Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
Even though it has always been kind of crazy, at one time Portland, Oregon was quite an attractive place to live, but now those days are long gone.
Today, the city streets are strewn with garbage, drug paraphernalia and human feces. Mentally ill homeless people and drug addicts wander about like zombies, and there are certain areas of the city that you absolutely do not want to visit at night. In essence, the city is slowly becoming a post-apocalyptic version of its former self, and those that love the city are seething with frustration.
Of course Portland is simply experiencing the same surge in homelessness that so many other west coast cities are struggling to deal with. As housing prices have risen dramatically, many on the lower end of the income scale have been priced out of the market entirely, and an increasing number of people are being forced to sleep in vehicles, in shelters or on the streets.
The president of the police union in Portland has had enough. His officers are overwhelmed by the needs of the homeless on a nightly basis, and he is calling on the mayor to finally do something to resolve this crisis. The following is the first paragraph from a statement that PPA President Daryl Turner just released…
Our City has become a cesspool. Livability that once made Portland a unique and vibrant city is now replaced with human feces in businesses doorways, in our parks, and on our streets. Aggressive panhandlers block the sidewalks, storefronts, and landmarks like Pioneer Square, discouraging people from enjoying our City. Garbage-filled RVs and vehicles are strewn throughout our neighborhoods. Used needles, drug paraphernalia, and trash are common sights lining the streets and sidewalks of the downtown core area, under our bridges, and freeway overpasses. That’s not what our families, business owners, and tourists deserve.
If that sounds familiar, that is because many other west coast cities are dealing with the exact same issues right now.
For example, new San Francisco Mayor London Breed recently admitted that there “is more feces on the sidewalks than I’ve ever seen”…
“There is more feces on the sidewalks than I’ve ever seengrowing up here,” Breed told KNTV. “That is a huge problem and we are not just talking about from dogs — we’re talking about from humans.”
The streets of San Francisco are littered with a “dangerous mix of drug needles, garbage, and feces”, KNTV’s investigative team reported in February after surveying the city’s streets.
And a lot of other San Francisco residents have noticed the exact same thing. In fact, during one recent seven day period 16,000 complaints were submitted to the city about human feces.
Sounds like a great place to live, right?
It is important...