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May 27, 2022·edited May 27, 2022

We are Portland and we are bottomless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlCj4NvMeKc&t=139s

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May 27, 2022Liked by Richard Cheverton, Pamela Fitzsimmons

All of downtown's power players know what's happening. Some of them, like the Goodmans, made fortunes during Portland's meteoric boom starting in the 1980s and only sputtering out during the pandemic. That in turn was worsened by the Compassion Police who stipulated that every effort must be made to allow camping on city sidewalks. The homeless, we are led to understand, are your "neighbors", who have been temporarily inconvenienced by greedy landlords (see: Goodmans, et al), and "capitalism". If it weren't for these malign forces, we'd be living amicably among one another. True, the traumatized might need treatment and permanent housing, but the rich can pay for all of that. Real communities must make every effort never to blame the victims.

Portland is the whitest large city in America, which is at the root of its civic neurosis. Why aren't we Sweden yet? We know who's to blame, however, and it's white people with money. They live in places like Laurelhurst and then begrudge their "neighbors" who are forced to live on its sidewalks. You might resort to occasional drug use yourself given that brazen display of "inequity".

There is no reasoning with rhetoric. It has all the answers and none of the responsibility. Being high minded does allow a righteous fury, however. Victims always come with victimizers. Write down their names. We're looking at you, Jordan Schnitzer, Ted Wheeler, People for Portland, and all those parking lot moguls and donut tycoons.

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