"Pathological Altruism is destroying this city." Yes. It's practically destroying the state.
The nation.